The New Wild West: How Portuguese Bend is Battling Landslides and Living Off-Grid
Dave Zelhart stands on the steel beams that he, his daughter, and his neighbors installed beneath his house. His home now rests on the beams, rather than the land, in hopes of being shielded from further landslide movement.
Originally published in Peninsula Magazine.
In the hills of Palos Verdes, a tight-knit community stands resilient, even as the ground beneath them continues to shift. Portuguese Bend, home to 140 houses, is a diverse enclave of world-renowned artists, engineers, teachers, families, horse owners, and retirees. Now, it faces one of the worst landslide crises in recent history. Despite growing challenges, residents remain determined not to give up on their homes or their neighborhoods.
“It’s been really impressive to see all the neighbors helping one another and basically pulling together as a community,” lifetime resident Tony Baker said. “We all live here because we love the area and, you know, like a lot of people have said—where else would we go?”
Once a month, the Portuguese Bend community gathers for a shared dinner to discuss the landslide movement and strengthen their bonds. Local restaurants donate food, while neighbors contribute potluck-style dishes. Together, they gather around the fire to share a meal and conversation, often late in to the night.
This crisis traces back to the 1950s when officials approved construction in the area despite its unstable terrain. Homes and roads, including the attempted extension of Crenshaw Boulevard, were built on shaky ground in Altamira Canyon.
"My parents built here in 1948,” Baker said. “The county did not tell people there was an ancient landslide there, but geologists knew… the landslide has been moving for thousands of years."
The area’s natural instability, worsened by grading and altered drainage, caused immediate cracks in roads and shifting foundations. In 1956, a landslide was triggered during construction for Crenshaw Boulevard, and 140 of 170 homes in the area were destroyed or displaced. Even with early warnings, development continued, and by the 1970s, the interconnected landslides—now known as the Ancient Altamira Landslide Complex—had spread further. In 1983, additional homes were built above the canyon with drainage systems that still direct water into Portuguese Bend. Today, residents grapple with the consequences of those decisions as rainwater runoff and deep slip planes destabilize the ground.
“It had been recognized as a landslide in 1946, but it was thought to be stable, so some development was allowed in the area,” said Mike Phipps, a Principal Engineering Geologist at Cotton, Shires and Associates, Inc., and consultant for Rancho Palos Verdes. “When the city incorporated in 1973, they immediately implemented a moratorium, halting any further building on the landslide zone. The fact that we had two consecutive very wet years in 2022-23 and 2023-24 is what really set this landslide off. That rain finally pushed it over the edge. Water is the culprit, and we have to do what we can to keep it from getting in and pull out what’s already in there.”
A recent breakthrough in the fight against the landslide has come with the installation of six new deep dewatering wells on Abalone Cove Beach, extracting 650 gallons of water per hour—over one million gallons of water a day—from the ground. This intervention has slowed the landslide's movement from 13 inches per week to eight inches, providing a glimmer of hope for the community. Unfortunately, the land movement is still 80 times faster than in October 2022.
“We know that’s unnatural, and that’s not just pressure dissipating naturally,” Phipps said about the deceleration. “It is a direct result of the water extraction. The program has been successful, but it needs to be sustained and expanded.”
While the dewatering wells have provided some relief, the community understands that the road to recovery is far from over.
“Will things get back to normal? I don’t know what normal actually looks like,” Phipps said. "Many of these properties have been dealing with creeping landslide movement for decades, but nothing of the magnitude that’s happening now. I don't think it will get back to normal for quite a while, but if we can slow this landslide down, it will help them preserve their homes and what they have.”
At the heart of these efforts is Guy Grant, a local hero to many. When Southern California Edison (SCE) cut power on Sept. 1, threatening to disable the sewage lift system and force residents to evacuate, Grant stepped in. He brought three generators from his painting business to keep the pumps running and ensure the sewers remained functional.
"I'm not any different than the rest of our neighbors," Grant said, though many credit his quick thinking with sparing them from a mandatory evacuation. “You can’t mess with us—we’re going to get this done.”
“We’re a bunch of rebels. This community is filled with either construction guys or artists. The artists will paint a crack with a daisy, and the construction guys will fix it.” - Dave Zelhart.”
As the ground beneath Portuguese Bend continues to shift, so too does the community’s relationship with its environment. Residents have adapted in ways few others might, drawing on the strength of their tight-knit bonds.
“We’re a bunch of rebels," said Dave Zelhart, president of Terminal Equipment Services, Inc., and vice president of Pacific Crane Maintenance Company, who also helped connect the generators to the sewer system. "This community is filled with either construction guys or artists. The artists will paint a crack with a daisy, and the construction guys will fix it."
Zelhart’s personal journey with the landslide began when he noticed his home’s foundation had broken in about 20 places.
Tony Baker, Sallie Reeves, Marianne Hunter, and Sheri Hastings, residents of the Portuguese Bend neighborhood, say that they are not going anywhere.
