Blog: Vanderlip's Palos Verdes Project

Early in 1913, George Bixby decided to sell approximately 16,000 acres of the Rancho de los Palos Verdes (retaining about 1,000 acres which later became Harbor City), which his father, Jotham Bixby, had acquired in1882 by a legal partition of the original land grant area of Rancho de los Palos Verdes.

He sold the land to Walter Fundenburg, who agreed to pay $1.8 million. Unable to raise the necessary funds, Fundenburg assigned the property to the real estate firm Schader and Adams. They, too, were unable to raise the necessary capital, and Bixby foreclosed on the mortgage. After much litigation, Bixby agreed to allow Schader and Adams 90 days to complete the purchase. Mr. Schader then left for New York to raise the money with about 20 days left. While there, Schader was able to get Mr. Frank A. Vanderlip, then the president of the City National Bank of New York, interested in the property.

Although Mr. Vanderlip had never seen the property, after only a 10-minute meeting with Mr. Schaeder, he was intrigued and recognized the potential for development.

By November 1913, Mr. Vanderlip organized a consortium of New York investors and completed the purchase of the property. Historical accounts of the final purchase price range from $1.5 million to just over $2 million. 

Initially, these investors intended to divide the land into large estates. The founding father of the Peninsula, Frank Vanderlip, was one of these investors. Vanderlip was a self-made man, an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President McKinley, and president of the National City Bank of New York.

From the beginning, Vanderlip had great plans for the development of the property. As early as 1914, Vanderlip hired architects, including the landscape architectural firm of Olmsted Brothers, to draw up a master plan for the development. Original plans included the construction of a magnificent golf club on the bluffs overlooking Portuguese Bend, to be known as "Los Palos Verdes Country Club."

Vanderlip planned to develop the area above Point Vicente lighthouse as an Italian hillside village, to be occupied by craftsmen who would live, work, and sell their wares.

Vanderlip writes glowingly in his biography about a visit in 1916 to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the property he bought unseen three years earlier. He describes his vision for the development, likening the geographical location to Italy where he took vacations:

"I found myself reminded vividly of the Sorrentine Peninsula and the Amalfi Drive: Yet the most exciting part of my vision was that this gorgeous scene was not a piece of Italy at all but was here in America, an unspoiled sheet of paper to be written on with loving care."

For more info on the History of the South Bay, see my website at southbayhistory.com.