| Palos Verdes Hills | |
|---|---|
.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 | |
| Peak | San Pedro Hill |
| Elevation | 1,457 ft (444 m) |
| Geography | |
  Palos Verdes Hills Palos Verdes Hills (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| District | Los Angeles County |
| Range coordinates | 33°44′50″N118°20′9″W / 33.74722°N 118.33583°W /33.74722; -118.33583 |
| Topo map | USGS San Pedro |
ThePalos Verdes Hills are a lowmountain range on the southwestern coast ofLos Angeles County, California.[1] They lie on thePalos Verdes Peninsula, asubregion of theLos Angeles metropolitan area. Historically, the hills used to be referred to as theSan Pedro Hills, named after the nearbyRancho San Pedro.
The Palos Verdes Hills are the landed end of theChannel Islands of California, a mountains formation in theTransverse Ranges System.
ThePortuguese 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 islandbiogeography and evolutionary ecology. The geographical location and geological history of the hills make the remainingcoastal 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 orDudleya virens, isendemic to the Channel Islands and the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
The hills are the location of suburban communities and cities together known asPalos Verdes, and includePalos Verdes Estates,Rancho Palos Verdes,San Pedro, gatedRolling Hills, andRolling Hills Estates.
TheWayfarers Chapel was a transparent glass chapel within a plantedCoast redwood forest, designed in 1951 by the renowned architect and landscape architectLloyd Wright. Located on a bluff above the Pacific Ocean, it was affiliated with theSwedenborgian Church, and was a well-known local landmark on theNational Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County. After earth movement damaged the building and surrounding site in 2024, the decision was made to carefully deconstruct the structure in order to preserve as much as possible, in collaboration with historic preservation experts and the National Park Service, with hopes of finding a new site.[2]
The large and diverse Los Angeles CountySouth Coast Botanic Garden is located in the central Palos Verdes Hills. It is an 87-acre (35-hectare) landscapedbotanical garden, event venue, andarboretum with over 150,000 landscape plants and trees from California and around the world.
Media related toMinerals of Palos Verdes Hills at Wikimedia Commons
