Can you swim or sunbathe at Lunada Bay?

Not really. The shore is cobble and rock below bluffs of about 150 feet, reached by steep trails, with no sand, no lifeguard and no facilities. It's good for tidepooling at low tide, watching the surf from the overlooks, and, on winter swells, expert surfing. For sand, families drive to RAT Beach below Malaga Cove or the wide South Bay beaches beyond it.

Which schools serve Lunada Bay?

Lunada Bay is in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, and three of its schools sit inside the neighborhood: Lunada Bay Elementary on Paseo Lunado, Palos Verdes Intermediate on Via Olivera, and Palos Verdes High on Cloyden Road. Assignments go by address and boundaries can change, so check that exact house in the School Locator before you write an offer.

Why are Lunada Bay homes expensive?

Because first-row ocean views, 10,000-square-foot lots and PVPUSD schools are all scarce, and very few houses are for sale at once. In September 2026 there were three listings inside our map out of about 1,500 homes. Within the neighborhood, price tracks the row: bluff-rim homes sit at the top, and the view one, two and three streets back defines the tiers behind them.

Does Lunada Bay have shops and restaurants?

A few. Lunada Bay Plaza on Palos Verdes Drive West has Lunada Kitchen & Deli (a market plus a restaurant with a Catalina-view patio), Java Wave for coffee, and Salsa Verdes for Mexican food. Golden Cove on Hawthorne Boulevard, a few minutes south, adds a Trader Joe's and more restaurants. For anything bigger you drive down the hill to the South Bay beach cities.

Can you watch whales from Lunada Bay?

Yes, in season. Gray whales pass the Peninsula on their winter and spring migration, and the bluff overlooks catch them. The best spot is the Point Vicente Interpretive Center about ten minutes south, where American Cetacean Society volunteers have counted the migration from December 1 through late May every season since 1984, near the 1926 Point Vicente Lighthouse.

What is the median home price in Lunada Bay?

There isn't a reliable one, because so few homes are for sale at once. As of September 2026 the three single-family homes for sale inside our map were asking about $2.8 million to $6 million, while the median asking price across all of Palos Verdes Estates was near $5.4 million. Price any one house against recent sales on its own row and view tier.

Do you work with Russian-speaking buyers in Lunada Bay?

Yes. If you're moving a family from abroad, I'll run the house through the district's School Locator with you and walk the street on video before you fly in. I'd also go over the police parcel tax and the November 2026 Measure PVE vote in Russian, because they change what the house costs you each year.

Lunada Bay, Palos Verdes: Homes, Surf & Schools

Q: What is the shipwreck at Lunada Bay?

It's the SS Dominator, a Greek freighter that ran aground at Rocky Point, on the north side of Lunada Bay, on March 13, 1961. The ship, a World War II Liberty ship carrying wheat from Vancouver toward Los Angeles, hit the rocks in fog. Tugs couldn't free her, the surf broke her apart, and rusted wreckage is still visible on the rocks below the point.

Q: How far is Lunada Bay from LAX and the freeways?

Plan on about 40 minutes to LAX outside rush hour, and more at peak times. Lunada Bay is on the far western side of the Peninsula, so every trip starts with Palos Verdes Drive West or the climb over the hill before you reach Pacific Coast Highway or the freeways. It pays to batch errands so you make the drive down the hill once, not three times.

Lunada Bay, in short.

Lunada Bay is the western neighborhood of Palos Verdes Estates: roughly 1,500 single-family homes on terraced streets above a half-moon bay whose bluffs rise about 150 feet over a cobble shore. About 84% of the houses were built between 1950 and 1979 (median 1963), on lots of about 10,000 square feet, inside the Olmsted-planned city whose deed restrictions date to 1923. Lunada Bay Elementary sits at the south end and Palos Verdes High on the bluff at the north. As of September 2026, only three homes inside our map were for sale, asking about $2.8 million to $6 million. The bay is a public big-wave surf spot, not a sand beach.

Lunada Bay by the numbers.

4,325Population
90%Homeowner-occupiedoccupied homes
80%Bachelor's degree or higherage 25+
$247,568Median household income
52Median age
~150 ftBluff heightAbove the bay's cobble shore (USGS elevation)

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year 2019–2023; neighborhood facts compiled by The Slava House.

The Peninsula's western face

A high terrace of houses above a half-moon bay.

Lunada Bay is the western edge of Palos Verdes Estates, where the Peninsula turns to face the open Pacific. The name fits the water: lunado, lunada in Spanish means shaped like a half moon, and from the benches on Paseo Del Mar you can see the curve. USGS elevation data puts the bluffs above the bay at about 150 to 170 feet, over a shore of cobbles and rock.

