IN THE BEGINNING
The first inhabitants were the California coastal natives who took advantage of the mild climate, abundant fishing and plentiful salt from a lake near the current border of Hermosa Beach. Modern history dates to when Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovered the sweeping Santa Monica Bay in 1542. However, the area remained mostly undeveloped until the late 1880s. Like HB and Manhattan Beach, this land was also divided into massive parcels for farming by the Spanish and Mexican governments.
THE FIRST FAMILY
The area's heritage is closely tied to the Dominguez clan. Juan Jose Dominguez, a member of the 1769 Spanish expedition to Alta California who stayed on as a peace officer, guide, and protector of mission founders including Father Junipero Serra, was given the first Spanish land grant in California known as Rancho San Pedro in 1784 as a reward for his service to Spain’s king. The land continued to be passed on from relative to relative although the size of the ranch decreased. In1825, Don Manuel Dominguez and his brothers inherited 43,000 acres and eventually he bought out his siblings. After his 1882 death, the land was left to his six daughters who over the years sold it off in chunks. But the family’s importance is memorialized in city, college, park and street names throughout the South Bay (i.e. Carson, CSU Dominguez Hills, Victoria Regional Park and Del Amo Boulevard and Fashion Center.).
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Redondo Beach was incorporated in 1892 and it is believed its name, Spanish for round, refers either to the half-round street pattern of the original town site or to the adjacent Rancho Sausal Redondo. In 1889, the coastal tract of 433 acres was sold for $12,000 to Robert Thompson and John Ainsworth’s Redondo Beach Improvement Company and they quickly developed, promoted and sold the property.
BEACH BOOMTOWN TO BUST AND BACK AGAIN
Redondo was the first port of LA County and that meant thousands of people and freight loads arrived daily by ship and rail. In 1890, the $250,000 Hotel Redondo opened with tennis courts, golf course and 225 luxury rooms, luring more people to the sunny shores. If the prices were too steep at the resort, one could book space in the nearby Tent City. The piers offered great fishing, games and rides. Other attractions included The Plunge, billed as the "largest indoor salt water heated pool in the world," and the 12-acre Carnation Gardens. RB’s popularity declined as shippers began to favor San Pedro Harbor as of 1899. The railroad pulled out in 1926. The Hotel Redondo was forced to close its doors in 1925 thanks to prohibition and was sold for scrap lumber worth $300. The Depression brought gambling, mobsters and shootings to town until the early ‘40s. Gambling ships could be reached by water taxi for 25 cents. Mother Nature also seemed to have it in for RB as waves and storms obliterated beaches, streets and piers. In 1956, work began on the upgraded King Harbor marina, named in honor of Representative Cecil R. King who pushed hard for the improvements. Post World War II, RB saw a residential rush, an influx of businesses like aerospace giant TRW, and a revival of civic interest, all of which continue today.
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