One interesting fact about Frank Vanderlip's original purchase of the Palos Verdes Peninsula in 1913 was that he agreed to purchase the property after only a 10 minute meeting with a real estate broker from Los Angeles.
Frank Vanderlip at his original home "The Cottage"
Early in 1913, George Bixby decided to sell approx. 16,000 acres of the Rancho de los Palos Verdes (retaining about 1,000 acres which later became Harbor City), which his father, Jotham Bixby, had acquired in1882 by a legal partition of the original land grant area of Rancho de los Palos Verdes ( See The History of the South Bay for a discussion of the early Indian inhabitants of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the early Spanish land grant Ranchos). He sold the land to Walter Fundenburg, who agreed to pay $1.5 million, $600,000 in cash and the balance in one year. Unable to raise the necessary funds, he assigned the property to the real estate firm Schader and Adams. They too were unable to raise the necessary capital, and Bixby foreclosed on the mortgage. After much litigation, Bixby agreed to allow Schader and Adams 90 days to complete the purchase. Mr. Schader then left for New York to raise the money, and while there was able to get Mr. Frank A. Vanderlip, then President of the National City Bank of New York, interested in the property. Although Mr. Vanderlip had never seen the property, after only a 10 minute meeting with Mr. Schader, he was intrigued and recognized its potential for development.
By November 1913, Mr. Vanderlip organized a consortium of New York investors and completed the purchase of the property. Initially, these investors intended to divide the land into large estates. For more about the History of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, visit my website http://www.maureenmegowan.com
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