Above the bay is a broad residential terrace. Curving streets of single-family homes climb from Paseo Del Mar toward Palos Verdes Drive West, with a few shops at Lunada Bay Plaza, Lunada Bay Elementary at the south end, and Palos Verdes High School on the bluff at the north end. Nothing here pulls through traffic. There's no boardwalk and no hotel.

The neighborhood sits inside the plan the Olmsted Brothers drew for Frank Vanderlip's Palos Verdes Project: deed restrictions recorded in 1923, an Art Jury that still reviews every exterior change, and city parkland that covers about 28% of Palos Verdes Estates. The 1920s plan called for much more here. Lunada Bay Plaza was meant to be the project's largest business district, with a theater and a post office, and the bay was supposed to get a yacht harbor and a seaside pool. None of it was built.

The streets filled in after World War II instead, which is why the houses read as midcentury ranch rather than 1920s Spanish. Day to day you get quiet streets, with a public school at each end.

Rows of white waves roll into a curved rocky cove beneath a pale cliff topped with homes, under a clear blue sky — Winter surf filling the horseshoe of Lunada Bay below the bluffsPhoto: tiarescott, CC BY 2.0

Live from the MLS

Lunada Bay compared with all of Palos Verdes Estates.

Lunada Bay asks 24% less than Palos Verdes Estates as a whole.

Lunada Bay$3.44M

All of Palos Verdes Estates$4.5M

A square foot in Lunada Bay costs 8% less than across Palos Verdes Estates.

Lunada Bay$1,041

All of Palos Verdes Estates$1,130

Listings in Lunada Bay have been on the market 18 fewer days than across Palos Verdes Estates.

Lunada Bay15 days

All of Palos Verdes Estates33 days

Homes for sale in Lunada Bay are about the size of those across Palos Verdes Estates.

Lunada Bay3,564 sq ft

All of Palos Verdes Estates3,586 sq ft

Each card sets the median in Lunada Bay against all of Palos Verdes Estates. The arrow on a card lists every Palos Verdes Estates neighborhood we cover. Asking prices for homes on the market right now inside each mapped area, not sale prices. Updated October 17, 2026, 10:00 AM PT

Homes for sale in Lunada Bay

4 active listings in the mapped area

11 days on market

$3,295,000

Single-Family4 bd4 ba2,924 sqft

1348 Via Coronel

14 days on market

$3,375,000

Single-Family4 bd4 ba4,030 sqft

2637 Via Olivera

16 days on market

$3,500,000

Single-Family4 bd3 ba3,097 sqft

1016 Via Romero

57 days on market

$5,995,000

Single-Family6 bd6 ba6,271 sqft

1384 Via Romero

See Lunada Bay homes on the live map All Palos Verdes Estates homes for sale

All Palos Verdes Estates homes in Explore

Still deciding? Ask me.

I’m a Realtor based in Long Beach, and Palos Verdes Estates is one of the cities I work most. Tell me what you’re after in Lunada Bay and I’ll help you get there.

Call (424) 400-9003

Slava Ploshkin · DRE #02323623English and Russian · How I work in Palos Verdes Estates

Where to eat, shop, and explore in Lunada Bay

The restaurants, cafes, shops, parks, and landmarks that give Lunada Bay its everyday character, most within a short walk.

7 places

Pick one and I’ll show you where it is.

Beach10 min walk
The bay itself: bluffs about 150 feet high, a cobble shore with no sand, and steep trails down. It's public and part of the city's Shoreline Preserve.
Go for the benches at sunset. Go down only in real shoes and after checking the tide.
Shopping10 min walk
The market side of Lunada Kitchen & Deli at 2201 Palos Verdes Drive West: groceries, wine, fresh juice, made-to-order sandwiches and cheese boards, open every day.
Restaurant10 min walk
The restaurant side of the same business: scratch-cooked brunch, burgers and beer on tap, with a patio that looks out to Catalina. Open Wednesday through Sunday.
Coffee10 min walk
A small coffee shop in Lunada Bay Plaza with tables inside and a few seats out front.
Restaurant5 min walk
Regional Mexican cooking at 2325 Palos Verdes Drive West since 2016, open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner.
Park5 min walk
The small park with a pergola and lawn beside the plaza, opened in 2005, where the neighborhood holds summer concerts and community events.
Recreation20 min walk
The blufftop path along Paseo Del Mar between Bluff Cove and Lunada Bay, with the ocean on one side the whole way.

Midcentury ranch houses, slowly being rebuilt

Most were built from the 1950s to the 1970s, and only about 7% since 2000.

The typical Lunada Bay house is a ranch-style home from the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s. LA County Assessor records for the roughly 1,500 single-family parcels inside our map put the median year built at 1963, the median house at about 2,650 square feet, and the median lot at about 9,900 square feet; half of all lots fall between about 8,300 and 12,700.

