BlockBefore

Rancho Palos Verdes, California

39 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Palos Verdes census division. It lies in ZIP code area 90275. It lies near Altamira Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Redondo Beach OE S quadrangle. 42,287 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 220 feet above sea level.

Rancho Palos Verdes within Los Angeles County

Then and now

1896 to 1996

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Rancho Palos Verdes, surveyed 1996
Topographic sheet of Rancho Palos Verdes, surveyed 1896

Compare 1896 against another survey:

On record in Rancho Palos Verdes

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Population over time

3 figures

Rancho Palos Verdes grew from 36,577 to 42,287 between 1980 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
198036,577
201041,643
202042,287+644 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

16 surveys from 39 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

100 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 100 fires within 5 miles of Rancho Palos Verdes between 2005 and 2020, burning about 501 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined57
Equipment and vehicle use20
Smoking11
Arson/incendiarism4
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Debris and open burning2
Misuse of fire by a minor2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2011Smoking1.0 acresLos Angeles County Fire Departmentnot named
6 September 2020Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresLos Angeles County Fire Departmentnot named
6 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreLos Angeles County Fire Departmentnot named
6 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
29 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
28 September 2005Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
17 September 2005Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Los Angeles County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Rancho Palos Verdes: 9 past producers, 2 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Diatomite, Limestone, General, Dolomite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Hilltop QuarryLimestone, General, DolomitePast Producer
Palos Verdes Stone QuarryStonePast Producer
Diatomaceous Earth DepositDiatomiteOccurrence
Diatomaceous Earth QuarryDiatomitePast Producer
DicaliteDiatomiteOccurrence
Chandlers Palos Verdes S&G Co.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Edward Sidebotham and Sons, Inc.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Graham Bros.-Lomita PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Livingston Rock and Gravel Co.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Richard BallSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Los Angeles County

Storms near this place

1 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rancho Palos Verdes in 1 storm report in 2000: 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2000Funnel CloudRancho Palos Verdes-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Los Angeles County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Portuguese Bend1.0 miles37
Palos Verdes Peninsula1.6 miles43
Rolling Hills2.0 miles41
San Pedro Hill2.7 miles37
Miraleste3.3 miles41
Rolling Hills Estates3.4 miles41
Palos Verdes Estates3.9 miles43
Harbor Hills4.6 miles41

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Rancho Palos VerdesAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q180226The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 255967. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.