The Malaga Cove library hosted an art show June 24, featuring the Portuguese Bend Art Colony along with a vast historical perspective of the Peninsula, with archival photos, and little known stories of the hill arranged chronologically for guests to view on the walls. There were pictures of the early Palos Verdes College founded by Dr. and Mrs. Richard P. Saunders in 1947. The story goes that after exploring the hill for possible sites, they had learned the U.S. Army was selling its wartime Army Air Force camp on the edge of Rolling Hills, which afforded the quiet needed for study and a spectacular view of the Pacific. They figured that its one-hour proximity from LA made it an attractive option for faculty. The Saunders announced in 1946 that they would open the new community college on 70 acres of land with much of it having been donated by the Vanderlip family. The campus occupied the donated land and the Army barracks and their other buildings that had been left behind and were repurposed into three dormitories, classrooms, library and cafeteria/recreation hall-all done at a cost of $50,000.
Photos by Tony LaBruno
