Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall circa 1975

3. The Vanderlip Mansions in the Portuguese Bend area of RPV are still owned by the Vanderlip family: Frank Vanderlip, the "Father of Palos Verdes"constructed his first residence on the Peninsula in 1916 in the Portuguese Bend area, the "Old Ranch Cottage", now known as the "Cottage". (See The History of Rancho Palos Verdes) Other buildings were added to the estate in the 1920's including a small guest house and garage called "La Casetta" and a larger guest house known as the "Villetta", now known as "Villa Narcissa".The Cottage is still owned by Suzanne Vanderlip, the widow of John Vanderlip, the youngest son of Frank Vanderlip, Sr., and Villa Narcissa is still owned by the children of Elin Vanderlip, the widow of Frank Vanderlip Sr.'s second son, Kelvin, who lived at the estate from the time of their marriage in 1946 until her death at the age of 90 in July 2009.A third structure, a barn and stables called the "Farmstead" later became the Portuguese Bend Riding Club.The Vanderlip properties are located at the end of Vanderlip Drive, near the end of Narcissa Drive, the road through a private gated community just south of the Wayfarers' chapel at the beginning of the Portuguese Bend area, and public access to visit the property is not available. You can see the original gatehouse to the property at the gated entrance of Narcissa Drive just off of Palos Verdes Drive South.


Villa Narcissa

4.Are the Vanderlip Mansions haunted?: There are persistent rumors that the Vanderlip mansion is haunted.Two untrue story have been circulated on the internet that the wife of Frank Vanderlip went crazy there, or that a daughter of Frank Vanderlip had an illicit affair and was put into an insane asylum across the street, but the stories still appear on several websites devoted to haunted places. John Vanderlip and his wife Narcissa had 6 children, all of whom led normal lives. One story as to the possible source of the house being haunted is that Elin Vanderlip's father (Elin is the wife of Kelvin Vanderlip, one of Frank Vanderlip's children, who lived in the Vanderlip Mansion Villa Narcissa until her death at the age of 90 in July 2009) was of Norwegian descent and had a full head of white hair and would sometimes wander the streets at night in his nightgown, carrying a shotgun and accompanied by several dogs which had their voice boxes removed to prevent their disturbing Elin with their barking. The sight of the old man in his nightgown with white hair, gun and silent mysterious dogs may indeed have scared the daylights out of people.

5. Is the Point Vicente Lighthouse haunted:  After nearby residents complained about the bright flashes from the lighthouse,  the landward side of the lantern room was painted an opaque, pearly white. The light from the rotating lens seen through the opaque tower room windows created, for some, the illusion of a woman pacing the tower's walkway and gave rise to Point Vicente's "Lady of the Light," yet another lighthouse ghost story. Some said the ghost was the spirit of a woman who leaped into the sea when her lover was lost in a shipwreck off the point. In 1955, a thicker coat of paint ended the spirit's nightly romp around the tower, and the ghost has not been seen officially since. (See
http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=95 )


Point Vicente Lighthouse

6. Is there a nudist beach in Rancho Palos Verdes? Although it is illegal, many sun worshipers, without clothing,have been known to frequent a beach at Smuggler's Cove, in the Portuguese Bend area of Rancho Palos Verdes. This beach is accessed by a trail across the street from Pepper Tree Drive on Palos Verdes Drive South.

7. Why is there such a large undeveloped area in the Portuguese Bend area, and why is the road in such bad shape? This area suffered a significant land slide in 1956, which continues to this day, which requires constant road maintenance and repair to the land movement. The landslide destroyed many homes in this area, and a prohibition against building in this area has existed since then. From 1945 to 1956, until the 1956 landslide, the Livingston Quarry operated, mining such minerals as barite, quartz, dolomite, gypsum, as well as basalt that was mined for use as a railroad bed material, as well as rocks used in the Long Beach breakwater. The Livingston Quarry area can be viewed by turning on Forrestal Drive, across the street from Trump National Golf Club off of Palos Verdes Drive South, and driving past the Ladera Linda Community Center and past the gate. This area is part of the Forrestal Preserve area, which was purchased as a nature preserve in 1996.