“I put a giant girdle around my foundation to keep it together while waiting for the ground to dry out,” Zelhart said. With help from his daughter and neighbors, Zelhart raised his house onto steel beams over just four weekends. His home now rides atop the shifting earth, ready to adapt.
The landslide, worsened by unstable sedimentary rock and water-absorbing clay that swells and weakens the ground, is part of the Ancient Altamira Landslide Complex, which includes the Portuguese Bend Complex, Abalone Cove Complex, Klondike Canyon, and Beach Club landslides.
Instead of suspending services, Cal Water has adapted by moving all water lines above ground and using flexible joints to prevent breaks. However, the ongoing shifts continue to challenge the system’s stability.
“You would think the ground would move linearly—it does not,” Zelhart said. “It moves to the right, then to the left. We’re in this big swirling thing. You can’t be in it; you have to be on top of it.”
Residents like Sheri Hastings, who bought five acres in 1982, are seeing the effects firsthand. Hastings lost an entire horse barn when the shifting ground caused it to collapse earlier this year.
“We noticed a tiny little crack in December,” Hastings said. “My husband started measuring it. It was a tenth of a millimeter one day, and by the end of February, it was in the inches—then feet per week—and pretty soon, the crack was as large as a patio. By April, it was 50 feet wide, and we had to bulldoze it.”
Hastings now relies on a tack room made from salvaged barn pieces. It sits just yards from a deep fissure where a 7-foot pole disappears without touching the bottom.
“This is an artists' community,” Hastings said. “We’re not a bunch of rich people. We’re going to try to wait this out and see what we can do to repair the fissures. I don’t know what the future is like, but I want to stay here if I can. What I hope is that it stops—it’s always reached an equilibrium in the past.”
Shifting land in Portuguese Bend has caused widespread damage, cracking foundations and uprooting structures. Residents are racing to adapt, with many lifting homes onto steel beams to stay above the unstable ground.
According to Hastings, one answer to the problem is to reexamine the Altamira Canyon Creek Restoration Project. The canyon, which runs near many homes, contributes to land instability. The project aims to reshape the banks and seal the fissures while rerouting storm drains to stabilize the area. While there’s no definitive solution to stopping the land movement, this project is key to managing it.
“We want to do it in a way that it isn’t going to harm the environment but will also save our homes,” Hastings said, adding that the residents are attempting to raise money for the project.
Beyond the cracks and shifting ground, residents are facing an escalating crisis with essential utilities. Natural gas, cable, internet, and electricity have been shut off indefinitely for nearly 400 homes, leaving families scrambling to run on generators, install solar power, and secure propane. So far, two homes have been officially red-tagged, as well as the Wayfarer Chapel’s administrative building. Three homes have been yellow-tagged. Some households, like that of Cindy Keefer and her husband Tom, have been without vital services for over a month.
"We have scrambled,” Keefer said, describing the emotional and financial strain. Without electricity, residents have been forced to rely on propane and generators to maintain some sense of normalcy. “At the moment, I try not to use the generator because it's so polluting and noisy. I’m just thinking about what we can do to keep the neighborhood peaceful because everyone is so emotionally challenged.”
The landslide's devastation became apparent after last winter's heavy rains. Though Rancho Palos Verdes, incorporated in 1973, has dealt with slow land shifts for decades, the situation has worsened significantly over the past year, with some areas now moving as much as 12 inches per week.
“We’re not leaving,” Zelhart said. “Where are we going to move to? Some nameless place where nobody knows their neighbors?”
Zelhart’s efforts have epitomized the spirit of Portuguese Bend. Alongside residents like Sallie Reeves, an 81-year-old who refuses to leave her home despite it being slowly swallowed by the slide, the community has worked tirelessly to find solutions. Generators, solar power, and off-grid living have become their new reality. The situation has become so dire that Reeves, like all her neighbors, has been forced to rely on generators to power basic appliances.
The crack in Sallie Reeves' master bedroom marked the beginning of landslide movement within her home. She plans to raise her home on steel beams to stay above the shifting ground in her Portuguese Bend neighborhood.
"The only way I’m leaving is in a box," Reeves said. "I’ve got the Grand Canyon in my master bedroom, but we’re going to get through this—we’ll survive."
The Portuguese Bend community is home to a diverse mix of residents, including a significant number of retirees. With nearly 26 percent of the population over the age of 65, many older residents live on fixed incomes, relying on retirement savings and Social Security. Despite the area's affluent reputation, not all residents are wealthy, and the recent landslide crisis has affected those with limited financial means.
Reeves' family began packing up her home when the cracks caused by the land movement became wide enough for raccoons and rabbits to enter at night. Her home will soon be raised on steel beams. By the time the retrofitting is complete, Reeves said that the cost of repairs will take a huge chunk out of their retirement savings.
