Torrance Beach

Torrance Beach is a soft-sand beach of about 40 acres between Redondo Beach and Malaga Cove, at the foot of the bluffs that rise toward the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The stretch shared with Redondo is often called "RAT Beach," short for "Right After Torrance." It is good for swimming, surfing, fishing, and scuba and skin diving, with lifeguards on duty in daylight hours, and amenities include more than 300 parking spaces on the bluff, restrooms, showers, a concession stand, volleyball nets, beach wheelchairs, and the beach bike path.

From 1931 to 1958 the beach was home to the Hollywood Riviera Beach Club; after the building mysteriously burned down, the spot earned the nickname "Burn Out Beach." It later appeared in an episode of the 1960s Batman TV series. A 2002 makeover added a new concession stand, upgraded ramps and stairs, repaved the bluff-top lots, and built a new restroom and shower building, and a bluff restoration project is replacing ice plant with native plants.

The city of Torrance grew from a planned industrial town designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and founded in 1912, and boomed after oil was found in 1921. Metro buses 225 and 226 stop at Palos Verdes Boulevard and Calle Miramar.