Named after the famous European explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro is a recreational complex established in 1927 and located at the foot of one of the worlds largest breakwaters protecting the Port of Los Angeles. A regional destination for beachgoers, the wave-swept Cabrillo attracts beachcombers to the tide pools in the adjacent rocky shores of the rugged Palos Verdes Peninsula. During spring and summer, onlookers watch the grunion mate and lay their eggs in the outer beachs wet sand. The protected beach has long been popular with young families who enjoy the calm harbor waters. A public boat launch allows easy access, and the breakwaters boulders have traditionally attracted fishermen and pelicans. Many of the million annual beach visitors enjoy exploring local marine life at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, Los Angeless regional clearinghouse for ocean issues, which began in 1935 as the Cabrillo Marine Museum in the Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse.

Though few may know his name, his achievement as the first European to discover San Diego Bay and many other areas on the California coast enshrines his name in the annals of American history. This exciting volume tells Cabrillo's story from an unknown soldier to the intrepid conquistador, crossbowman, landowner, shipbuilder, and explorer he became. As one of Hernan Cortes' soldiers during the conquest of Mexico and a founder of Guatemala, his actions loomed large in the future of both South America and North America. By both educating and entertaining, this biography illuminates a little-known but important Latino explorer.

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Located on the edge of one of the largest and busiest ports in the world, the Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park is comprised of several seashore habitats found in Southern California. All are within easy walking distance of each other near the main channel of the Port of Los Angeles. They include a windswept beach and a protected harbor beach separated by one of the largest breakwaters in the world, as well as tide pools, a fishing pier, a man-made mudflat, and coastal cliffs that provide living spaces for coastal marine organisms. The combination of natural and man-made habitats here bordering the San Pedro neighborhood of the huge metropolis of Los Angeles makes this an unusual environment, representative of an urban ocean.

Discusses three 16th century explorers of America who came from Spain and Portugal. Also provides information about the national monuments named after the explorers.

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, on the rugged coast of Mendocino County in Northern California, was first lit as an aid to navigation on June 10, 1909. The light station continues to serve mariners and is regarded as one of the crown jewels of lighthouses on the West Coast. In July 1850, just north of the future site of the lighthouse, the clipper brig Frolic wrecked in its journey from China to Gold Rushera San Francisco. European settlers in search of salvage from the cargo found instead Mendocinos vast strands of virgin redwood timber stretching inland from the coast. Getting this valuable lumber to market in the mid-19th century required ships, and ships needed lighthouses to guide them. In 1909, the light known today as Point Cabrillo was built on a windswept promontory two miles north of the village of Mendocino.