Picture of Portuguese Bend landslide area

8. What are the large round white domes above Palos Verdes Drive East, just up from Palos Verdes Drive South? The two large round white buildings visible from Palos Verdes Drive East at the top of the hill house a radar facility that is still operational. It is run by the Federal Aviation Administration which continues to use the facility for long-range radar. The Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center uses the facility to control air traffic into and out of Los Angeles. The FAA took over the facility from the U.S. Air Force in 1960.

9. Why does the Palos Verdes Art Jury have jurisdiction over a part of Rancho Palos Verdes in the Miraleste area? The Miraleste area of Rancho Palos Verdes was part of the original Palos Verdes Project which was developed in the 1920's and 1930's, and was subject to the same deed restrictions that were recorded on the lots which later became part of the City of Palos Verdes Estates, which included architectural review authority by the Art Jury of the Palos Verdes Homes Association.

10. What is the undeveloped rocky area behind the gates at the southwest corner of Hawthorne and Via Valmonte?. This area beginning in 1944, before Hawthorne was extended past the current Via Valmonte in 1965, was a diatomaceous earth (dicalite) mine, that extended into the area now occupied by the Hillside Village shopping center. This mine at one time contained 300 acres and had been leased by the Great Lakes Carbon Corporation from the Vanderlip family, that still owned approx.6,800 acres of the original 16,000 acres retained by Frank Vanderlip when he sold the land which made up the Palos Verdes Project. Another rich deposit was known to exist on a 165-acre tract near the crest of the Peninsula. For two years, the Great Lakes Carbon Corporation had been unsuccessfully attempting to purchase this property from the Vanderlip family. Finally, in July 1953, the Great Lakes Carbon Corporation purchased all 6,800 acres from the Palos Verdes Corporation, the Vanderlip family's corporation. The Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, realizing that this land would be more valuable if developed,then created a master plan for the acreage, which later became the cities of Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, and the unincorporated area known as Palos Verdes Peninsula.


Diatomaceous earth (dicalite) mine at corner of Hawthorne and Via Valmonte


1953 Open pit dicalite mine in Palos Verdes (LA Times photos)

11. Why are the streets blocked off between the Valmonte area of Palos Verdes Estates and the Hollywood Riviera area of Torrance? The Palos Verdes Peninsula population grew rapidly after World War II. In 1946, construction began on several housing tracts in Hollywood Riviera. The best route for construction trucks at the time was up Hawthorne Boulevard, which at that time did not go all the way up the hill to the top of the Peninsula, but instead veered to the right at Via Valmonte (which at the time was Hawthorne Avenue) and ended at the Palos Verdes Country Club. The residents of the Valmonte area of Palos Verdes Estates were so irritated and inconvenienced by the large amount of traffic of dump trucks, bull dozers, etc. traveling to the Hollywood Riviera housing tracts that they prevailed upon the City Council of Palos Verdes Estates in 1948 to construct barriers in the middle of Via Alameda, Via Pasqual, and Via Colusa just inside the PVE city limits, and they've been there ever since.

12. Who owns "Annie's Stand", the produce stand near Abalone Cove Shoreline Park, and who is Annie? On March 10, 2005,Doug Hatano, who farms in the area, leased the stand from the City of Rancho Palos Verdes for a 5 year period. He retained the name "Annie's Stand" which was named in honor Annie Ishibashi, whose family farmed in the Portuguese Bend area of Rancho Palos Verdes for many years.

13, Farmers Market in Rancho Palos Verdes: There is a farmers market held on Sundays in the parking lot of the Peninsula Shopping Center in front of the Petco. The vendors often discount their prices from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm just before the market closes

14. Why do some of the areas of the Palos Verdes Peninsula have a mailing address of "Palos Verdes Peninsula", instead of one of the four cities on the Peninsula? There is a small area at the northern part of the Palos Verdes Peninsula within the boundaries of the City of Rolling Hills Estates which is in an unincorporated area and is governed only by the County of Los Angeles. This area is the residential area on either side of Crenshaw Boulevard,south of Palos Verdes Drive North, which is accessible only from Palos Verde Drive North, as well as a small area just south of the intersection of Rolling Hills Road and Crenshaw Boulevard.

