Palos Verdes, while first described in 1542 by Portuguese Explorer Juan Cabrillo, for almost three centuries the Palos Verdes Peninsula remained undisturbed and the exclusive domain of the Gabrielino Indians, whose artifacts are still being unearthed. In 1827, Don Dolores Sepulveda received an original land grant to Rancho de los Palos Verdes, which translates to range of green trees. For over 35 years the 75,000 acres awarded by the Governor of Mexico California to Don Sepulveda supported several thousand heads of cattle and a flourishing hacienda. However, through misfortune and mishaps from 1862 to 1882, stewardship of much of this land passed from the Sepulveda family through various mortgage holders to Jotham Bixby of Rancho Los Cerritos. When land value dictated that his Peninsula property could no longer be used for only cattle grazing, Bixby leased the land to Japanese farmers for cultivating grains and vegetables.

By 1913, a consortium of New York investors owned most of the Bixby land. Initially, these investors intended to divide the land into large estates. The founding father of the Peninsula, Frank Vanderlip, was one of these investors. Over the next decade, interest in the Peninsula would wane until Vanderlip allied himself with real estate promoter E. G. Lewis. The first homes began to appear in 1924. During the next fifty years the communities of Palos Verdes would begin to take shape.