Did you know that our very own Palos Verdes Peninsula was once the home of a missile site? At one time there were various sites built to hold different types of defense mechanisms in and around Los Angeles. It was referred to as The Ring of Supersonic Steel and had approximately 16 different sites that started as far north as Lang, California. Each location had a different purpose and different strategies surrounding it.
Located at the southern tip of this ring was LA-55 Palos Verdes – Point Vincente. The IFC (integrated fire control or command center) was located at the southeast corner of Crenshaw and Seacrest Drive, Rancho Palos Verdes (Del Cerro Park). L&A (launch and administration site) was located between Hawthorne and Palos Verdes Drive South, southeast of the Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall. These sites were erected in 1955 due to the threats of the cold war. The current Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall was once the Nike missile site, but by 1974 the sites were shut down by the Federal Government. The IFC site was also destroyed and is now Del Cerro Park. And the maintenance yard at the city of Rancho Palos Verdes was the old launch site. The Interpretive Center in Rancho Palos Verdes was the former location of an Army practice shooting range and in 2004-2005 an extensive environmental remediation program was undertaken to take out the lead contamination from the soil which was the result of the projectiles from the bullets. Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall occupies the former administrative building for the Palos Verdes Missile Site.
For more information and to learn about the other sites, you can contact the Fort MacAuthur Museum Association at (310) 548-7631, or www.ftmac.org
Map is courtesy of Fort MacAuthor Museum Association
