Palos Verdes Highways and Freeway History

Road construction on the Palos Verfdes Peninsula 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.

The original masterplan for the Southern California freeway system included what was known as the Ocean Freeway or the Pacific Coast Freeway, which was to have run along the coast, swinging inland through Redondo Beach and Torrance and connecting to the Harbor Freeway, and extending through Long Beach. Another freeway connecting to the San Diego Freeway roughly following to the east of Hawthorne Boulevard had also been proposed. In 1968, several alternative alignments of what was called the “Hawthorne Freeway” (route 107) were considered. These included routes connecting from the San Diego Freeway roughly following just to the east of Inglewood Boulevard, and as far west as Prospect through Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, then swinging east along the Palos Verdes Peninsula foothills, and terminating at Vermont Ave. (with a planned connection with the Harbor Freeway when the Ocean Freeway was to be extended through Long Beach). The most southernmost route considered would have demolished some homes in Rolling Hills Estates, in the neighborhoods of Montecito, Empty Saddle, and the Empty Saddle Club. Due to funding constraints, and neighborhood opposition, these freeways, of course, were never constructed.

Original Master Plan for Southern California Freeway System circa 1958

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