Malaga Cove, Riders at North Entrance to Palos Verdes, 1926
Palos Verdes Centennial: A Photographic History
July 22 – November 11, 2023
Read “As La Venta Inn Toasts 100 Years, We Celebrate a Glamorous Past with an Eye on a Promising Future,” by Gail Phinney in Southbay magazine HERE
Palos Verdes Centennial: A Photographic History tells the story of our community from its agricultural roots as the Rancho de los Palos Verdes with the Phillips family ranchers who maintained it and the Japanese families who later farmed it, to the 1913 purchase of the 16,000-acre parcel by New York banker Frank A. Vanderlip, Sr. and his group of investors who transformed it.
Beginning with the 1923 real estate rally and the construction of La Venta Inn, the architects of the Palos Verdes Project imagined an idyllic Mediterranean-style coastal community with the help of master planning by the Olmsted Brothers. That tradition of planning and design excellence continued during the Peninsula’s post-war growth. Along with the demand for housing came the need for amenities such as schools, libraries, and cultural centers. The resulting building boom was fertile ground for innovative designers of the day, including Richard Neutra and A. Quincy Jones, whose mid-century modern architecture left its imprint on the fabric of the community.
Throughout this long history, the Palos Verdes Art Center has been a cultural touchstone to generations of residents on the Peninsula. Founded as The Palos Verdes Community Arts Association in 1931, it was first housed in the Myron Hunt designed Malaga Cove Library and Art Gallery where students from nearby Malaga Cove School would visit. There it showcased art of the moment to a geographically isolated and sparsely populated community without interruption, even during the difficult WWII years.
When the Peninsula grew in the 1960s and ‘70s, the Association expanded to meet its needs. Started in 1963, Art for Fun(d)s Sake became a much anticipated annual event combining art, entertainment and food. It reached its heyday in the ’70s when it was held at the 32-acre Northrop Research Park. It was moved to Marineland in the mid-70s and funds from the event paid for the construction of the 1974 Lowell Lusk building where the center resides today.
As we look back on the past and forward to the future, Palos Verdes Art Center / Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education remains dedicated to its mission of educating, enriching and building community through equal and inclusive access to the visual arts. We thank our partners, Palos Verdes Library District and Palos Verdes Historical Society, for their assistance.
Click images to expand.
Harry Phillips Jr. with Horses in Barley Field, 1914
Weighing Sheep at the Phillips Ranch, 1915
Six-horse Team Hauling Hay on the Phillips Ranch, 1915
The Phillips Family were one of the early ranchers on the Peninsula. In the late 1880s, the Rancho de los Palos Verdes became the property of Jotham Bixby. Harry Phillips was hired by the Bixby Family to manage the Rancho. Built in 1910 as the second home for the Phillips family, the ranch was located in Blackwater Canyon to the northeast of the present intersection of Palos Verdes Drive North and Rolling Hills Road in Rolling Hills Estates. Harry Phillips, Sr. (b. 1867) came to Southern California in 1887 and worked as ranch manager for George Bixby starting in 1894. Harry Phillips, Jr. (b.1889) with two horses standing in a field of barley includes the hills of Palos Verdes in the background.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Phillips Ranch Photo Collection #37
San Pedro Grower’s Association Community Hall Opening, Port of San Pedro, 1923
This photo commemorates the November 24, 1923 opening of the San Pedro Grower’s Association community buildings, a collection of at least three structures used by Japanese farming families who farmed the Peninsula starting in the early 1900s and continued until the breakout of WWII. After the war very few of the original farming families returned to the Peninsula. The buildings fell into disrepair over time and were eventually demolished by fire in the early 2000s.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
40 Families Project Photo Collection
Frank A. Vanderlip, Sr. Family Portrait, c. 1911
Frank A. Vanderlip, Sr., the “Father of Palos Verdes,” was a visionary New York banker who purchased the 16,000 acre Rancho de los Palos Verdes from Jotham Bixby in 1913 that eventually became the cities of Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills Estates, Rolling Hills and Rancho Palos Verdes. Pictured here are Frank A. Vanderlip, Sr. with his wife Narcissa Mabel Cox Vanderlip and their children (left to right), Narcissa Vanderlip, Virginia Vanderlip, Frank A. Vanderlip, Sr., Narcissa Cox Vanderlip, Charlotte Vanderlip, Frank A. Vanderlip, Jr. and Kelvin Cox Vanderlip.
