Redondo ReBranded: Century-old power plant site shut down
No longer will Redondo Beach be defined by its century-old waterfront electric power generating station by Garth Meyer It began with a man singing the national anthem, the crowd looking to a flag at the main Redondo Beach Post Office. In the other direction, down the vacant field stood the massive power plant, palm trees at the edges, Palos Verdes Peninsula, a cloud bank and further out, Catalina Island. Harbor Commissioner and activist Jim Light welcomed the crowd Dec. 31, on the occasion of the last day of operation for the AES power plant. He noted that the first Redondo generating station on the site was built in 1907, at the old salt lake, commissioned by Henry Huntington to run his electric streetcar (Red Car) line throughout greater L.A. The plant was shut down in 1933, deemed obsolete. After World War II, amidst the subsequent housing boom, Southern California Edison proposed to build a new plant at Redondo Beach. Construction began in 1948, and in 1968, the last units came online. Thirty years later, “Heart of the City” arrived, the proposal by AES Corporation, who bought the power plant from Southern California Edison, to replace the old operation with a small, modern…
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