Redondo Beach (Redondo, Spanish for ) is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Santa Monica Bay. The population was 71,576 at the 2020 census, up from 66,748 in 2010.
Redondo Beach was originally part of the 1784 Rancho San Pedro Spanish land grant that later became the South Redondo area. The primary attractions include Municipal Pier and the sandy beach, popular with tourists and a variety of sports enthusiasts. The Southern terminus of the Metro Rail K Line (formerly the Western Terminus of the Metro Rail C Line) is in North Redondo Beach.
History
thumb|left|Don [[Manuel Dominguez|Manuel Domínguez, a signer of the Californian Constitution and owner of Rancho San Pedro, which included all of modern-day Redondo.]]
thumb|left|View of Redondo Beach Pier and railroad station from the Redondo Hotel,
thumb|left|Redondo Beach, 1906
The South Bay area was originally inhabited by the Tongva tribe of Native Americans. Archeological work in the nearby Chowigna excavation show evidence of inhabitants as far back as 7,100 years ago. The Chowigna band of Tongva used the site of today's Hopkins Wilderness Park in Redondo Beach, (formerly Nike missile site LA-57 from 1956 to 1963,) as a lookout place. The wetlands located at the site of the retired AES power plant in Redondo Beach were a source of foods including halibut, lobster, and sea bass, and also of salt.
The Tongva village of Ongovanga or Onoova-nga, meaning "Place of Salt," was located near a salt lake the old Redondo Salt Lake, "a spring-fed salt lake about wide and long situated about 200 yards from the ocean". Up through the 1700s, the Chowigna bartered salt from the lake with other tribes.
The Chowigna were relocated to missions in 1854, when Manuel Dominguez sold of Rancho San Pedro, including the lake, to Henry Allanson and William Johnson for the Pacific Salt Works.
thumb|Redondo Beach saltwater bathhouse, constructed by [[Henry E. Huntington, ]]
thumb|right|The [[Hotel Redondo which stood in Redondo Beach until 1925.]]
In 1983, the city of Redondo Beach adopted a resolution “recognizing the Goodyear Airship Columbia (aka Goodyear blimp) as the “Official Bird of Redondo Beach.”
In 2022, the Redondo Beach government (along with the governments of Torrance, Carson, and Whittier) sued the California state government, seeking to block the California HOME Act (SB 9), which permits the construction of duplexes and fourplexes on lots. Former Redondo Beach mayor Bill Brand argued that there is no housing crisis in Redondo Beach.
Bill Brand became mayor of Redondo Beach after spearheading the effort to block a 525,000 square foot mall project in King Harbor. Brand had also successfully negotiated a reduction in the number of apartment units in a mixed use development along PCH. The city has also participated in legal proceedings to preserve its ability to participate in residential zoning decisions, including the discretion to regulate single-family homes from being transformed by for-profit developers into “six-on-a-lots.”
In 2024, Redondo Beach became the first city to achieve “Functional Zero” homelessness in LA County. South Bay Council of Governments (SBCOG) defines “Functional Zero” as more people exiting homelessness than entering it, and also requires that the median time in homelessness be less than 90 days. SBCOG noted Redondo’s transitional pallet shelters, “Homeless Court”, Project Homekey permanent supportive housing, and other homeless services.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , over 99% of it land.
Redondo Beach was originally part of the 1784 Rancho San Pedro Spanish land grant of the Dominguez Rancho that later became the ten-mile (16 km) ocean frontage of Rancho Sausal Redondo.
Climate
Redondo Beach has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csb) with mild winters and warm, almost rainless summers. The coldest months are December through March, and the warmest months are July through September. Redondo Beach has mild temperatures year round due to its coastal location.