Second Annual Art Jury Dinner at La Venta Inn, 1924
On December 3, 1924 nineteen members of the Palos Verdes Art Jury gathered at La Venta Inn for dinner. President Myron Hunt is standing at the left. Jay Lawyer, General Manager of the Palos Verdes Project, is seated at the head of the table, with Col. John C. Low standing at his left, Charles H. Cheney visible in the lower right corner. Among the guests in attendance were George Edwin Bergstrom (President, Allied Architects Association), Sumner M. Spaulding (architect), G. Gordon Whitnall (Director, Los Angeles City Planning Commission), Alexander Phimister Proctor (sculptor), and Arthur Farwell (composer). Art Jury Member David C. Allison (architect) was also present.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
La Venta Inn, 1926
View looking north across the driveway of La Venta Inn. Visible is the parking lot, with a gathering of several horses and riders among parked automobiles, the pergola-covered courtyard, several figures standing on the tower stairway, and the newly added dining room with chimney, designed by architect W.L. Risley, in the northeast corner of the property. The Inn, originally built as a clubhouse (named “Clubhouse 764”) to entertain realtors and prospective landowners, opened in the summer of 1923 and was the first permanent building constructed by the Palos Verdes Project. The name was soon changed to La Venta (meaning “The Sale” in Spanish) and the inn served as a sales office and architectural prototype for the Peninsula. During the 1930s it became a weekend retreat for notable celebrities such as Charles Lindbergh, Erroll Flynn, Betty Grable, Bob Hope, Tyrone Power, Cary Grant, and Gloria Swanson. Briefly in 1942 the Inn became the central observation post of the coastal artillery. From 1944 to 1954 the property was the residence of Commander and Mrs. Stanley Schnetzler, and was re-established as an inn in 1955. On November 11, 1978, La Venta Inn became the first structure designated as an historical landmark by the Rancho de los Palos Verdes Historical Society.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
La Venta Inn Fountain, 1924
La Venta Inn Interior Lounge, 1925
The exterior view is looking northeast from the north terrace of La Venta Inn. Visible are a man and women sitting at a table with a view of Redondo Beach across the Santa Monica Bay in the background. A hexagonal fountain is visible in the foreground. The interior view of the lounge at La Venta Inn shows two women and a man sitting on either side of a large fireplace above which is a plaster mantel carved with a wreath enclosing a coat of arms.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Malaga Cove, Riders at North Entrance to Palos Verdes, 1926
The four riders on horseback along unpaved street at the “Puerta del Norte” (north entrance) garden area, designed by the Olmsted Brothers are, left to right, Howard Harris Towle (involved in the development of the Palos Verdes Project), his wife Gladys Towle, Reba Willis (manager of La Venta Inn), and George Bruner. A small black Scottish terrier dog is standing between the riders, and the Gardner Building is visible in the background at left.