Price splits by row. Bluff-rim homes along Paseo Del Mar and the streets that dead-end at the edge hold the first-row ocean and Catalina views and carry the top prices. One street back, the terrace tilts enough that second- and third-row homes often still see water over the roofs in front of them, for less money.

Rebuilding is the visible change, but it's slower than it looks from the street: only about 7% of the houses here have a build year of 2000 or later. Each new house goes through the Palos Verdes Homes Association's Art Jury and, for bigger projects, a city Neighborhood Compatibility hearing. So you're choosing between two different purchases on the same street: a finished newer house at full price, or an original ranch priced mostly on land and view. Decide which one you're buying before you tour.

On the rim there's also the bluff itself to check: the geology of that stretch, setbacks, drainage, and what the city has repaired nearby.

Sunlit sandstone cliffs curve around a calm cove with a cobble beach, with homes and trees along the top under a blue sky — Late afternoon sun on the cliffs around the Lunada Bay cove in DecemberPhoto: Sergei Gussev, CC BY 2.0

Median home built 1963 on about 9,900 sq ft; about 7% built since 2000
First-row bluff homes carry the premium; the terrace often keeps views one row back
On the rim, geology and edge-repair history are part of the purchase

A wild shore with a famous winter wave

A 1961 shipwreck still sits on the rocks, and a lawsuit over who can surf here was settled in 2024.

The bay isn't a towel beach. The shore is cobble and rock under the bluff, reached by steep trails, with no lifeguard and no facilities. What it has instead is tidepools at low water and, on winter swells, one of Southern California's best-known big-wave breaks, which the Palos Verdes Library District says surfers have ridden since the 1960s.

On March 13, 1961, the Greek freighter Dominator, a World War II Liberty ship carrying wheat from Vancouver toward Los Angeles, ran aground in fog at Rocky Point, the headland on the bay's north side. Tugs couldn't pull her off, the surf eventually broke her in two, and rusted pieces still sit on the rocks below the point. In 1959 a resident had proposed a 1,500-boat marina in the bay; it lost a community vote 78 to 76, and in 1969 the city set its coastline aside as the Palos Verdes Estates Shoreline Preserve.

Then there's the localism. For decades local surfers known as the Bay Boys ran off outsiders, using a stone-and-wood patio they'd built at Rocky Point as a clubhouse. Two visiting surfers sued the group and the city in March 2016, and that November, under Coastal Commission pressure, the city tore the patio out. The federal case failed, but a state appeals court revived a Coastal Act claim against the city in 2023, and in September 2024 the city settled. It agreed to add stone benches, a better bluff path, and signs saying the beach is open to everyone, and to sweep for illegal structures under a five-year consent decree. The bay is public, and visiting surfers paddle out.

A deep blue ocean with a long wave breaking into white foam, one surfer riding it and several others paddling nearby — Surfers waiting as a big winter swell breaks at Lunada BayPhoto: tiarescott, CC BY 2.0

Cobble shore and steep trails; tidepools and surf rather than sand
The SS Dominator ran aground at Rocky Point in 1961; wreckage still shows
A 2024 settlement committed the city to benches, signs, and structure sweeps

Everyday life far from the freeways

Three public schools are inside the neighborhood, and the plaza covers daily errands.

Daily errands happen at the plaza on Palos Verdes Drive West: Lunada Kitchen & Deli for groceries, sandwiches and a patio facing Catalina, Java Wave for coffee, Salsa Verdes for dinner. Golden Cove on Hawthorne Boulevard, a few minutes south, adds a Trader Joe's and more restaurants, and everything else is down the hill in the beach cities.

Schools are a big part of the draw. Lunada Bay Elementary is on Paseo Lunado, Palos Verdes Intermediate is on Via Olivera, and Palos Verdes High is on Cloyden Road, all in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District. PV High opened in 1961 as the Peninsula's first public high school, on a campus by Richard Neutra and Robert Alexander with local architect Carrington Lewis; it closed in 1991 when enrollment fell and reopened in the early 2000s. Assignments go by address, and the district's School Locator tells you which schools a house feeds.

The drive is what you give up. Lunada Bay is about as far from the freeways as Palos Verdes Estates gets, and every trip starts with Palos Verdes Drive West or the climb over the hill. On weekends the distance works in your favor: the whale-watching lawn at Point Vicente and the tidepools at Pelican Cove are about ten minutes south.

A pine silhouetted at sunset on the Palos Verdes Estates bluffs — December sunset from the bluffs north of Lunada BayPhoto: Sergei Gussev, CC BY 2.0

A market, a cafe and two restaurants at the plaza; Golden Cove for a bigger run
Lunada Bay Elementary, PV Intermediate and PV High are all in the neighborhood
Every trip starts with Palos Verdes Drive West or the climb over the hill

What moves price in Lunada Bay

The row you're on matters most, then the condition of the house.

