About Us:
A beautiful place to live. There are residences on the Strand, bungalows scattered throughout the town, and multilevel homes in the hills with ocean views. Hermosa Beach offers a variety of Southern California options for any lifestyle By day and in the evening, Hermosa Beach is a special place, having one of the best beaches in the world and some of the best shops, restaurants, and businesses in the South Bay. Hermosa Beach is a great place to work and do business.

Serving the citizens of Hermosa Beach with pride and excellence, our city government officials and employees are dedicated to providing leadership and services that keep Hermosa Beach as one of the friendliest beach city communities.

History:
Hermosa Beach was originally part of the ten-mile frontage of Rancho Sausal Redondo. In 1900, tract of fifteen hundred acres was purchased at $35 per acre from A.E. Pomeroy, then owner of the greater part of Rancho Sausal Redondo.

In the early days, Hermosa Beach, like so many of its neighboring cities - Torrance, Lawndale, Inglewood - was one vast sweep of rolling hills covered with fields of grain, mostly barley. During certain seasons of the year, large herds of sheep grazed over this land, and corrals and large barns for storing grain, as well as providing shelter for horses and farm implements, were located on the ranch between Hermosa and Inglewood. The Spanish words, Rancho Sausal Redondo, mean a large circular ranch of pasture with a grove of willows on it.

The first official survey was made in the year 1901 for the boardwalk on the Strand, Hermosa Avenue and Santa Fe Avenue. In 1904, the first pier was built. It was constructed entirely of wood, even to the pilings. It extended five hundred feet out into the ocean. The pier was partly washed away and later torn down. A new pier was paved with asphalt over its entire length. Small tiled pavilions were erected at intervals along the sides to afford shade for the fisherman and picnic parties. Eventually, a bait stand was built out on the end.

Soon after, about 1914, an auditorium building was constructed. Over the years, it has housed various enterprises. Presently, it is used by the Los Angeles County Life Guard Service. Hermosa Avenue was the first street to be paved. The boardwalk on the Strand was constructed of planks. The walk extended the entire length of the two-mile Strand. High tides sometimes washed away portions of this walkway. In 1914 part of it was replaced with cement. The remaining two thousand feet on the north end was finally completed with cement in 1926.

The water supply for the town was installed by the Hermosa Beach Land and Water Company in 1901. They located a well on the north city limits. Later the company bought an artesian well and built a reservoir just outside of the east end of town. The water from this well was drawn from a seemingly limitless subterranean reservoir three hundred feet below the surface.

There was no railway station for Hermosa, but Burbank and Baker built a platform on the west side of the tracks near Santa Fe Avenue, and later the Railroad Company donated an old boxcar to be used as a storage place for freight. In 1926, the Santa Fe Company built a modern stucco depot and installed Western Union telegraph service in it. The first city election for city officers was held December 24,1906. The town incorporated and its charter was obtained from the state on January 14, 1907.

At that time, the city acquired ownership of its two-mile stretch of ocean frontage, this being included in an original deed to the city from the Hermosa Beach Land and Water Company. The deed stated that this land was to be held in perpetuity as a beach playground, free from commerce, and for the benefit of not only residents of Hermosa, but also for the sea lovers of Southern California. Hermosa Beach has never permitted cheap amusements along its strand and its original ideals are its present day standards. The sports of fishing and swimming have always prevailed here and many famous anglers have reeled their lines off its pier. Persons of world renown have splashed through the ocean's rollicking surf on vacations in Hermosa.

In March, 1926, a lateral sewer system for the city connected up with the $350,000 trunk line of the South Bay Sanitation District and was designed to accommodate a population of thirty thousand. The Hermosa system is now a part of the extensive project that covers the southwest portion of Los Angeles County.