Redondo Beach: The Pier and Knob Hill

The pier and the sand are what bring most people to Redondo Beach, a South Bay city on the southern part of Santa Monica Bay. For a look at the rest of town, walk Knob Hill Avenue. It runs from Hopkins Wilderness Park down to a set of stairs at the beach, past rows of tall palms like the ones on this page.

What's Worth Seeing

Start at Hopkins Wilderness Park, an 11-acre city park at 1102 Camino Real with forest, meadow, stream and pond areas. Individuals and families pay no entrance fee. It used to be a Nike missile site, from 1956 to 1963. Pets, bikes and skateboards aren't allowed inside, and the park is closed one day a week, so check the city's page first.

From there, one walking guide follows Knob Hill Avenue past large houses that slowly give way to beach apartments, with the tall palms and pale pink lampposts along the way. Stairs at the bottom lead to the sand. Look left for the Palos Verdes headland and Torrance Beach.

The beach runs more than 1.5 miles south from the pier to Torrance Beach, with lifeguards on duty during daylight, showers and volleyball nets. The Avenue A ramp has been closed since 2021 because of a failed retaining wall, and construction on its replacement is planned for 2027 to 2028. Use the Knob Hill stairs or the Avenue C stairs and ramp instead.

The Redondo Beach Pier has restaurants and small shops, including an oyster shop that turns what you pick into jewelry. You can fish from the signed southwest section without a license. Henry Huntington hired George Freeth to give surfing exhibitions in Redondo in 1907.

Good to Know

Dogs aren't allowed on the pier. Bikes can be ridden to it on the bike path, but you have to walk them on the pier itself. The city lists Seaside Lagoon, its enclosed saltwater lagoon at 200 Portofino Way, as closed for the 2026 season, so check before you plan on it.

How to Get There

The pier is at the end of Torrance Boulevard, west of Pacific Coast Highway. Public parking structures sit at the north end, at 100-500 Fisherman's Wharf, and the south end, at N. Harbor Drive and Pacific Avenue. There is metered street parking on Catalina Avenue and N. Harbor Drive. Beach Cities Transit also stops at the pier, and the pier's visit page has current rates and transit links.

For Hopkins Wilderness Park, go east on Torrance Boulevard from Highway 1, turn right on Camino Real, then left on Knob Hill Avenue into the park's lot.

Nearby

• Hermosa Beach is the next beach north. Its sand runs right up to King Harbor in Redondo.
• The Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center is the city's theater, inland at Aviation Park.
• The Point Vicente Interpretive Center on the Palos Verdes Peninsula covers the gray whale migration and the peninsula's history.