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, 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. 7,000 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 7,000 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)

For more secrets about the Palos Verdes Peninsula go to Palos Verdes Secrets & Little Known Facts