15, Palos Verdes Estates residents don't have to put their trash out at the curb: To eliminate the unattractive sight of trash cans in front of homes on trash pick-up day, the City of Palos Verdes Estates has their trash contractor get the trash cans from a trash yard area of each home in the City.

16, Home colors in Rolling Hills: The deed restrictions of the homes in the gated community of Rolling Hills require that all homes be painted white, and that they can only be one level.

17. Is there a shipwreck at the bottom of the cliffs at Rocky Point in Lunada Bay? One interesting event that occurred in 1961, which people still talk about, was the running aground of the Greek freighter Dominator just off of Rocky Point. The freighter was heading south along the Palos Verdes coast line, and thinking they had reached the Los Angeles harbor, made an ill-fated left turn too early and ran aground. Only a small amount of remnants of the ship can still be seen at low tide.


The freighter Dominator getting pounded by surf (see video)after running aground at Rocky Point

18. Does the Palos Verdes School District have three high schools? Rancho del Mar, a small continuation high school, is located just off of Crest road, just to the east of Crenshaw Blvd. This high school, located in Rolling Hills, offers an individualized teaching plan educational program for students whose personalities, needs, and interests get lost in the traditional high school. There actually had been plans to build another high school in Rancho Palos Verdes, "Peninsula High School" was the name that was supposed to have been given to the 4th high school that would have been built on the land across Highridge Rd. from Ridgecrest Intermediate School. However, that school was never built, and the land was sold by the School District for $6,000,000 to a developer (which caused quite a furor since many thought it was below market value)

19. In addition to Marymount College in Rancho Palos Verdes, another college used to be located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula: In 1947, Palos Verdes College, a small, private, independent junior college opened at the current site of Rancho del Mar High School in Rolling Hills. The college initially occupied barracks which were used in WWII. The college, at its peak, served approximately 100 students. Some of the college's students included Elizabeth Taylor's brother, and Leslie Caron, the film star. The college had plans to construct a permanent campus, however fund raising was never adequate to realize these dreams, and the campus closed in 1955. The barracks buildings were used as administrative offices for the Palos Verdes School district after the college's closing.


Palos Verdes College. Photo dated: September 12, 1947. (LA Times Photo)

20. The peacocks in Palos Verdes came from Catalina: Francine A. Bradley, Ph.D. UC Davis, in a report to the City of Rancho Palos Verdes on managing peafowl on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, states that the original peacock colony on the Palos Verdes Peninsula was a gift of 16 birds from the daughter of William Wrigley, Jr. to Frank Vanderlip, the original founder of the Palos Verdes Project in the mid 1920's, from Mr. Wrigley's aviary on Catalina Island.These birds were maintained at the Vanderlip Estate in Portuguese Bend. It is suspected that some of the birds were introduced to Palos Verdes Estates by former mayor Fred Roessler sometime in the period from 1960-65. There are now numerous colonies in Rancho Palos Verdes in the Crestridge, Vista Grande, and the Portuguese Bend areas, as well as in the Lunada Bay and Malaga Cove areas of Palos Verdes Estates.



21. Where did the fountain in Lunada Bay come from?: The fountain in the median strip of Palos Verdes Drive West in Lunada Bay was a gift in 1965 from funds raised by neighborhood children organized by Jeane Burke, a resident of Rocky Point in Lunada Bay, and a plaque at the fountain displays the fountain's name: "La Fuente de los Ninos" (the fountain of the children). When asked why she was inspired to create a fountain at the intersection with Yarmouth Road, Mrs. Burke replied, "I didn't want to say, "Turn at the gas station to get to my home'".(source:Peninsula News 6/1/2006). The fountain is dedicated to G. Brooks Snelgrove, who was very active in Palos Verdes Estates community affairs for over 34 years, and the circle in front of Palos Verdes Estates City Hall is also dedicated to his memory (He died on November 22, 1962). Mr. Snelgrove was the original engineer for the Palos Verdes Project in 1923, and was responsible for the construction and engineering of the Malaga Cove Plaza Neptune Fountain. The fountain was completely renovated in December 2008.