The Girl from Montmartre Filming at La Venta Inn, 1925
View of the cast and crew gathered beneath the courtyard pergola while shooting on location at La Venta Inn. The silent film, released in January of 1926 and based on the novel Spanish Sunlight by Anthony Pryde, used La Venta to represent the main character’s home on the island of Majorca. Seated in front row are, left to right, Lewis Stone (actor), Barbara La Marr (actress), E.H. Calvert (actor), Mathilde Comont (actress), and at far right holding a hat across his knee, Robert Ellis (actor). Standing behind Stone and La Marr is the film’s director, Aldred E. Green and at far right, in a light-colored dress with dark long bow, Miss Reba Willis, manager of La Venta Inn.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Surveyors For Road Work, 1925
The widely renowned Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm was commissioned by Frank A. Vanderlip, Sr. to design a “New City” on the Palos Verdes Peninsula that involved a visionary transition from a rough settlement and natural environment into a habitation of cultural splendor. Implementing the Olmsted Brothers’ master plan are two men standing with surveying equipment and an automobile along an unpaved road. They are (left to right) Norm Marchmont, rod and chain man, and Val G. Mott, surveyor.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Residence, 1925
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., 1925
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (1870-1957) was the landscape architect for the Palos Verdes Project, a planned subdivision that became Palos Verdes Estates. Olmsted, a graduate of Harvard University (1894), formed the Olmsted Brothers landscaping firm with his half-brother, John Charles Olmsted (1852-1920), and by 1920 his projects included plans for metropolitan park systems and greenways across the country. He built a home in Palos Verdes designed by architect Myron Hunt in 1925. An elevated view looking south shows the Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. residence located on Rosita Place at the far left overlooking the cliffs of Malaga Cove. The house was demolished in 1971 due to bluff erosion. Malaga Cove School is beyond the Olmsted house, with La Venta Inn visible along the hilltop in the background.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Malaga Cove, Real Estate Rally at Site of Future Malaga Cove Plaza, 1923
Malaga Cove, Two Men with Typewriters at Site of Future Malaga Cove Plaza, 1923
People attending a real estate rally with a view of a parking area and two men seated at a table with typewriters while automobiles travel down a dirt road along agricultural fields at left and in the background.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Neptune Statue Dedication Ceremony, Malaga Cove Plaza, 1930
C. Herrick Hammond, President of the American Institute of Architects, is pictured making his speech to a crowd assembled at the Neptune statue’s dedication ceremony. Created by an unknown artist in the 17th century as a copy after the original 16th century bronze fountain by Giambologna, the sculpture was imported from Italy by the collector, Arnoldo Adolfo di Segni in the late 1920s, purchased from him by the Palos Verdes Project and dedicated in Malaga Plaza on February 16, 1930. The sculpture was restored and rededicated in 1969 and 1999.
Bruce Drug Store, Malaga Cove Plaza, 1927
Interior view of the Bruce Drug Store, located in the Gardner Building, dedicated on September 13, 1925. At right is the tiled soda counter facing the three arched windows overlooking the plaza. At left is the cash register and sundry counter, with a magazine rack visible along the back wall. Three glass lights are suspended from the ceiling. Described in the Palos Verdes Bulletin (Nov. 1926, p. 3) as “Handsomely finished in mahogany and tile with a fully-equipped lunch counter and soda fountain, it has also a large stock of drugs, toilet articles, stationery, photographic supplies and magazines and papers.” William E. Bruce was owner of the drug store, which opened on November 13, 1926.
Gardner Building, Malaga Cove Plaza, 1925
The Gardner Building (La Casa Primera) was dedicated on September 13, 1925. Built by W.W. Gardner, it was the site of the first classrooms and library in the community.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Land of My Sunset Dreams Float, Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena, 1927
In accordance with the year’s theme, “Songs in Flowers,” this Palos Verdes Estates float illustrated the song “The Land of My Sunset Dreams” by Wendell Hall, and symbolized the marriage of a beautiful young lady, Palos Verdes, to Neptune, the god of the Sea. The main feature of the float was a large shell made to resemble polished abalone, in which Neptune was supposed to have come to the shores of Palos Verdes. Two of Neptune’s mermaid daughters driving seahorses led the float. A replica of La Venta Inn was featured on one side of the float. It also included eight girls representing sports played all-year round in Palos Verdes Estates including tennis, golf, swimming, polo, yachting and horse riding. The float was designed by noted Southern California artist, Ralph Holmes, and was decorated with kelp, carnations, roses, heather and English ivy provided by the Palos Verdes Nursery. The float won first prize in its class.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Ladies’ Sun Parlor, Palos Verdes Golf Club, 1925
Interior view of the two-story, eleven-room Spanish-style clubhouse Ladies’ Sun Parlor, finished by March 1925 with open-beam ceiling and stonework floor. The golf course, which was designed by George C. Thomas Jr. and built by William P. Bell, opened on November 15, 1924, with landscaping designed by the Olmsted brothers.