"We’ve lived here for 42 years without a crack," Reeves, a retired school psychologist, said. "Everything happens slowly here. You’d watch it, and suddenly thresholds came apart, doors didn’t close. Little things started happening. Then, the damage became more evident late in March when the biggest crack opened up in my bedroom.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn recently visited Reeves to examine the large fissure in her master bedroom. Later, she announced a $5 million transfer from her office to the City of Rancho Palos Verdes to address the worsening land movement.
“I am urging the city to cut red tape, take the funding I am providing, and get it directly to the residents who need it as soon as possible,” Hahn said in a press release. “I am talking to people every day who are not only losing their homes but their entire life savings. This is a crisis, and we need to meet this moment.”
Governor Gavin Newsom has since declared a state of emergency for the area, but this has yet to provide direct relief for homeowners. Instead, the declaration is helping cover city expenses related to the power shutoffs. With no timeline from utility companies on when services might be restored, the situation remains in flux, with more shutoffs possible.
Due to land movement, the historic Wayfarers Chapel was carefully disassembled and placed in storage until a new location is chosen for its reinstallation.
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes is ramping up efforts to address the landslide by installing deep dewatering wells to reduce underground pressure, in addition to a number of wells and drainage projects located around the area. At the Oct. 1 City Council meeting, the city’s geologist reported a 13 percent deceleration in land movement since August, with some areas seeing up to 27 percent reductions. The average slide rate has now slowed to 8 inches per week.
The City Council also approved the $5 million grant from Hahn to aid homeowners in the Portuguese Bend Community Association, including those on Vanderlip Drive, Seaview, and the Portuguese Bend Beach Club. Each affected property owner will receive $10,000 in individual financial assistance, with an estimated total of $2.8 million allocated for up to 280 eligible homeowners. However, the $10,000 falls short of covering the mounting costs homeowners face—expenses such as replacing gas appliances, purchasing solar systems capable of powering entire homes, and bringing in propane, in addition to the significant repairs to damaged homes and streets. The remaining funds will support the city’s ongoing stabilization efforts. The total cost of the city’s emergency response could reach $55.3 million by June 2025.
Do to land movement, Palos Verdes Drive South is repaired daily.
“Our community has faced unfathomable challenges in the face of this landslide disaster, and it's critical that we swiftly deploy this funding to support our residents who have been most impacted," said Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor John Cruikshank in a press release. "These emergency grants will deliver long-overdue immediate assistance to those whose lives have been upended by land movement and utility shutoffs, helping them cover essential costs like home repairs and temporary housing. We extend our gratitude and appreciation to Supervisor Hahn for helping secure this vital funding for our community.”
Grant credits these efforts for slowing the movement, but acknowledges the fight isn’t over.
“This is hopeful news,” said Gordon Leon, chair of the Abalone Cove Landslide Abatement District. "We’re hoping we can bring it under control and have it move less than a couple of inches a year, not 9-11 inches a week.”
The residents continue to rely on each other as they navigate this crisis.
“If somebody called and needed a generator, I’d bring it up there," Grant said. "That day when they turned off the power for the [sewer] lift stations, I was in a position to help, and I did. That’s what we do here."
Despite the challenges, the community has embraced a new off-grid lifestyle.
“We’ll soon be the most successful off-the-grid community in Los Angeles,” Keefer said. “By winter, you’re going to see Christmas lights lit up from solar energy.”
Recently, residents of Portuguese Bend launched an art auction to raise money for landslide mitigation efforts in the community. The auction, organized by The Age of Art, features art donated from around the world, with all proceeds going directly toward providing emergency support for residents.
“This is all on our own. Anything that can mitigate the landslide, other than what Rancho Palos Verdes is doing at the toe [on the beach], is up to us," Keefer said. "It has been very challenging to take it one step at a time and keep our good nature along this difficult journey."
The sense of camaraderie is one of the defining traits of the Portuguese Bend community, with neighbors stepping up to help each other face the mounting challenges.
“There are very few people in Portuguese Bend whose homes don’t represent their entire life savings,” Leon said. "Is there a magic solution to stop the landslide? We haven’t found one. But we have hopeful news."
Despite an uncertain future, the people of Portuguese Bend remain resilient and united. As the ground beneath them shifts, they continue to adapt, problem-solve, and support one another through the crisis. Their community has evolved into a self-sufficient, off-grid enclave—a testament to the strength and determination of its residents.
Water lines have been installed above ground, and roads are in need of constant repair in the neighborhood.
“These people up there are so resilient,” Phipps said. “They’re taking matters into their own hands. It reminds me of the Wild West. People are just saying screw it, I’m going to do what I need to do.”
As the challenges pile up, so too do the creative solutions, proving that in the face of adversity, this community's ingenuity knows no bounds.
“You’ll look, and every time there’s a problem here, people figure out a solution,” Leon said. "There’s a problem with gas—we went on propane. Problem with electricity? People instantly got generators and slowly started switching to solar. They took away cable—we got Starlink… It’s not to say that everyone’s houses are going to be saved—but hopefully, most houses will be saved, and we’ll be the largest off-grid community in Los Angeles."
