South Bay Communities
Only a few minutes from the beach and a few miles away from the big city of Los Angeles, El Segundo provides a charming hometown feel to its residents while prospering a healthy business environment for its workforce. El Segundo is a thriving business center with a workforce over 85,000 that are employed by some of the nation’s most prestigious companies. The name of the city itself foretells its story. El Segundo means “the second” in Spanish, which was the name originally given because it was Standard Oil Company’s second refinery. The local citizens further defined their home as El Segundo a Nada, “second to none!” This rings true as El Segundo remains home to 12 Fortune 500 companies, it is proud of its Air Force Base, and equally proud of its aviation heritage and recognition as the “Aerospace Capital of the World.”
Welcome to Manhattan Beach – a city of lovely homes on tree-lined streets, year-round sunshine and beautiful beaches; a city of fine schools and places of worship; a surfer’s paradise; and a city filled with friendly people who are proud of our town, our pier, and our heritage. The City boasts a private tennis club and a 9-hole golf course. The community provides a multitude of activities for its residents, including surfing and beach volleyball along with a variety of sports activities in its seven parks. Polliwog Park is the setting for Sunday afternoon concerts during the summer months and is the site of the Manhattan Beach Historical Society, a man-made lake and most recently the addition of the “Braille Trail”. Manhattan Beach, with its rich past, exciting present and promising future, is primarily a residential community. Making you feel at home is one of the things Manhattan Beach does best. With its small town living atmosphere, it will steal your heart, relax your mind.
Hermosa means “Beautiful”. Founded in 1906, Hermosa Beach is located on the Pacific Ocean, 5 miles south of Los Angeles International Airport and just 18 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles. Even with its proximity to Los Angeles, Hermosa Beach remains a quaint and beautiful beach-side community, just over one square mile in size, with a population of 19,506. Hermosa Beach is known for its beach activities including surfing, paddle boarding, and beach volleyball, with many professional and Olympic volleyball players calling Hermosa Beach home. In the last 15 years Hermosa Beach has undergone extensive renovation and beautification projects which have transformed the landscape of the city. Renovation of Pier Plaza at the foot of the Pacific Ocean was completed in 1997 beautifying the plaza and closing the area to street traffic, making it a popular center for bars and restaurants. In 2010, Hermosa Beach completed a 4.3 million dollar project, renovating upper Pier Avenue, adding trees and a landscaped median, widening sidewalks, improving lighting and adding crosswalks to make the area even more beautiful and friendly for visitors.
Redondo Beach is a full-service city with its own police, fire and public works departments, two public libraries, a performing arts center, fifteen parks, thirteen “parkettes”, a large recreational and commercial Harbor including King Harbor, a 1,500-slip private craft port, the Redondo Beach Pier and Seaside Lagoon and a bathing and surfing beach. Located in the choice coastal edge of Los Angeles County, just twenty miles from downtown Los Angeles and seven miles south of Los Angeles International Airport, Redondo Beach has been a preferred resort destination for more than a century and one of the most desirable areas to live in the country.
Palos Verdes is a group of affluent coastal cities in the Palos Verdes Hills on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. The Palos Verdes Peninsula cities include Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills and Rolling Hills Estates.
Palos Verdes Estates is a city, incorporated in 1939, in Los Angeles County, on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The city was master planned by the noted American landscape architect and planner Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. The city is located along the Southern California coastline of the Pacific Ocean. There are several accessible beaches, although most of the predominantly rocky shoreline is marked by high cliffs. Other significant features of the city are the scenic Palos Verdes Golf Club, a challenging 18-hole golf course and country club, the Palos Verdes Tennis Club and the Palos Verdes Beach Club. These facilities are restricted for recreational use by city resident-members and guests and are centrally located within the city. Another popular city landmark atop Palos Verdes Estates is the La Venta Inn. Built in 1923, La Venta Inn was the first known building structure on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Architects Walter and Pierpont Davis designed the building and the famous landscape architects, the Olmstead brothers, designed its gardens. La Venta Inn has spectacular views of the Southern California coastline.
The city is primarily a high-end residential location, with no traffic lights, and relatively limited commercial areas found in Malaga Cove Plaza and Lunada Bay. One of Southern California’s most exclusive and expensive neighborhoods, Palos Verdes Estates’ aesthetics and architecture are protected by an Art Jury, a non-governmental organization which must approve any exterior alteration to any building, fence, sidewalk, or other structure. For example, most residences and business buildings within the city limits have uniform Mediterranean red ceramic tile roofs and often feature architecture with column and arch motifs, resembling European coastal communities.
Torrance is located halfway between Los Angeles and Orange Counties and bound by the Pacific Ocean on the west. Its neighboring cities include Gardena, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills and Carson. It is considered to be the heart of the South Bay area. With 1.5 miles of shore-front beaches on the Pacific Ocean, Torrance is quieter and less well known than others on the Santa Monica Bay, such as those of neighboring Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach. Torrance enjoys a moderate year-round climate.
Westside Communities
Westchester is a neighborhood that straddles Los Angeles and the Westside Region of Los Angeles County, California. The neighborhood is part of the city of Los Angeles and is known for its secluded character. It is the home of Loyola Marymount University, the Otis College of Art and Design, and Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnet Schools, formerly Westchester High School. Two notable examples of Googie-style architecture are located within the community. The Los Angeles International Airport takes up the southwestern portion of Westchester territory.
Playa del Rey is a coastal neighborhood and a district of City of Los Angeles. The rolling hills are the result of ancient, wind-blown, compacted sand dunes which rise up to 125 feet above sea level originally called and often referred to as The Del Rey Hills or “The Bluffs”. These dunes run parallel to the coast line, from Playa del Rey, all the way south to Palos Verdes. The community is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west, Marina del Rey and Ballona Creek to the north, Ballona Wetlands and Playa Vista to the northeast, Westchester to the east, Los Angeles International Airport and El Segundo to the south.
Playa Vista is a neighborhood located in the Westside of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States, north of LAX. The community has become a choice address for businesses in technology, media and entertainment and, along with Santa Monica and Venice, has become known as Silicon Beach. Prior to the development of Playa Vista, the area was the headquarters of Hughes Aircraft Company from 1941 to 1985, and was the site of the construction of the Hughes H-4 Hercules “Spruce Goose” aircraft.The area began development in 2002 as a planned community with residential, commercial, and retail components.
Marina del Rey is an affluent unincorporated seaside community and census-designated place (CDP) in Los Angeles County, California. A Westside locale, the population was 8,866 at the 2010 census. Fisherman’s Village offers a view of Marina del Rey’s dominant feature, the Marina, the world’s largest man-made small craft harbor with 19 marinas with capacity for 5,300 boats and is home port to approximately 6,500 boats. The harbor, the Los Angeles Times said in 1997, is “perhaps the county’s most valuable resource”.
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is named after the Christian saint, Monica. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is bordered on three sides by the city of Los Angeles – Pacific Palisades to the north, Brentwood on the northeast, Sawtelle on the east, Mar Vista on the southeast, and Venice on the south. Santa Monica is well known for its affluent single-family neighborhoods but also has many neighborhoods consisting primarily of condominiums and apartments. Over two-thirds of Santa Monica’s residents are renters. The Census Bureau population for Santa Monica in 2010 was 89,736.