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The four cities of the Palos Verdes Peninsula reside on the hills above the Pacific Ocean, in one of the most scenic areas of Southern California. Originally part of an 1827 land grant to the Sepulveda family, the Rancho de Los Palos Verdes was bounded on the north by present-day Rosecrans Boulevard in Manhattan Beach, on the east by Western Avenue, and on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. In 1913 Frank Vanderlip, a wealthy New York banker, purchased 16,000 acres and formed a syndicate of investors interested in developing the land. After several delays, one of which was World War I, the Palos Verdes Project was born.
Most of the Peninsula was farm and ranch land until the early 1920s, when the Project’s planners began to design a new community. Concerned by the rapid growth of Los Angeles just a few miles away, they worked to feature attractive functional structures which celebrated the area’s coastal beauty, as well as roads which adhered closely to the natural formation of the land. They also established cultural and educational institutions which they felt were important to a vibrant society, and the descendants of these institutions still function today.
The history of Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, and Rancho Palos Verdes is now preserved in the Local History Collection, located at the Peninsula Center Library, 701 Silver Spur Road, Rolling Hills Estates, California. It may be used by anyone interested in the history, culture, people, and natural wonders of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Access to the collection is available during regular Library hours when staff or volunteers are present to assist.