  
Lunada Bay Fountain Before Renovation                      Lunada Bay Fountain Plaque on Lunada Bay Fountain

 Lunada Bay Fountain after Renovation

22. Where are some of the best public views from the top of the Peninsula: In my opinion, two of the best views from the top of the Peninsula are located in Rancho Palos Verdes in Del Cerro Park, which can be reached at the end of Crenshaw Boulevard just past St. John Fisher, and from Via Del Monte in Palos Verdes Estates, near the top of the hillside overlooking Malaga Cove. The view from Del Cerro park is spectacular, including the entire Palos Verdes Drive South area from the Point Vicente lighthouse (including the new Terranea Resort, Abalone Cove, the Wayfarers' Chapel, and the Portuguese Bend landslide) all the way to the Trump National Golf Course. The View from Via Del Monte can be reached by taking Via Del Monte, which is the street just behind Malaga Cove Plaza, just past the La Venta Inn. This gives you a great view of the "Queen's Necklace" view of the entire South Bay.


Queen's Necklace view from Via Del Monte in Palos Verdes Estates

23. How did the beach, which is the last beach before the start of the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Torrance, get its' name "Rat Beach"? The name comes from an acronym for the beach "Right After Torrance".

24. The statue of King Neptune at the Neptune Fountain in Malaga Cove Plaza in Palos Verdes Estates is a replica of a replica. The original statue was installed in Malaga Cove Plaza in 1930 and was a replica of the original statue of King Neptune at the Neptune Fountain in Bologna, Italy, and was approx. two-thirds the size of the original. The original statue had no fig leaf, which caused somewhat of a scandal when first unveiled. The current statue is a replica of the first, and was installed in 1969 when the original fell into disrepair and is somewhat smaller than the one installed in 1930, and had a discretely placed fig leaf added.


King Neptune Statue in Malaga Cove Plaza

25. Why are there such large median strips on Palos Verdes Drive in Lunada Bay and Via Valmonte? The original planners of the Palos Verdes Project planned Palos Verdes Drive in these areas to accommodate the Pacific Electric Trolley cars, which were an integral part of the public transportation network in Los Angeles County in the late 1920's.


Lunada Bay Median Strip with Large Austrailan Fig Tree


Pacific Electric Car

26. What does the plaque in front of the large Tree in the median strip at the junction of Via Coronel and Palos Verdes West in Lunada Bay say? (See picture above)


Plaque in front of "Morton Bay Fig Tree" Dedicated in 1959
in honor of Fred Roessler, PV Estates first mayor

27. Why don't they widen Palos Verdes Drive North in Rolling Hills Estates since the traffic is so bad? City and community leaders in Rolling Hills Estates do not want the rural nature of their city destroyed, and believe that widening Palos Verdes Drive North in this area will only encourage more motorists to utilize this street to access the Harbor freeway, instead of using Pacific Coast Highway. Widening of the street would also destroy the beautiful trees and horse trails which line the street.

28. What is the small park off of Hidden Valley Road in Rolling Hills Estates, just north of Hawthorne Boulevard? Is this a public park? This park is a private soccer facility owned by Fram CQ, which is a recently consolidated soccer club (formed by the merger of Coastal Quest and Fram Sportskluben). The park had originally been donated by Elin Vanderlip, who is of Norwegian descent and owned by the government of Norway for the benefit of Norwegian merchant seamen using the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Rod Stewart frequently plays here on a men's team for recreation.


Photo by Erik Skindrud
Fram field with clubhouse in background

29.The original plans for the Palos Verdes Project had several different names planned for Palos Verdes Drive. Palos Verdes Drive North was originally planned to be named Granvia Valmonte from Malaga Cove Plaza through to Anaheim Street. Palos Verdes Drive West was to have been named Granvia La Costa.

30. The original plans for the Palos Verdes Project called for a second golf course in Palos Verdes Estates The original plans for the Palos Verdes Project in the late 1920's called for the construction of a golf course in the area currently occupied by George Allen baseball field off of Via Zumaya in upper Lunada Bay/Montemalaga.

31. The original plans for the Palos Verdes Project called for a third plaza area in Valmonte The original plans for the Palos Verdes Project in the late 1920's called for another grand plaza similar to that constructed in Malaga Cove, to have been located at the intersection of Via Campesina and Palos Verdes Drive in Valmonte.


