Palos Verdes Colleges

Palos Verdes Colleges

The Palos Verdes Peninsula has had an interesting history in relation to colleges and universities. In the 1920 €™s, UCLA had studied Palos Verdes as a potential location for the relocation of their campus from north Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles. Palos Verdes developers had offered to donate 1,000 acres in the Peninsula Center area. In the early 1960 €™s, a new state college was planned at the top of the Peninsula, and briefly held classes as Palos Verdes State College in the Peninsula Center until Cal State Dominquez Hills was constructed.

In 1947, a small private independent junior college was founded on the Peninsula. Enrollment reached a peak of only about 100 students. The first graduating class in 1949 was fourteen students. Palos Verdes College occupied the present day location of Rancho del Mar High school, next to the entrance to Rolling Hills near the intersection of Crenshaw and Crest roads. This site was an air force barracks installation during WW II. Elaborate plans for a permanent location at the top of a hill overlooking the valley location of the temporary campus were drawn up but never built. Elin and Kelvin Vanderlip were early patrons of the campus, however fund raising for the campus struggled over the years. One fund raising effort started was the Palos Verdes Homes Tour, which continues today as a fund raising event for the Palos Verdes Art Center. The campus became a four year college in 1954, but the campus finally closed down in 1955.

Marymount California University (MCU) is an independent, coed residential college located in the Miraleste area of Rancho Palos Verdes.Marymount was the first Catholic junior college in California and began as a liberal arts college for women in Los Angeles in 1948. In the mid-1960s discussions began on admitting women to the undergraduate program at Loyola University. The affiliation of Marymount College and Loyola University began in 1968 when Marymount’s four-year program relocated to the Loyola University campus in Westchester, Los Angeles. In 1968, Marymount opened its two-year program on the Palos Verdes campus. The merger of Marymount College and Loyola University was completed in 1973 forming Loyola Marymount University.

The Marymount Palos Verdes California College remained incorporated as a separate two-year programhaving received accreditation in 1971. In 1986, the name changed again to Marymount College Palos Verdes

The college began to offer four year bachelor of arts degrees in 2012 as well as masters degrees in certain studies, which prompted its name change to Marymount California University.Currently, first- and second-year students take core courses at the Palos Verdes campus. Upper division and graduate courses take place at the urban Waterfront Campus in San Pedro.

For more South Bay and Palos Verdes history visit my website at http://www.southbayhistory.com