{"id":378198,"date":"2026-06-28T12:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T12:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/378198\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T12:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T12:23:12","slug":"how-san-pedros-sunken-city-fell-into-the-ocean-and-why-you-might-be-able-to-visit-the-remnants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/378198\/","title":{"rendered":"How San Pedro\u2019s Sunken City fell into the ocean \u2014 and why you might be able to visit the remnants"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Palos Verdes Peninsula has received a lot of attention in recent years because of accelerated land movement<\/a>, but one landslide in the area has been a draw for decades because of its dystopian state with fractured streets.<\/p>\n

Nearly 100 years ago, residents of San Pedro\u2019s Point Fermin neighborhood had a dream of living by the ocean, but the cliffs became their undoing. A landslide slowly ripped Point Fermin apart. This southernmost part of Los Angeles County was given a new nickname to fit its troubled state: Sunken City.<\/p>\n

Today, it\u2019s full of torn-up terrain, graffiti and remnants of old homes, rising out of the ground like fossils. It\u2019s still considered dangerous, but its mysterious remnants make for a compelling backdrop \u2014 you may have seen it in movies like the ash-spreading scene in The Big Lebowski. But soon, you could visit it too. The city of L.A. is working on reopening a section \u2014 possibly in the next year.<\/p>\n

Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n

If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n

How the landslide started<\/p>\n

Point Fermin is where you can get a spectacular view of the water. On a clear day, you can see down the Pacific Ocean as far as Catalina Island.<\/p>\n

That scenery is why people wanted to live on its bluff. In the 1920s, Los Angeles was on the cusp of a population boom, so naturally, building homes on the coastline made sense. Developer George Peck took that idea and built an upscale neighborhood with bungalows.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

An Easter Sunday service on a Point Fermin hilltop, taken between 1920 and 1939.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

UCLA Library Department of Special Collections<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

It lasted for a few years, but in the months leading up to January 1929<\/a>, some strange coincidences began to happen. Pipes were breaking more than expected, but it wasn\u2019t clear why.<\/p>\n

Then, a waterline broke under an inn and a crack appeared. At first, it was brushed off as a \u201csimple landslide<\/a>\u201d with minimal danger, but it eventually became known as an uncontrollable \u201cact of God<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crack formed near the cliffside back around to Pacific Avenue and Paseo del Mar. Part of it even caved in<\/a>, forming a deep, 10-foot-long hole in front of homes.<\/p>\n

F.L. Ransome, a geology professor at Caltech, reportedly<\/a> told L.A.\u2019s city engineer that land had slid up to 8 inches, ripping open utility pipes and pulling apart building foundations.<\/p>\n

He warned that the area was no longer suitable for large structures and that water in the area may accelerate the movement, producing \u201cdisastrous changes on the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A section of the Point Fermin landslide in 1932.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Joseph E. Carter\/Dick Whittington Studio<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

USC Libraries Special Collections<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

At that point, the slide, which covered<\/a> 5 acres, was mostly blamed on ground weakness and wave erosion. The city filled cracks as they happened and explored ways to protect the area, including with eminent domain. Property owners in 55 lots petitioned<\/a> the city to buy them out.<\/p>\n

But by September, the situation became so risky that geologists recommended<\/a> the area be condemned. L.A. officials told residents<\/a> to leave or risk \u201ctheir own peril.\u201d<\/p>\n

A slow march to the sea<\/p>\n

For the next several years, Point Fermin was in limbo. The ground still moved but mostly at a snail\u2019s pace. The keyword is mostly. The area was plagued by huge cracks that tore apart the once-thriving community \u2014 some 40 feet wide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Multiple incidents caused the landslide to move faster, including heavy rains. Numbers varied, but it was reported <\/a>that the grounds shifted more than 30 feet seaward and 30 feet down by 1941.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Heavy rains loosened 200 tons of earth at Point Fermin in San Pedro, as shown Feb. 17, 1941.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Herald Examiner Collection<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Public Library<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

This destroyed the area. The city demolished homes that were too damaged to live in, and others were relocated to other parts of L.A. Officials eventually bought up nearly all of the impacted land to turn it into a park<\/a>. But with the heightened risk, much of the area was blocked off to the public for years.<\/p>\n

Around this period, landslides happened in other parts of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, like the Portuguese Bend. The issue became such a problem that insurance companies refused<\/a> to insure L.A. homes for landslide damage.<\/p>\n

Then came the big drop. After a 5.0 earthquake in 1969, a new \u201cmammoth, crescent-shaped fissure\u201d appeared that damaged three homes<\/a> along Paseo del Mar and dropped<\/a> another 200 feet down into the rocks. Still, some residents refused to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve studied the trench and I\u2019d be willing to bet the house never goes, even if the backyard did,\u201d said<\/a> resident Larry Penhall in 1970.<\/p>\n

In total, the slip eventually grew to 10.5 acres<\/a>, according to a geological study in 1987, with 40,000 feet<\/a> of that ending up in the Pacific Ocean. It took down at least two homes<\/a> and a lot of infrastructure, including roads, utility pipes and rail lines.<\/p>\n

Sunken City today<\/p>\n

The peninsula is generally still prone to landslides, but the ground is more stable in Point Fermin, or what\u2019s now called Sunken City. It wasn\u2019t the most dangerous landslide we\u2019ve ever seen \u2014 no one died at the time, but visitors have in the years since, those who\u2019ve wandered too far toward the cliff edge. It\u2019s become a local legend because of how it looks today.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

An aerial view of Sunken City on Oct. 12, 2025.<\/p>\n

If you venture to Sunken City, there\u2019s still a neighborhood nearby, but the landslide area itself is closed off. For those bold enough to sneak in, you risk getting caught for trespassing. Visitors have even had to be rescued<\/a> over the years.<\/p>\n

The terrain resembles nothing of its affluent past, but that may change soon. Earlier this year, the City Council approved funding for environmental monitoring and safety upgrades for the upper area.<\/p>\n

Sophie Gilchrist, communications director for Councilmember Tim McOsker, said part of the plan includes the design of a new fence that requires coastal development permits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we don\u2019t have a precise timeline for reopening, we have informed the local neighbors that it may take another full year,\u201d she said. \u201cThe project is actively moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Palos Verdes Peninsula has received a lot of attention in recent years because of accelerated land movement,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[153074,131,133,132,47,153073],"class_list":["post-378198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california-landslide","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-sunken-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}