South Bay History

Updated October 18, 2026.

If you live in the South Bay or are moving here, the piers, the harbor, the refinery towns and the Peninsula bluffs you pass every day carry more than a century of recorded history, from George Freeth’s surfing exhibitions at Venice and Redondo Beach in 1907 to the Battleship IOWA on the San Pedro waterfront. This guide gathers those stories city by city and theme by theme, with a timeline, the museums that keep them, and where to see what remains.

Many of these stories are told more than one way. Each history page tells its story from the sources and ends with a list of every place the sources disagree, with who says what.

• Timeline
• Stories by place and theme
• Museums and historical societies
• Questions

When did the key moments in South Bay history happen?

Explore the History & Stories That Made the South Bay What It Is Today

What museums and historical societies tell the South Bay’s story?

These are the places that keep the South Bay’s history open to visitors. Hours change, and several keep short weekend hours, so check before you go.

The Beach Cities each have a historical society: the Manhattan Beach Historical Society, the Hermosa Beach Historical Society, which runs the Hermosa Beach Museum, and the Redondo Beach Historical Society, which runs the Morrell House. For old photographs, the San Pedro Bay Historical Society keeps a picture file and negative file, the Palos Verdes Library District’s Local History Center holds photos, maps and oral histories, the Torrance Historical Society opens its archives for research by appointment, and the El Segundo Public Library keeps a History Room and photo archive.

One correction, because it is still listed as open in many places: the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo closed in October 2024. If a things-to-do list still shows it, that list is out of date. Wayfarers Chapel, covered on our Palos Verdes Peninsula history page, is also closed to visitors.

Questions people ask about South Bay history

Did surfing start in the South Bay?

Surfing reached the California mainland earlier. The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History says three Hawaiian princes rode redwood boards at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz in the summer of 1885. The South Bay’s claim is George Freeth, who arrived from Honolulu in 1907 and gave surfing exhibitions at Venice and Redondo Beach. Historian Arthur C. Verge says Freeth first demonstrated and taught surfing in Southern California, and the California Surf Museum says his demonstrations marked the start of organized wave riding on the mainland. Redondo sources go further: the Redondo Pier site says Freeth introduced surfing to California, and Los Angeles County calls Redondo the home of California’s first modern surfer.

Was beach volleyball invented in Manhattan Beach?

No source we found says so. The FIVB says beach volleyball most likely began on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii in 1915 and that most accounts place its origin in Santa Monica, where families played six against six in the 1920s. The South Bay’s story is the Manhattan Beach Open, first played August 27 to 28, 1960, according to the International Volleyball Hall of Fame. Beach volleyball’s first Olympic medal event was held at Atlanta in 1996.

Did Manhattan Beach sand go to Waikiki?

It is a long-told story, and the versions disagree. Los Angeles County says shipments began in the late 1920s and ran almost 10 years. Marshall Kuhn, in a 1973 Daily Breeze interview, put the start in the early 1920s and said the sand was sold, while a friend quoted by Easy Reader in 2012 recalled it being donated. Engineering histories posted by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources do not mention Manhattan Beach and say documented 1930s sand placements at Waikiki came from other parts of Oahu.

What happened to the Hotel Redondo?

The 225-room Hotel Redondo opened on May 1, 1890, on the ground that is now Veterans Park. The City of Redondo Beach says it closed because of Prohibition and was sold for scrap lumber in 1925 for $3,000; Los Angeles County puts the price at $300. It was demolished in 1925. Path of History marker No. 18 stands in Veterans Park along the Esplanade.

What happened to Wayfarers Chapel?

Wayfarers Chapel, designed by Lloyd Wright and dedicated on May 13, 1951, was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 13, 2023. It closed on February 15, 2024 because of land movement and was fully taken apart by July 2024. In May 2025 the chapel announced a prospective new site at the former Battery Barnes, next to Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall. Sunday services are held for now at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Palos Verdes Estates.

What is the story of Bruce’s Beach?

Willa Bruce bought an oceanfront lot on The Strand in 1912, according to the County and the City’s History Advisory Board (Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office says Willa and Charles bought it together), and the couple ran a resort for Black beachgoers. In 1924 the Manhattan Beach City Council voted to condemn the property for a park, and Los Angeles County says the real motive was racial. The County returned the land to the Bruces’ heirs on July 20, 2022, and in January 2023 the family decided to sell it to the County at a price the County says will not exceed $20 million. Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell’s office said the property was appraised at $21 million.

How did El Segundo get its name?

El Segundo is Spanish for the second. Chevron says El Segundo was chosen in 1911 as the site of Standard Oil’s second refinery in California. Urbanize LA reports that the city’s name derives from the refinery, though the Chevron pages we read do not say the city was named for it.

Where can I see South Bay history in person?

Start with the Hermosa Beach Museum at 710 Pier Avenue, the Redondo Beach Historical Museum at 302 Flagler Lane, the Torrance Historical Society and Museum at 1345 Post Ave., the Western Museum of Flight at Zamperini Field in Torrance, and the Los Angeles Maritime Museum and the Battleship IOWA on the San Pedro waterfront. The Freeth bust on the Redondo Beach Pier, the Manhattan Beach Pier and the Beach Boys landmark in Hawthorne are outdoor sites.

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. Sources were read October 18, 2026. Some details in the museum list come from long-standing local accounts rather than a source we could link: the Battleship IOWA as home of Los Angeles Fleet Week, the $8 million figure for the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium renovation and the count of artist studios at Angels Gate Cultural Center.

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