Palos Verdes is a name often used to refer to a group of coastal cities in the Palos Verdes Hills on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. In local jargon, it is often referred to as "P.V.".
Contents |
The Palos Verdes Peninsula communities include:
The peninsula is an affluent bedroom community known for its dramatic ocean and city views from the Palos Verdes Hills, distinguished schools,[1] extensive horse trails,[2] and high home prices.[3] To its inhabitants, Palos Verdes is known affectionately by its initials, P.V.
The peninsula was the homeland of the Tongva-Gabrieliño Native Americans people for thousands of years. In other areas of the Los Angeles Basin archeological sites date back 8,000 years.[4][5] Their first contact with Europeans in 1542 with João Cabrilho (Juan Cabrillo), the Portuguese explorer who also was the first to write of them. Chowigna and Suangna were two Tongva settlements of many in the peninsula area, which was also a departure point for their rancherias on the Channel Islands. Legend has it that the Native Americans blessed the land of Palos Verdes, making it the most beautiful place on Earth.
In 1846 Jose Dolores Sepulveda and José Loreto received a Mexican land grant from [[Alta Governor Pío Pico for a parcel from the huge original 1784 Spanish land grant Rancho San Pedro of Manuel Dominguez.[6] It was named Rancho de los Palos Verdes, or "ranch of the green sticks", which was used primarily as a cattle ranch.[7]
By 1882 ownership of the land had passed from the Sepulveda through various mortgage holders to Jotham Bixby of Rancho Los Cerritos, who leased the land to Japanese farmers. After the turn of the century most of Bixby's land was sold to a consortium of New York investors who created The Palos Verdes Project and began marketing land on the peninsula for small horse ranches and residential communities.
Areas of commerce include historic Mediterranean Revival style Malaga Cove Plaza, "The Promenade of the Peninsula" mall, and Lunada Bay Plaza. Smaller shopping centers include the Peninsula Center, Dominos, and The Village.
The largest peninsula commercial district is in Rolling Hills Estates, with many shopping centers including 'The Promenade of the Peninsula' with a megaplex movie theater and an ice rink.
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Transit Authority provides bus service within and to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The Palos Verdes Peninsula is within 30 minutes of both Los Angeles International Airport and Long Beach Airport, which together provide access to most of the U.S. aboard all major carriers.
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District has one of the highest rated API scores in California[8] and has one of the highest average SAT scores[9] and one of the highest percentage of students successfully completing the Advanced Placement exams[10] in the county. There are three high schools, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (formerly called Rolling Hills High School), Palos Verdes High School (the latter located just a half block from the Pacific Ocean), and Rancho Del Mar High School (located in Rolling Hills). Marymount College, a co-ed Roman Catholic four-year college is located in Rancho Palos Verdes. A private K-12 school, Chadwick School, is also located there. Rolling Hills Preparatory School, a private 6-12 school is also located on the peninsula. Rolling Hills Country Day School, adjacent to the Botanic Garden, offers a private K-8 education.
The Peninsula is served by the Palos Verdes Library District which operates the:
The area is frequented by runners, hikers, horseback riders, bird watchers, surfers, scuba divers, and bicyclists. The area is home to several golf courses and country clubs. In addition, nude sunbathers formerly frequented Sacreds Cove (or "Smugglers Cove") until the city of Rancho Palos Verdes enacted a 1994 ordinance that ended such use of that beach.
The infamous Palos Verdes surf spots have been in the spotlight many times over issues of "localism". The most notorious surf spot for localism in Palos Verdes is Lunada Bay, which can hold any winter swell and has been known to rival Sunset Beach, Hawaii on a big day. Localism in Palos Verdes reached a turning point in 2001 when a civil rights lawsuit was filed after a particularly violent confrontation with Hermosa Beach surfers.[15] Surveillance cameras were placed in the surfing area but were later removed.[16]
The Trump National Golf Club is a Donald Trump venture with a golf course on the Ocean Trails cliffs. The 18th hole of the prior golf course fell victim to a landslide caused by a leak in the sanitary pipes underneath it. Trump has been heavily criticized for poorly managing the property, including dismissing employees en masse, failing to keep it in business, and upsetting locals with unnecessary and/or unapproved construction. In the summer of 2006, the Trump Organization illegally erected a 70 foot flagpole but was allowed to retain it after a City Council vote.[17]
The Marineland of the Pacific site near Portuguese Bend is currently home of Terranea, a luxury oceanfront resort.[18]
The novels The Tribes of Palos Verdes by author Joy Nicholson, and The Mark of Conte by Sonia Levitin, describe life from a teenager's perspective in Palos Verdes.
Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films were partly photographed on and off the coast of Palos Verdes Peninsula. A tent city for production was constructed in the Redondo Beach Marina. The Black Pearl and several production vessels were seen on the waters daily as were helicopters filming for overhead shots.
Overhead shots were used for the fictional town of Costa Verde in Heroes, in the episode "I Am Become Death".
In a recent episode of South Park, the character of Towelie went to a Rehab center in Rancho Palos Verdes.
In 1962, the "Big W" scenes from the ensemble comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World starring Sid Caesar, Spencer Tracy, Ethel Merman, Phil Silvers and others were filmed on the grounds of a private estate locally known as "Portuguese Point" near Abalone Cove shoreline park.
MTV's sitcom Awkward. is set in Palos Verdes.
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||