I think it would have been a great historical video that would continue being recorded today had specialized cameras had been set up when the hillside began failing below Crest Road. We all might be able to go onto our city's Web site and watch decades worth of land movement and all the destruction of a neighborhood that began, so long ago.
But wait! Our friends and neighbors in the Paseo Del Mar area of San Pedro may just be at their own beginning of (hopefully) a much, much smaller version of what is now being called "cliff failure".
There is a chance right now, to set up video recording devices to catch the smallest to largest of land movement in the now closed area of Paseo Del Mar, near the White Point Nature Preserve.
Having a recording of that potential cliff failure might help those who seek to curtail land movement in our own Portuguese Bend landslide area.
The small fissures and cracks that began to be observed this past March on one side of the coastal view road in San Pedro have now buckled the roadbed and forced closure of a portion of that road, along with pedestrian traffic, close to the failing cliffside.
All this does not bode well for those 'tourists' who wish to have a leisurely drive along 'the coast' in San Pedro. They may very well, in growing numbers, venture west along 25th. Street until its asphalt becomes Palos Verdes Drive South, in our city.
While I don't know yet what impacts, both positively or negatively that may have, in the coming months and perhaps years, perhaps it is something our city staff members might want to start watching.
I feel some of our businesses might benefit from more visitors. I will miss taking in views along Paseo Del Mar on my way towards Point Fermin.
It will certainly be interesting to see how many venture out to have a nice coastal visit if more negativity comes to the bottom of San Ramon Canyon, prior to its permanent fix.
Old things are moving, in Rancho Palos Verdes.
I was delighted to learn that "Annie's Stand" won't be torn down and discarded, but rather taken apart and stored for possible reconstruction, in our city.
How many of us 'oldsters' living in our city have not been to that comfortable stand at least several times prior to its closing?
I feel very strongly that Annie's Stand reminds all of us of the roots of coastal farming along the coast of what is now Rancho Palos Verdes and we are well to remind ourselves of the history of our area, especially when developers attempt to come in and take more of our history and 'put up a parking lot'.
We are also about to welcome an old San Pedro church into our city.
The old Saint Peter's Episcopal Church, which was moved to Harbor View Cemetery in San Pedro, some time ago, is going to head along Western Avenue and its new home at Green Hills Cemetery, in Rancho Palos Verdes.
There are many San Pedrans who remember 'the old days' when the canneries were open, Todd Shipyard was building and maintaining ships, and the U.S. Navy had a shipyard on Terminal Island.
The 'old days' are long gone, but sometimes it is good to have reminders like Annie's Stand and the Church to remind us of our roots and what it was like to live in the communities of San Pedro and what is now Rancho Palos Verdes.
The more I learn about the Western Avenue Corridor grant that was just awarded to our city, the more I like the idea of working with others in San Pedro to try and make significant changes, as much as we can, to all of the areas along Western Avenue, between P.V. Drive North and 25th. Street.
I hope the San Pedro area is awarded a similar grant to the one just provided to our city. Two grants and ways to pay for all upgrades, without increases in costs to residents, is a good thing, I think.
As a reminder to all, the Western Avenue Task Force was a body of residents from several communities, including R.P.V. that created as much studied set of possibilities for the stretch of Western our city shares with San Pedro.
The main stumbling block to the Task Force's recommendation that Western be built out to three lanes in each direction is that Western is a State Highway and the lanes of a State Highway must be wider than lanes on municipal routes and other types of streets.
In the early 1950's, Western Avenue had a break in it, in Lomita, CA. The road ended at its intersection with Anaheim Street and did not begin again until Pacific Coast Highway.
When that tiny stretch of Western Avenue finally was paved to allow traffic between the Anaheim intersection and the P.C.H. intersection, it became the longest continuous 'Avenue' on the planet.
I have not checked lately to see if Western Avenue still has that distinction.
Western Avenue is continuous between Paseo Del Mar in San Pedro and where it bends around to become Los Feliz Drive at a corner of Griffith Park.
Western Avenue does continue north of Griffith Park in the Burbank area, but who really cares about that?
In my tenure with 'the phone company' my work truck and I have, at times, been at both ends of the continuous portions of Western Avenue and at many addresses along its route.
Rancho Palos Verdes is a great place to live in.
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