Hotels in Rancho Palos Verdes, California

A little about Rancho Palos Verdes...

Rancho Palos Verdes (RPV) is a city in Los Angeles County, California that was incorporated on 7 September 1973. The population was 41,145 at the 2000 census.

Rancho Palos Verdes is a quiet, affluent suburb of Los Angeles. Sitting atop the bluffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, it is well known for its spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean (although these are sometimes obscured by the South Bay region's fog, which tends to envelop much of the South Bay in the Spring). Its most notable geographic features are the hills and cliffs with grand vistas of the Pacific Ocean, with views of Santa Catalina Island. Its most notorious geographic feature is the continuous landslide at Portuguese Bend, which may have been caused in part by septic runoff from homes in RPV and its neighboring communities.

There are several major landmarks of Rancho Palos Verdes. The first is the site of the former Marineland aquatic park, closed in 1987. It is now being developed for housing/hotel tracts. Numerous films have also been shot at the location since the park's closure. Second is the Trump National Golf Course at Ocean Trails, a somewhat ill-starred golf development at first (the course made national news when three holes slid into the ocean in 1999) but by 2004 the course had attracted the attention of Donald Trump, who bought the course and is planning to build a hotel/resort area adjacent. Third is the Point Vicente Lighthouse, built in 1926. The lighthouse, operated by the United States Coast Guard is also famous for ghost stories told of a mysterious woman in white who supposedly committed suicide while waiting for her husband to return from an ocean voyage, and who still keeps her ghostly vigil to this day. On days when the fog is thick, the lighthouse's powerful fog horn can be heard for miles along the sea side of the Peninsula. Fourth is the recently enlarged marine museum with its collection of indigenous tools and artifacts from earlier days when Portuguese Bend was used as a landing beach for smuggling. The major attractions of the Peninsula are the ocean vistas along the high cliffs that distinguish Rancho Palos Verdes and the other Peninsula cities from much of Los Angeles County. Numerous footpaths wind along the cliff tops. The City has been the site of a number of films and for the television series "The O.C.", which refers to Orange County, far south of Rancho Palos Verdes.