Original plans for Valmonte Plaza

32. The original plans for the Palos Verdes Project called for the building of a yacht club and Marina at Bluff Cove in Lunada Bay and a breakwater to form a swimming cove in Lunada Bay


Original Artist's rendering of proposed Yacht Club at Bluffs Cove


Rendering of proposed breakwater and swimming cove at Lunada Bay

33. You do not have to be a member of the Palos Verdes Beach and Athletic Club to use it:
Resident, non-members may use the club for a day pass rate of $30 per person per day. Non-residents may also use the club for a day pass of $45 per person per day. These day passes may not be used on Memorial Day, July 4th, or Labor Day, and no guests are allowed on those days. Guests of members are $10 per person, seven days a week from 6/15 through Labor Day. Guest fees other times of the year are $7 per person.

34. What is that large stone castle-like building near the entrance to Palos Verdes Estates on Via Valmonte?
This stone, castle-like structure, which is at 4420 Via Valmonte, near the entrance to Palos Verdes Estates on Via Valmonte, just up from Hawthorne Blvd., was built in 1926 as a guard's house for what was intended to be a gated entrance to the new Palos Verdes Project. The structure is a two story 15 foot diameter round building with 18 inch thick walls.It has two floors; a bedroom and bathroom area upstairs and a living room with a stone fireplace and a kitchen downstairs. This structure was known as the "Stone Tower", "Tower House" and the "Mirlo Gate Lodge" (Via Valmonte was originally named Via Mirlo, was renamed Hawthorne Ave. prior to Hawthorne Blvd. being extended south over the Peninsula Hill to the ocean, and then renamed Via Valmonte). Title was taken to this structure by Palos Verdes Estates in 1939 when the city was incorporated.


Mirlo Gatehouse

35.What really happened when they closed Marineland?
When Marineland closed in December1986,Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, which owned Sea World in San Diego, purchased Marineland, ostensibly to continue to operate it. Their intent, however, was to purchase Marineland solely to acquire Corky and Orky, a successful breeding pair of killer whales. Harcourt was in the process of rapidly expanding the Sea World enterprise throughout the nation, and was in desperate need of proven, successful breeding pairs of killer whales in order to supply their new Sea World locations with their headline act, "Shamu, the killer whale".

Orky, the larger male,at Marineland show

Harcourt had been denied a permit to capture additional killer whales in the wild and was therefore limited to acquiring killer whales already in captivity. They therefore purchased the park, and within a few weeks after the purchase, moved Corky and Orky to their Sea World Park in San Diego in the middle of the night without any prior notice to the public, and closed Marineland claiming that the park was going to cost more money to renovate than they originally estimated. They had planned to sell the land to an Arizona developer from the beginning, and quickly did so after closing the park. Unfortunately, Orky, the male, died two years later in 1988, however Corky is still alive (she is now believed to be about 40 years old and the oldest of the seven killer whales in San Diego) and performing daily at Sea World in San Diego. She gave birth to seven calves, however all died soon after birth, with the oldest living only for 46 days.

36. Palos Verdes Estates once tried to annex Marineland - In early 1965, the City of Palos Verdes Estates attempted to annex a portion of present day Rancho Palos Verdes totaling 2.92 square miles bordered by High Ridge Road to the east and the Pacific Ocean, including the Marineland Park, in an attempt to broaden its tax base. See LA Times Article. This effort failed, however.

37. Palos Verdes was once considered for the location of Disneyland: In the early 1950's, Walt Disney's company WED Enterprises hired the Stanford Research Institute to conduct a search for the perfect site. The cities of Long Beach, Palos Verdes and Canoga Park were all considered but each had at least one strong disadvantage against it. Finally, Anaheim was selected as the location for Disneyland.

38. Hawthorne Blvd. through the Peninsula was completed in several segments:  Road construction moved forward rapidly in the late 1950's and through the mid 1960's. Hawthorne Blvd. through the Peninsula was completed in several segments. Hawthorne Blvd. was completed from Silver Spur to Crest in 1959. The segment from Palos Verdes Drive North to Silver Spur was completed in 1961. After several years of planning, the final segment extending Hawthorne Blvd. from Newton in Torrance to Palos Verdes Drive North was completed in 1965.

39. The Original Developer of Palos Verdes Estates was a crook!!!