One of the first structures on the Peninsula was an isolated duck hunting club located at the bayside end of what is now 61st Place.  The club was established at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century.  The first summer beach homes, primarily owned by residents of Los Angeles and Pasadena, were built in 1902-04.  Owners of these summer homes were able to reach the Peninsula by means of an interurban electric train that ran from Los Angeles to Newport Beach.  The train ran down the center of Ocean Boulevard the length of the Peninsula and then across a trestle connecting the east end of the Peninsula to Seal Beach. 

“The Pavilion,” which at various times during its history served as an expensive restaurant and roller skating rink, was established around 1910-12 at the oceanside end of 62nd Place, which was then called Pier Avenue.  Pier Avenue undoubtedly got its named from the pier that extended out into the ocean from The Pavilion.  The Pavilion and its pier burned down a few years before a massive hurricane swept across the Peninsula in 1939, destroying or causing significant damage to most structures throughout the Peninsula.

In the late 1920’s, Upton Sinclair, the social activist and Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Jungle, used one of the Peninsula’s summer homes as a writing refuge. Two kindred spirits, physicist Albert Einstein and actor Charlie Chaplin, are reported to have visited Sinclair during his stay on the Peninsula.

The Peninsula’s beautiful ocean beach was created with sand dredged from Alamitos Bay during marina construction in the 1950’s and 60’s.  Nature moves the ocean beach sand from east to west each year; in the Fall and Winter, the City moves it back to maintain a usable and safe beach width at its narrowest point from 62nd to 65th Place.

The Seaside Walk Boardwalk, which was built in the 20’s, is considered by residents to be a historical treasure.  Attempts to replace it with concrete have been strongly opposed by Peninsula residents over the years and, in the 1980’s, money was raised by residents to provide new surface boards (the City replaced the boards again in 2003). 

The Boardwalk is bordered by a sea wall that is set into the sand an average depth of 20 feet and which is anchored with rocks at several points along at its base.  The curves in this sea wall, and the Boardwalk, were caused by wave action prior to the creation of the current beach and the off-shore breakwater in the 1940’s.

The Peninsula has grown to encompass its current mix of single family homes, duplexes, condominiums and apartments.  Residents are a diverse group of families, singles and senior citizens who have been residents for decades.  The Peninsula continues to evolve, while at the same time retaining its unique environment and lifestyle.