Hotel Redondo

Hotel Redondo. . At the end of the 19th century, the gem of Santa Monica bay's southern shoreline was the Hotel Redondo. Located in what is now Veterans Park, the hotel had awesome views of the Pacific Ocean and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Tethered to Los Angeles by 17 miles of railway track, Redondo Beach's majestic 225-room hotel boasted a bath on every floor and a fireplace in every room., An 18-hole golf course was available and the hotel was equally proud of its billboard room, steam heat, electricity and Otis elevators. An orchestra played nightly at dinner and elegant entertainment was regularly available in the gran ballroom. Guests arrived at the Redondo Railway station in back of the hotel, while those debarking from the coastal steamers paraded up the long sloping walk in front., The narrow-gauge, steam-operated Redondo Railway arrived three times a day during the week, with a fourth train from Los Angeles scheduled on Saturdays. Even if visitors weren't bound for the hotel's luxuries, there was plenty to do. Just north of the hotel was Tent City, where beach goers could enjoy tents with wooden floors and electric lights. Visitors could stroll along the beach where they scooped up mounds of moonstones, those wonderfully brilliant rocks that had been tumbled smooth through the centuries by the Pacific's storms.