City of Los Angeles o The seaward boundary of the bay extends 

 from Point Dume on the north to Palos Verdes Point on the 

 south, a distance of 27 statute miles. The coast line of the 

 bay is approximately 38 miles in length. The eastern shore 

 is heavily populated and the cities of Santa Monica, Venice, 

 Playa del Rey, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, 

 and Redondo extend almost continuously for a distance of 15 

 miles from north to south. Along the northern border of the 

 bay the Santa Monica Mountains reach the shore and the main 

 access to this area is by a north-south highway. Only 

 relatively small and scattered communities have been built 

 along the northern shores, mostly in the vicinity of Malibu, 

 although the area is much used for recreational purposes. 

 The southern shore consists of 3 miles of precipitous cliffs 

 above a narrow, rocky beach, cut into the Palos Verdes Hills. 



Like the alluvial Los Angeles plain to the east, the 

 bottom of the bay slopes gently from the shore to a depth of 

 300 feet, forming a shelf 3 to 6 miles wide. In the central 

 portion of the bay, between Playa del Rey and Hermosa Beach, 

 the shelf extends farther to sea and forms a submarine plain, 

 projecting to a distance of 10 miles from shore. 



The shelf is incised by two major submarine canyons, one 

 to the north and one to the south of the central shelf extension, 

 The Santa Monica Canyon is wide and the walls are not steep 

 except at the head of the canyon at a distance of 4|- miles from 

 shore. The Redondo Canyon is a well-defined physiographic 

 feature of the submarine landscape. It has relatively steep 

 sides and its major head extends almost to shore at Redondo 

 Beach. 



