Redondo Beach is a full-service city with its own police, fire and public works departments, two public libraries, a performing arts center, fifteen parks, thirteen parkettes, a large recreational and commercial harbor including King Harbor, a 1,500-slip private craft port; the Redondo Beach Pier and Seaside Lagoon; and a bathing and surfing beach. Located in the choice coastal edge of Los Angeles County, just twenty miles from downtown Los Angeles and seven miles south of Los Angeles International Airport, Redondo Beach has been a preferred resort destination for more than a century and one of the most desirable areas to live in the country. The City’s population has been slowly, but steadily growing in the past few years. As of January 2000, the Census reports a total population of 63,261. Median home price is approximately $465,000[1] Significant concentrations of employment and retail activity include the northern industrial complex anchored by the TRW campus; the Harbor/Pier area; the Galleria at South Bay–-a regional mall anchoring the east end of the City; and an eclectic mix of specialty shops, restaurants and services known as the Riviera Village area in the south end of the City. Redondo Beach is a “charter city” governed by a council-manager form of government. The Mayor is elected at large, and one Council Member is elected from each of the five City districts. The Mayor and Council appoint the City Manager as the chief administrative officer of the City to guide day-to-day operations. The City’s budget (General Fund appropriations) for Fiscal Year 2004-05 is $51,996,470. Approximate per capita expenditures are $777 per year. The City employs a workforce of 577 full-time equivalent positions.

Redondo Beach, California

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Redondo Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 63,261 at the 2000 census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the greater Los Angeles area and is one of the three Beach Cities.

The city's unusually shaped pier

Location of Redondo Beach, California

The city's primary attraction is its Municipal Pier, which is claimed to be one of the longest piers in North America. Its nicknames are the "Endless Pier" and "Horseshoe Pier" and is moderately popular with both tourists and fishermen. However, the pier's length is possible only because of its unusual shape (it does not go straight out to sea, but goes out diagonally and then returns to shore). The Redondo Beach Pier started as a reinforced concrete structure in 1914, then was replaced in 1928 with a timber pier. In 1988, the pier was severely battered by storms and later that year burned to the waterline (the fire was so large that a SigAlert was announced for the San Diego Freeway several miles away). The pier's modern reinforced concrete version was completed in 1996, and has brought back the appeal to Redondo Beach's business district ever since.

According to the local newspaper, the Daily Breeze, the pier area used to be heavily crowded with tourists and locals during the 1970s. It began to decline after the nearby Seaport Village project failed and went into bankruptcy in 1982, and went into free fall when the pier burned down in 1988. Subsequent attempts to resuscitate the area's former popularity have been hindered by the need to comply with California Coastal Conservancy regulations, and the concurrent success of redevelopment projects in the two other Beach Cities, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, and also in the nearby city of Torrance.

The city's territory has an unusual shape because it controls a long block of land dividing the two other beach cities (Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach) from the inland city of Torrance. The western terminus of the Metro Rail Green Line is in Redondo Beach.

As the name implies, Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center plays host to many exquisitely talented Performing Arts companies and performers,  including such luminaries as  Westside Ballet, A Noise Within, Keali'i O Nalani Polynesian Dance Troupe, Aman Folk Ensemble, magicians Chuck Jones and the Pendragons, jazz legends Dave Brubeck, David Benoit, Gerry Mulligan and Billy Preston, the legendary Etta James, country star Eddie Raven, rock giants Peter Frampton and Foreigner, folk icons such as the Kingston Trio and the Limeliters, the legendary Tom Jones as well as comedy giants D.L. Hughley, Bill Maher and the ever-zany Gallagher.

RBPAC is also the venue for such prestigious Athletic events as the IronMan Pro Invitational Bodybuilding Competition, the U.S. National Aerobic Championship, Musclemania, The Fitness America Pageant and the California Bodybuilding Championship.  The Center has additionally served the Corporate community as a meeting site for such giants as Hughes Aircraft, Xerox, Northrop, TRW , Astro Canon, Toyota and Nissan.

RBPAC is most especially proud to be called home to the largest producing Civic Light Opera in Southern California, the award-winning Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities, now in its ninth season.  RBPAC's official Resident Musical Theatre Company, Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities, back-to-back winner of Ovation Awards for Best Musical ("West Side Story"-1999, "Dreamgirls"-2000), having just concluded its critically-acclaimed 10th Anniversary Season has now embarked upon its most spectacular season yet:  Will Rogers Follies, the 25th Anniversary production of Evita, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (September 18 - October 6) and The Wizard of Oz (December 4 - 22).

In the Fall, Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center will welcome the return of  the Distinguished Speaker Series, which has presented such dignitaries as Lady Margaret Thatcher, Mario Cuomo, Walter Cronkite, Dr. Henry Kissinger, Lea Rabin, Ralph Nader, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Madeleine Albright, Maya Angelou and Garrison Keillor.  Their 2002-2003 Season will feature actress Whoopi Goldberg, astronaut Sally Ride, NBC Nightly News Anchor Tom Brokaw, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, Nobel Laureate and author  Elie Wiesel, Pulitzer Prize-Winning political columnist George Will and political heir and environmental crusader Robert Kennedy, Jr.