For LAVA co-founder Richard Schave’s once-a-year birthday bus adventure, we ask you to pack a picnic lunch (we’ll supply the birthday cake and coffee) and join us for an all-day outing exploring the history, landscape and built environment of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. This is a one-time only bus adventure that will never be repeated.

Richard’s co-host will be Monique Sugimoto, Historian at Peninsula Center Library, Rolling Hills Estates. She is doing deep and fundamental work in the library’s archive, some which is already online.

You might think you already know a little something about Palos Verdes, but it isn’t until you delve into its deep and layered history that you can truly wrap your mind around the place.

Richard’s birthday bus tour will reveal the hidden history of this gorgeous coastal community. You’ll learn about its ranching and farming periods, including the enormous impact of Japanese internment on what had been thriving commercial farming center, and about the prominent role the peninsula has played in US military strategy, from World War I to the end of the Cold War.

It’s said that you can’t turn around on the Peninsula without meeting a rocket scientist. With its proximity to so many aerospace and defense industry companies, the area has long attracted engineers, mathematicians and physicists. The housing boom of the 1950s transformed the peninsula: in just 14 years, the population swelled from 6,500 to 54,000.

Also in mid-century, Marineland of the Pacific became one of Southern California’s greatest tourist attractions. We’ll stop at the Point Vincente Interpretive Center to view the historic site from the bluffs, tour the world’s largest collection of Marineland memorabilia and hear insider lore from its golden age.

We’ll also visit Palos Verdes Estates, to explore the development’s fascinating architectural and philosophical origins. Palos Verdes Estates was one of the first planned communities in the United States, home to a host of well-known characters, ranging from movie stars to nationally renowned landscape architects. The Roessler Pool (Kirtland Cutter, 1930), the library (Myron Hunt, 1930), the golf course and La Venta Inn (Davis & Davis, 1924): these early community amenities stand as benchmarks in the development of Southern California’s Spanish Colonial Revival design style.

The preservation of open space defines the area, and has been integral to the peninsula since planners the Olmsted Brothers’ day. Just take a look at Santa Monica, with its construction all the way to the water, to see how extraordinary this is. Throughout the day, you’ll enjoy unparalleled views of the place where land and sea meet.

All this, and more, will be revealed when you join us for Richard’s birthday bus tour of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Southern California’s Best Kept Secret!