PORTUGUESE BEND

Portuguese Bend is on the southwestern coast of Palos Verdes Peninsula. It, apparently, was first inhabited by the Gabrielino Indians.

During the Spanish "Rancho” period, the area was home to cattle ranches.

A group of Portuguese whalers from the Azores brought a prefabricated cabin around the horn, and settled in the cove beneath Portuguese Point. It was on the beach where they butchered and processed the blubber into oil from the whales they had caught off the coast. Between 1874 and 1877, 2,166 barrels of oil were tried, but then the station was abandoned for lack of fuel for the rendering fires.

Around 1900, Charles Lundquist, a Scandinavian fisherman, moved into the cabin. He built a thriving business by preparing fish dinners for weekend customers.

In 1913, Frank Vanderlip, representing a group of fifty millionaires, bought the Palos Verdes peninsula for development. By 1950 there were 123 homes built or under construction on top of the peninsula, while the Portuguese Bend Club was the most exclusive and elegant facility of its kind for miles up and down the coast. Newspaper accounts show that parties, tournaments and organized affairs of all kinds were constant. It comprised 105 acres of land, with a 50-foot pool and 485-foot pier.

In 1956, an ancient landslide, which underlaid most of the area, gave way without warning. About 100 homes and the club were destroyed.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY:

"Eagle Squadron" (Universal 1942) Directed by: Arthur Lubin. Cast: Eddie Albert, Evelyn Ankers, Nigel Bruce, Jon Hall, Robert Stack, Diana Barrymore, Paul Cavanagh, Richard Crane, Leif Erickson.

"Remember Pearl Harbor" (Republic 1942) Directed by: Joseph Santley. Cast: Don 'Red' Barry, Alan Curtis, Diana Del Rio, Robert Emmett Keane, Ian Keith, Fay McKenzie, Sig Ruman.

"Destination Tokyo" (Warner Bros 1944) Directed by: Delmer Daves. Cast: Gary Grant, John Garfield, Alan Hale, John Ridgely, Dane Clark, Warner Anderson, William Prince, Robert Hutton, Tom Tully, Faye Emerson.

"The Lost Tribe" (Columbia 1949) Directed by: William Berke. Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Myrna Dell, Elena Verdugo, Joseph Vitale, Ralph Dunn, Paul Marion.

"The Women of Pitcairn Island" (20th Century Fox 1957) Directed by: Jean Yarbrough. Cast: James Craig, Lynn Bari, John Smith, Arleen Whelan, Sue England, Carol Thurston, Charlita, Harry lauter, Pierce Lyden, House Peters Jr.