Golfers at the Ninth Tee, Palos Verdes Golf Club, 1929
Group of three playing golf at the ninth tee at the Palos Verdes Golf Club. Dressed in plus-fours, the golfers are (left to right), Colonel John Chambers Low, Mr. Schuman, and Mr. Paine.
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. at the Palos Verdes Open Golf Tournament, Palos Verdes Golf Club, 1928
Group portrait of the actor, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., posing with five children at the Palos Verdes $2,500 “Open” Golf Tournament held December 30 & 31, 1927 through January 1, 1928 at the Palos Verdes Golf Club. Mr. Fairbanks, wearing a jacket and tie and plus-fours, is standing with children (left to right), Betsy Martin (daughter of Farnham Martin), Jane Low (daughter of Colonel John Chambers Low), Keegan Low (son of Col. Low), Harry Martin (son of Farnham Martin), and Eugene Etter (son of Edgar L. Etter).
Sam Kripple, Caddymaster, with Caddies at Palos Verdes Golf Club, 1926
Sam Kripple (1900-1967) with young caddies standing on the lawn in front of the Palos Verdes Golf Club. Three young boys in the foreground are shouldering bags of golf clubs, while the group listens to Sam, standing in the center and leaning on a golf club.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Malaga Cove School, 1926
The grammar school, built for a cost of $85,000, opened on April 5, 1926 and received an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects for the most notable school architecture in Southern California for the years 1925-26.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Palos Verdes College, c. 1947
Palos Verdes College was a private, two-year, co-ed, liberal arts college, located in the Rolling Hills area of Rancho Palos Verdes. It opened in September 1947 under the direction of founding president, Dr. Richard P. Saunders (pictured), who came to Palos Verdes from New York University. The site of the school was a former Army Air Force base, composed of barrack-like buildings. Due to a lack of funding, a permanent campus was never constructed and the college ultimately closed in August 1955. This image shows student Ruth Lissauer behind the wheel of a black car. In front of the car is a sign for the Palos Verdes College. Dr. Richard P. Saunders and three unidentified women are standing behind the car. A portion of the campus with buildings and hills are visible in the background.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes College Photo Collection
Chadwick School Main Entrance Building and Parking Lot, c. 1950
Roessler Hall was completed in 1938 along with four other buildings to establish the Palos Verdes location of the Chadwick School, originally called the Chadwick Seaside School. Started in 1935 in San Pedro by educator Margaret Lee Chadwick and her husband Commander Joseph Howard Chadwick, Chadwick is an independent K-12 day school, which at one time was a boarding school. It was the first high school on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Land for the school was donated to the Chadwicks by Frank Vanderlip, Sr., the New York financier who bought the Peninsula in 1913. Fred Roessler, the first mayor of the City of Palos Verdes Estates, donated $100,000 for the construction of the first building. Plot plans and drawings for the original building site including dormitories and classrooms were developed by architects and brothers, Birge M. Clark and David B. Clark.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Chadwick School Image Collection
Malaga Cove Library, c. 1935
Designed by architect Myron Hunt and landscaped by the Olmsted Brothers, the Malaga Cove Library opened to the public on June 3, 1930, as the Public Library and Art Gallery. The interior of the Library reflects the Mediterranean Revival architectural style of the building. Furniture was made by the Palos Verdes Furniture Guild and were replicas of antique renaissance tables and chairs brought from Italy by the Vanderlip family. In 1995, the Malaga Cove Library was listed on both the California Register of Historic Place and the National Register of Historic Places.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Students from Malaga Cove School Viewing Art, 1931
Beginning in 1930, Annual Purchase Prize Exhibitions featuring the leading painters of the time took place at the Malaga Cove Library and Art Gallery. This image shows students from Malaga Cove School viewing Western Sea and Coast, a painting by Paul Lauritz, in the 1931 Second Annual Purchase Prize Exhibition; the same year the Palos Verdes Community Arts Association was established.
Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District Collection
Palos Verdes Bathhouse and Beach Club, 1930
The Palos Verdes Bathhouse and Beach Club (now the Palos Verdes Beach and Athletic Club), opened June 1, 1930 at a cost of $75,000. The Club included a bathhouse with men’s and women’s dressing rooms, showers and lockers on the lower level, and a community area with a fireplace and windows overlooking the pool on the upper level. The Los Angeles engineering firm Elliott, Bowen and Waltz designed the pools which included a 45 x 105 ft. long main pool and a semicircular children’s wading pool. The pool water supply was taken from the ocean and pumped in daily. In 1965, the Club was renamed the Roessler Pool in honor of the City’s first mayor, Fred Roessler. After extensive renovations in 1998, the Club reopened as the Palos Verdes Beach and Athletic Club.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Haggarty Residence, 1928
John Joseph Haggarty was born in London in 1864, married Bertha M. Schneider in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1901, and came to Los Angeles in 1902. Designed by architect Armand Monaco with lush landscaping designed by the Olmsted Brothers, the expansive, one-story Italianate villa with tile roof was originally built as a summer residence for the wealthy Los Angeles business merchant at a cost of $750,000. It consisted of 30 rooms, a conservatory, formal garden, gardener’s cottage, a swimming pool, private pier and two garages housing six automobiles. When the Haggerty business faltered, the mansion passed through several owners and was finally bought by Harry Wheeler, a midwest financier who purchased the estate to house his art collection. Upon Wheeler’s death the property was purchased in 1950 by the United Church of Christ and became the Neighborhood Church in 1953.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
Three Views of Palos Verdes High School, 1961
In 1959, architects Richard Neutra and Robert Alexander were hired to work with local Palos Verdes architect Carrington Lewis on the design for a new high school. The project, completed in 1961, is a sprawling campus totaling 138,000 square feet and built at a cost of $4.5 million. The art jury required that the architects use clay tiles on the rooftops. The resulting buildings combine the clean lines of midcentury modernism with the more traditional elements of gabled tile roofs and stucco walls. Even so, Neutra couldn’t resist using his trademark “spider leg” metal supports on canopies, leaving his distinctive mark on the campus. Photography by Julius Shulman.
© J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
Peninsula Center Library, 1968
North Façade, Entrance, Community Room Interior, South Façade (Night), Courtyard Garden Interior, Julius Shulman Photography
In 1965 plans for a centrally located library were announced to relieve overcrowding at the Malaga Cove Library, then the only library on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and to provide library services in the area where the population was rapidly expanding. Designed by architects A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons, the three-level contemporary designed Peninsula Center Library opened in July 1967 at a total cost of $1,644,000. The building occupied 64,600 sq. ft of floor space with library services on the main floor and parking facilities both above and below the main library floor. The Peninsula Center Library was remodeled and expanded in 1995, almost doubling in size from the original structure. Julius Shulman (1910-2009) was an active architectural photographer from 1936 until 1986. He is renowned for some of the most iconic photographs in architectural history. His images promoted the careers of many prominent architects including A. Quincy Jones and Richard Neutra, both featured in this exhibition.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Palos Verdes Library District Collection #18
Aerial Photo of South Coast Botanic Garden Prior to Development
Located on Crenshaw Boulevard, just below Palos Verdes Drive North, the 87 acres that make up the South Coast Botanic Gardens was acquired by the Los Angeles County Department of Sanitation from Great Lakes Carbon Corporation in 1956 for use as a cut and cover dump site. First plantings for the South Coast Botanic Gardens started in 1961.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Your Story is the Peninsula’s Story Collection
California State College at Palos Verdes, 1964
In 1960, California Governor Pat Brown funded the design of a new college campus to be built in the South Bay called South Bay State College. The first college administrator, Leo Cain, chose a spot on the cliffs overlooking the ocean in Rancho Palos Verdes, and changed the name of the school to California State College at Palos Verdes. Cain selected A. Quincy Jones to design a campus plan in 1964, however rising land costs in the community necessitated the consideration of alternative sites. When the Watts Riots broke out in 1965, Governor Brown decided that the university needed to be accessible to the low-income population in the adjacent communities. Jones adapted the plans for his campus in Palos Verdes to the cow pastures of Dominguez Hills in Carson, where the first buildings opened in 1968 as California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Collection of Dr. Stuart W. Leslie, The Johns Hopkins University and CSUDH Photo Archives
Wayfarers Chapel at Portuguese Bend, 1951
Narcissa Cox Vanderlip, a member of the Swedenborgian Church, contributed the 3 1/2-acre site for the chapel, for which the cornerstone was dedicated on July 16, 1949. Lloyd Wright, son of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, was hired to design the chapel. It opened in 1951 and serves as a national memorial to Emanuel Swedenborg, an 18th century scientist, philosopher, and theologian.