Very little is for sale at any moment. As of September 2026 the MLS showed three single-family homes for sale inside our Lunada Bay map, asking roughly $2.8 million to $6 million, out of about 1,500 houses. Across all of Palos Verdes Estates there were 26 homes for sale, with a median asking price near $5.4 million.

Within the neighborhood, the first row is the scarce asset. Bluff-rim homes price above everything behind them, and the terrace steps down in tiers, with real water views often surviving two and three streets back.

Then condition. A finished rebuild and an original 1960s ranch on the same street are different products for different buyers. Sellers of originals are pricing land plus view, and I'd value them the same way, with Art Jury and city review time built into the plan.

A lone pine shaped by the wind on top of a golden sandstone cliff, with a pale blue sky and a calm ocean below — A windswept pine on the bluffs along Paseo del Mar, north of the Lunada Bay covePhoto: Sergei Gussev, CC BY 2.0

Three homes for sale inside our map as of September 2026, asking about $2.8M to $6M
First-row bluff positions set the top; view tiers define the terrace behind
Finished rebuilds and original ranches price as two different products

What to check on a Lunada Bay house

Four things to settle, one of them a police parcel tax.

For a bluff-edge house, get the geology of that stretch, any slope or drainage work in the file, the setbacks, and the city's repair record along the edge next to it. Ask early and in writing. The answers should shape your price, not turn up as a surprise in escrow.

Every exterior change in the city needs Palos Verdes Homes Association Art Jury approval, and bigger additions and new houses also go to a Planning Commission hearing, with notice to neighbors, under the city's Neighborhood Compatibility rules. State law now makes the city approve a qualifying ADU within about 60 days, but the Art Jury still reviews its exterior. The homes association also says unapproved work often surfaces at resale, when buyers are usually required to bring it into compliance, so ask for the approval history.

Most of Lunada Bay sits outside CAL FIRE's hazard zones, but about 9% of the homes inside our map fall in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone on the state's March 2025 map, and roughly 8% more in High or Moderate. In a High or Very High zone, California law requires the seller to give you defensible-space documentation. Get an insurance quote for the exact address during your contingency period.

Budget for the police parcel tax too. Palos Verdes Estates is the only Peninsula city with its own police department, funded partly by Measure E: $342 per parcel plus 20 cents per square foot of building, which expires June 30, 2027. A citizen replacement failed in June 2026 with about 41% yes, and on November 3, 2026, voters decide Measure PVE, which would raise the base to $1,025 a year through 2033 and needs two-thirds approval.

A sunlit brushy cliff drops to a cobble beach and rocky reef, with gentle surf and the coastline fading to the north — Golden light on the cliffs and cobble shore north of the Lunada Bay covePhoto: Sergei Gussev, CC BY 2.0

Make bluff geology and edge-repair history part of the price conversation
Know the Art Jury and Neighborhood Compatibility steps before you buy to rebuild
Check the fire zone, the insurance quote, and the parcel tax for the exact address

More Lunada Bay facts

1961ShipwreckSS Dominator ran aground at Rocky Point
1961PV High openedThe Peninsula's first public high school
1963Median year builtHomes inside our map, LA County Assessor
~9,900 sq ftMedian lotSingle-family parcels, LA County Assessor
2024Access case settledEight years after surfers sued in 2016

Rentals in Lunada Bay

2 active rentals in the mapped area

24 days on market

$5,700/mo

Single-Family3 bd2 ba1,889 sqft

1920 Dalton Road

45 days on market

$4,195/mo

Condo2 bd2 ba1,184 sqft

2322 Palos Verdes W 105

See Lunada Bay rentals on the live map

Compare Lunada Bay

Compare Lunada Bay with another neighborhood

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Questions & answers

Yes, if you want ocean views, quiet streets and PVPUSD schools more than walkable nightlife. Lunada Bay is almost all single-family homes on a terraced slope above the bay, with Lunada Bay Elementary at the south end, Palos Verdes High on the bluff at the north end, and a few shops at Lunada Bay Plaza. The freeways are a long drive away, and very few homes come up for sale. The coast is rock, so you watch it and surf it rather than swim.

It was, and a 2024 court settlement was meant to end it. For decades local surfers known as the Bay Boys harassed outsiders, and two surfers sued the group and the city in 2016. The federal case failed, but a state appeals court revived a Coastal Act claim in 2023, and in September 2024 the city settled, agreeing to add benches, a better bluff path, and signs saying the beach is open to everyone. The city removed the Bay Boys' rock patio in 2016. The beach is public; the wave is still for experienced surfers only.

Mostly ranch-style houses built between 1950 and 1979. LA County Assessor records for our map put the median year built at 1963, the median house at about 2,650 square feet, and the median lot at about 9,900 square feet. About 7% of the houses were built in 2000 or later. First-row bluff homes carry the top prices, and the tilt of the terrace lets many second- and third-row homes keep ocean views for less.