Palos Verdes

The Santa Monica bay is very large. At one point that is where people wanted to build the port. Good thing they didn’t for two reasons, it’s actually not deep enough and now it is simply a beautiful bay. Sorry San Pedro and Wilmington, you ended up with the big industrial port.On Sunday we were invited to a birthday brunch at the Terranea resort. This is the old location of Marineland – a precurser to the many Sea Worlds out there. Although Marineland closed down in 1987, this resort wasn’t completed until 2009. Which leads me to think that these tiles were made deliberately to look old and worn. Knowing what I know about tiles, that wasn’t a good choice, it simply makes them look cheap. Since this style of tile would have been with the different colors of clay running through, at least a couple of millimeters. Oh well, how many people really look down at the floor they are walking on?Or look into a golf cart to see a Harris Hawk, hood on and all waiting to do his job.If it weren’t for his handler, I wouldn’t have known the breed. But he is there for bird abatement. He will fly over many parts of the resort, keeping the and sea gulls away – just with his presence. I did see the handler pull out a dead bird from the cooler and tear off a chunk. Even hawks don’t work for free. He needs to eat and be rewarded. No pictures of that, some people get very squeamish about real nature at work.Brunch was lovely, afterward, we changed into walking clothes and shoes and just started walking around. Palos Verdes is on cliffs high above the ocean, there are very few places that actually have a beach. Because of the different directions of wind and such in the bay, Santa Monica and Venice have very wide expanses of sand, Palos Verdes, at the southern tip, has none.

I am no geologist, but this cliff has fascinating stories to tell, of how it was created and now how it is being worn away.One thing PV has that most of LA doesn’t have, is this marine layer. On a hot July day, the clouds are hanging low in the sky. The piling is one of the few left from the Marineland days. We walked on, away from the resort and along the bluffs, enjoying the views.Even looking back down on Terranea.My love of Light houses was rewarded. Even if I don’t go in, seeing a light house up on a cliff makes me happy. This is Point Vicente Light house, that operated from 1926 until 1939. Today all the duties of a light house are done electronically, so they are historic relics of what boats had to contend with in the past. I still love them and hope that they are kept in good condition for visitors to see.This one still has the Fresnel lens, which was very powerful at the time it was installed, it could be seen 20 miles out to seeunless the fog got too thick and then the fog horn would blow.Today the danger is from the land much more than the sea. I love how the sign says: Don’t even think about it! Sadly, every few years, either accidents or stupidity happens and someone gets killed falling down these cliffs to the rocky beach below. Not far from this sign there was one of those shrines, candles and plastic flowers. No name but the relatives of the deceased must still come by.

One last look at the light house and back to our car we went.

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Leah

One thought on “Palos Verdes”

  1. Very nostalgic for me. l grew up there; we lived so close to the Pt. Vicente lighthouse, we could hear the foghorn at night.

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