Palos Verdes Hills

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Palos Verdes Hills
Palos Verdes (aerial view).jpg
The Palos Verdes Hills atop the Palos Verdes Peninsula, extending into the Pacific Ocean at the southwest corner of Los Angeles County.
Highest point
Elevation 1,457 ft (444 m)
Geography
Relief map of California.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
location of Palos Verdes Hills in California [1]
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
District Los Angeles County
Range coordinates 33°44′50″N118°20′9″W / 33.74722°N 118.33583°W / 33.74722; -118.33583 Coordinates: 33°44′50″N118°20′9″W / 33.74722°N 118.33583°W / 33.74722; -118.33583
Topo map USGS  San Pedro

The Palos Verdes Hills are a low mountain range on the southwestern coast of Los Angeles County, California. [1] They sit atop the Palos Verdes Peninsula, a sub-region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Contents

In this night-time aerial photograph of Los Angeles, San Pedro is in the center and right foreground, including part of the brightly lit Terminal Island. The dark peninsula to the left of San Pedro is Palos Verdes. Los Angeles night aerial.jpg
In this night-time aerial photograph of Los Angeles, San Pedro is in the center and right foreground, including part of the brightly lit Terminal Island. The dark peninsula to the left of San Pedro is Palos Verdes.

The Palos Verdes Hills are the landed end of the Channel Islands of California, a mountains formation in the Transverse Ranges System.

Portuguese Bend

The Portuguese Bend Landslide area of the Palos Verdes Hills is geologically unstable and is unsuitable for building. However it is a natural research laboratory for the study of island biogeography and evolutionary ecology. The geographical location and geological history of the hills make the remaining coastal sage scrub habitat at Portuguese Bend extremely valuable for ecological and other scientific reasons. The Palos Verdes Peninsula, which was an island with the Palos Verdes Hills in recent geological time, has close floral and faunal similarities to the Channel Islands.

A species of the succulent live-forever, Bright green dudleya or Dudleya virens , is endemic to the Channel Islands and the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Features

The hills are the location of affluent suburban communities and cities together known as Palos Verdes, and include Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, gated Rolling Hills, and Rolling Hills Estates.

The Wayfarers Chapel is on the south face of the hills, overlooking the Pacific at the western entrance of Portuguese Bend. It is a transparent glass chapel within a planted Coast redwood forest, designed in 1951 by the renowned architect and landscape architect Lloyd Wright. It is under the stewardship of the Swedenborgian Church, and is a well-known local landmark on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County.

The large and diverse Los Angeles County South Coast Botanic Garden is located in the central Palos Verdes Hills. It is an 87-acre (35-hectare) landscaped botanical garden, event venue, and arboretum with over 150,000 landscape plants and trees from California and around the world.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Palos Verdes Estates, California City in California, United States

Palos Verdes Estates is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated 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.

Rancho Palos Verdes, California City in California, United States

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Rolling Hills, California City in California, United States

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Rolling Hills Estates, California City in California, United States

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Lloyd Wright American architect

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Portuguese Bend

The Portuguese Bend region is the largest area of natural vegetation remaining on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, in Los Angeles County, California. Though once slated for development including the projected route of Crenshaw Boulevard, the area is geologically unstable and is unsuitable for building.

<i>Dudleya virens</i> Species of succulent

Dudleya virens, the green liveforever or bright green dudleya, is an uncommon species of perennial, succulent plant in the family Crassulaceae, native to several coastal southern California and Baja California locations.

South Coast Botanic Garden

The South Coast Botanic Garden is a 87 acres (35 ha) botanical garden in the Palos Verdes Hills, in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, California, United States, about 10 miles (16 km) south of Los Angeles International Airport. It has over 150,000 landscaped plants and trees from approximately 140 families, 700 genera, and 2,000 different species, including flowering fruit trees, Coast Redwoods, Ginkgos and Pittosporum. It is particularly rich in plants from Australia and South Africa. Its gardens include the Water-wise Garden, Herb Garden, English Rose Garden, and Garden of the Senses. A small lake and stream bed attract various birds such as ducks, geese, coots, and herons. Over 300 species of birds have been recorded. The lake is currently empty.

Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District (PVPUSD) is a school district headquartered in Palos Verdes Estates, California with facilities in all four cities of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Frank A. Vanderlip American journalist (1864–1937)

Frank Arthur Vanderlip Sr. was an American banker and journalist. He was president of the National City Bank of New York from 1909 to 1919, and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 1897 to 1901. Vanderlip is known for his part in founding the Federal Reserve System and for founding the first Montessori school in the United States, the Scarborough School and the group of communities in Palos Verdes, California.

The Dominguez Hills are a low mountain range in the Transverse Ranges, in southern Los Angeles County, California. They are named for the locally prominent Californio family of Manuel Dominguez, which owned Rancho San Pedro.

<i>Crossosoma californicum</i> Species of tree

Crossosoma californicum, known by the common name California rockflower, is one of only a few species in the flowering plant family Crossosomataceae.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Transit Authority is the primary provider of mass transportation in the Los Angeles suburbs of Rancho Palos Verdes, Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, and Rolling Hills Estates, California. Six color routes provide local service, while Routes 225 and 226 both allow for connections in Torrance and Route 226 also continues into the Los Angeles district of San Pedro.

California County Routes in zone N

There are 9 routes assigned to the "N" zone of the California Route Marker Program, which designates county routes in California. The "N" zone includes county highways lying in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy Non-profit organization in California

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy (PVPLC) is a non-profit organization that is based on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in southwestern Los Angeles County, California.

A. E. Hanson (1893–1986) was an American landscape architect and real estate developer in Southern California. He designed gardens on the campus of the University of Southern California as well as in Bel Air. He developed two gated communities near Los Angeles, California: Rolling Hills and Hidden Hills.

References

  1. 1 2 "Palos Verdes Hills". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved 2009-05-04.