The Portuguese Bend Club is a private beach colony that has existed since the 1940s. Now, there are 94 homes there and their occupants live alongside a landslide that presents a tolerable amount of inconvenience.
Covering 38 acres with a half mile of coastline, this area was once a haven of summer cottages and small homes built on land leased from Palos Verdes Properties. They were the typical 1940s weekend places where people went to have a quiet time at the beach. Back then there was a clubhouse, restaurant, paddle tennis courts, 50 foot swimming pool, a sandy beach, and a 485 foot long dockwhere boats could tie up. The restaurant, dock and clubhouse are gone and have been replaced with a volleyball court, playground equipment and, of course, the clubs signature palm thatched ramadas and picnic tables.
Portuguese Bend Club before Landslide.Kelly-Holiday Photography. (LAPublic LibraryPhotos). Note "PBC" in plants on hillside on right.
The leases on the cottages were short, only twenty-five years, because Palos Verdes Properties was not sure what they wanted to do with the property. Then in 1956 a 260 acre landslide started and dramatically changed any plans that may have existed. The land slide was triggered by roadwork by L.A. County road crews who were constructing an extension of Crenshaw Blvd. from Crest Road, through Portuguese Bend, to Palos Verdes Drive West. Approx. 235,000 tons of dirt which had been excavated for the road had been relocatedto the top of an ancient, but previously dormant land slide. In August, 1956, the landslide broke a water line, and significant land movement began. A number of homes began to slide and some of the roads had to be re-routed. Some residents gave up and saw their homes go into the ocean; others left the area. Approx. 100 homes were destroyed, and more than 50 damaged, and the Portuguese Bend club house, restaurant, and pool were destroyed.
The land in this area has moved more than 400 feet seaward, and continues to creep towards the ocean to this day, requiring constant repair and maintenance by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes. A significant amount of the City's annual road maintenance budget is spent on this work. A building moratorium still exists in the landslide area. Several homes continue to be occupied in the land slide area, with the homeowners constantly leveling their home due to land movement by the use of hydraulic jacks.
On October 1, 2008, the State Appeals Court reversed a lower court decision and decided that the Land Slide building moratorium ordinance of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes for the Portuguese Bend area constituted an unconstitutional "taking" of property, and that the City should issue building permits to property owners wishing to build homes in the area."A permanent ban on home construction cannot be based merely on a fear of personal injury or significant property damage," the jurist concluded, and ordered the case remanded for further proceedings to determine an appropriate remedy.
On October 8th, 2008, the City Council decided to appeal this decision to the State Supreme Court.On Wednesday December 17th, 2008, the California State Supreme Court denied the City of Rancho Palos Verdes appeal of the Appelate Court's decision allowing homeowners in the Portuguest Bend landslide moratorium zones the right to develop their properties.
For more about the HISTORY OF RANCHO PALOS VERDES visit my website at http://www.maureenmegowan.com