Ernest Marquez Collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California
Pacific Unitarian Church, c. 1965
The Pacific Unitarian Church was designed by architect Carleton M. Winslow, Jr. The main building of the Pacific Unitarian Church, measuring 54’ x 54’ at the interior with a seating capacity for 300, was completed in 1965 at an estimated cost of $130,000. The east and west walls are made of dark bronze glass. The north and south walls are part solid and clear glass with overhangs.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Pacific Unitarian Church Photo Collection
Palos Verdes Community Arts Center, 1975
Originally located in the Malaga Cove Library, the desire to have a dedicated gallery and art center started soon after the creation of the Palos Verdes Community Arts Association in 1931. Through generous contributions and an annual fundraising festival called Art for Fun(d)s Sake, at one time the largest outdoor arts festival in Southern California, the Art Center became a reality 43 years later. The building was designed by local architect Lowell “Skip” Lusk and was dedicated in 1974.
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Sam Williams’ Images of the Peninsula
Palos Verdes Community Arts Association, Pen and Ink Rendering by Dirk Ryke, 1981
This 1981 rendering illustrates the original building (on the right) modified to include a new addition (on the left) housing the Beckstrand Gallery, named for Dr. Grant Beckstrand and his wife Mildred who became the first female president of the association in 1949 and continued to be an active member for nearly 50 years.
Collection of Palos Verdes Art Center / Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education
Dr. Grant Beckstrand House, 1949
Longtime members and major supporters of the Palos Verdes Community Arts Association, Mildred and Dr. Grant Beckstrand became good clients and close friends of architect Richard Neutra (1892-1970). His first project on the Peninsula, the Beckstrand House in Palos Verdes Estates was completed in 1940, the same year they joined PVCAA. It is a classic example of the steel and glass construction synonymous with Richard Neutra. Photography by Julius Shulman.
© J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).
Entrance Sign Marineland of the Pacific, c. 1980s
Marineland of the Pacific Aerial View
Marineland of the Pacific was a public oceanarium and tourist attraction located in Rancho Palos Verdes. Architect William Pereira designed the main structure. Marineland opened August 28, 1954 and closed February 11, 1987. One postcard image shows the view of Marineland entrance looking south. It is printed on the reverse with “Bubbles, the pilot whale and her friends, the Pacific White-sided Dolphins — all done up in fiberglass — make a spectacular sign at one of the entrances to Marineland on Palos Verdes Drive South in Rancho Palos Verdes.” The other postcard image shows an aerial view of the Sea Arena, Oval Tank and Whale Tank. It is printed on the reverse with “Palos Verdes Drive – Southern California / This huge oceanarium houses the world’s greatest sea life spectacular. Sea lions and porpoises perform in the Sea Arena (bottom, right); thousands of fish and other sea animals live in the Oval Tank (upper center), and huge whale waltz leap and cavort in the deep Whale Tank (top, left).”
Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection
Collection of Materials Related to Marineland #02
Art for Fun(d)s Sake at Marineland, 1973
The purchase of the land for the current Lowell Lusk designed building was largely made possible by Art for Fund(s) Sake, a two-day, family-friendly, outdoor community extravaganza run by an army of volunteers. Started in 1963, it was a major fundraising source for the Art Center and continued for the next 40 years. It reached its heyday in the ‘70s when it took place at Marineland where attendance peaked at 40,000 in 1974. The total profits of $34,000 went to the building fund.
Collection of Palos Verdes Art Center / Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education
This exhibition is made possible, in part, by generous support from –
