1896 Map of Redondo

About this map

The coastal shelf of Southern California appears here in its late nineteenth-century configuration, defined by sprawling ranchos and emerging rail-dependent settlements. Sausal Redondo and La Ballona dominate the landscape, while the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe R. R. connects the developing hub of Inglewood to the coast. At the southern edge, the Los Palos Verdes San Pedro Hills rise sharply above the Pacific, overlooking a complex of coastal wetlands including the Wilmington Lagoon and the tidal reaches of Nigger Slough. This survey captures the region just as the pastoral era was yielding to residential and industrial growth. Notable landmarks of the previous decades, such as the Drum Barracks in Wilmington, remain prominent, while newer points like Port Ballona and Redondo indicate the growing importance of maritime commerce and recreation along the bay.