Scouting in the South Bay

Updated October 18, 2026.

South Bay kids from kindergarten through age 20 can join Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Girl Scouts, Venturing, Sea Scouts and cadet programs that meet year-round from Westchester and El Segundo to Torrance, the Palos Verdes Peninsula and San Pedro, and this page lists each local pack, troop, crew and ship with its meeting place, its cost to join as listed in October 2026 and the steps to sign up. Units meet anywhere from weekly to once a month at Scout houses, schools, parks and churches, and they take new members through the year.

Scouting America units here belong to the Greater Los Angeles Area Council, known as Greater LA Scouting. Its Pacifica District covers El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Gardena, Carson, Lomita, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates and San Pedro, and its Metropolitan District covers Westchester, with Gardena listed on the Metropolitan page too. Girl Scouts here belong to Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles. You don’t need to know your district to join: every pack, troop, crew and ship has its own Be A Scout page with an Apply Now button, and Girl Scout troops sign up through the myGS troop finder.

• How to sign up
• Cub Scouts
• Scouts BSA
• Venturing
• Sea Scouts
• Exploring
• Girl Scouts
• Cadet programs
• Questions

How do you sign up?

Scouting America (Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Venturing and Sea Scouts):

1. Go to Be A Scout, choose the program and enter your ZIP code. Each unit that comes up has a page listing where it meets, its cost to join, its unit dues and a website link, and a 10-mile radius brings in units from neighboring cities.
2. On the unit’s page, choose Apply Now. You create a my.Scouting account, fill out the youth application and pay at checkout, and financial aid is available to families who qualify. If you’d like to talk first, choose Request more information to message the unit.
3. Download the Scouting app, get in touch with the unit leader and go to your first meeting. Some troops, such as Troop 783 in Rolling Hills Estates, ask families to visit a meeting before applying.
4. Costs as listed on Be A Scout in October 2026: most Greater LA Scouting units list a $170 cost to join, a few units list $115, and a few Westchester-area units list $160. Each unit adds its own dues, from $10 to $350 on the listings on this page.

Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles:

5. Go to mygs.girlscouts.org and choose Find a Troop. Enter your ZIP code, pick a radius, leave Membership Year on the current year (October 2026 to September 2027) and choose the girl’s grade.
6. Open a troop with open spots and select the plus sign for each girl, then log in or create an account, fill in member details and pay. If no troop fits, choose Join Without a Troop to register as an individual member, or select the question mark icon to ask the council for help finding one.
7. Costs: membership is $45 plus any council fees, per the council’s Join page in October 2026. Fees are non-refundable, and you can choose Apply for financial aid at checkout. The membership year runs October 1 to September 30, and joining or renewing for the next year opens in April.

Exploring and cadet programs:

8. Exploring: find a post by postal code at joinexploring.org and register online, go to a post’s open house, or ask Greater LA Scouting to point you to the nearest post or club. The annual fee is $50 as of October 2026, and some posts add a program fee.
9. Sea Cadets: use the unit map at seacadets.org to request information from the South Bay Coastal Division or the Battleship Iowa Division. The recruiting team emails next steps and invites you to an orientation, and most units take new members only in September and January. National fees posted in May 2026 put the first-year total with Recruit Training at $675 to $1,225.
10. Civil Air Patrol: contact Squadron 107 through the Join page on sq107.cap.gov. California Wing cadet dues are $56 for October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027.
11. Young Marines: use Contact / Join Our Unit on the South Bay Young Marines page. New members complete a 26-hour Recruit Training orientation over several weekly meetings.

Where do Cub Scout packs meet in the South Bay?

Cub Scouts is for boys and girls in kindergarten through 5th grade, grouped by grade into Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos and Arrow of Light dens inside a pack. Packs here meet at elementary schools, Scout houses, parks and churches from El Segundo to San Pedro, and most recruit in the fall while taking new Scouts all year. Each card links to the pack’s Be A Scout page, where Apply Now starts the application.

Where do Scouts BSA troops meet in the South Bay?

Scouts BSA is for ages 11 to 17, in separate troops for boys and for girls, and each troop plans its own campouts, backpacking trips, merit badge work and service projects. Girls’ troops in this list include Troop 219 in El Segundo, Troop 310 in Torrance and Troop 258 in Palos Verdes Estates, and Troops 718, 860 and 927 each have a boys’ troop and a girls’ troop under the same number. Several troops invite families to visit a meeting before applying.

Which Venturing crews meet in the South Bay?

Venturing is co-ed, for ages 14 to 20 or 13 with 8th grade finished, and each crew picks its own high adventure, from kayaking and rappelling to robotics. Crews in this list meet in Hermosa Beach and Westchester, and a Be A Scout ZIP search shows any others nearby.

Where can teens join Sea Scouts?

Sea Scouts is the maritime side of Scouting America, for ages 14 to 20 or 13 with 8th grade finished, teaching boating, seamanship, navigation and water safety. Sea Scout Ship 1992 sails the Los Angeles Maritime Institute’s tall ships out of San Pedro, and Westchester and Playa del Rey families also have Ship 16 in Marina del Rey.

What is Exploring?

Exploring is Scouting America’s career program, where local employers and agencies host Explorer posts for ages 14 to 20 and Exploring clubs for 6th to 8th graders in fields like firefighting, law enforcement, medicine, aviation and engineering. Posts are listed by postal code at joinexploring.org, and registration is $50 a year as of October 2026.

How do girls join Girl Scouts here?

Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles serves girls from kindergarten through 12th grade, in troops led by adult volunteers that usually meet weekly or every other week. In October 2026 the myGS troop finder showed troops with open spots across the South Bay, from El Segundo and the Beach Cities to Torrance, the Peninsula, San Pedro, Carson and Westchester. Individual troops have no public pages, so the finder is where you choose one.

Which cadet programs meet in the South Bay?

South Bay teens who want a uniformed cadet program have Civil Air Patrol Beach Cities Cadet Squadron 107 at Torrance Airport for ages 12 to 18, the South Bay Young Marines in San Pedro from age 8 through high school, and U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps divisions in Redondo Beach and aboard the Battleship Iowa in San Pedro for ages 10 to 18.

Questions families ask

We do our very best to supply facts drawn from official sources so that the information you find here is reliable and accurate. If we find conflicting information, we report on all of it. Details come from each organization’s own pages and official finders, read October 18, 2026. Seasons, fees and meeting places change, so check with the group before you sign up.

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