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Sunken City
- Good for Kids:
- No
23 reviews for Sunken City
23 reviews in English
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Review from Jennifer P.
Cerritos, CA
10/20/2011 1 Check-in Here
About 6 years ago, the place was fenced out but I was able to easily pass through a hole. This time around, talked to some locals who said the place is patrolled frequently and the fine for getting caught is about 1000 USD. According to them, several lives are claimed every year from trespassers who fall and each injury or death that requires an emergency call is followed by 10 emergency vehicles and all you get is a fine slapped in the bum (aside from medical attention and assuming the victim lives).
However, you can see the remains at the south end of Pacific Ave. or at Paseo Del Mar and Gaffey at the east end of Point Fermin Park. If you really want to attempt to pass through the gate, head to the corner of South Gaffey St. and Shepard St., and enter the outdoor parking lot that's at the south end of Gaffey. Parking is free. The fence is at the very eastern part of Paseo Del Mar. Make sure you are wearing sturdy shoes. There's quite a lot of debris (both from the 1930s-1940's landslide and from trespassers). -
Review from Rita S.
Los Angeles, CA
1/30/2012
Jump under/around/over the fences as needed- trust me no cops are around.
See the ocean at its angriest, check out the taggers' art at their happiest, and sit down to get a whiff of that sick ocean breeze. The best way you could ever spend any hour of your life. Send your best wishes out to those who have suffered cliff dives at the mercy of their own personal torchures, and lust after the amazing rock jumps and history that this joint has to offer. It's like Pedro is sharing its most secret hub. -
Review from Markham L.
Las Vegas, NV
2/4/2012
This was my hangout in the early eighties.We'd have Bonfires,beer, and the Rocks below at the tide pools are great. I really miss that place, and Home.
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Review from David C.
Reseda, CA
6/2/2011 1 photo
If candy stores were made for kids, malls for teens, and bars for everyone else, this place was constructed for photographers.
By far one of the more inaccessible places I've ventured to for a photoshoot. The graffiti plastered walls, jagged pavement coupled with a coastal breeze makes this a unique photographic gem. Bring a camera and harness your creative vision. There's no other place like this in the world.
Sunken City is nuzzled away along the southern coast of San Pedro, just south of the Korean Friendship Bell. For the non-natives (as well as the naive natives), this place is accessible by walking through Pt Fermin Park, along the park's southern edge. Once you reach the end of Paseo Del Mar, look over the hip high wall to see a convenient hole under the barred fence, the "entrance" to Sunken City.
Follow the No Trespassing signs towards the coast and loop towards the eastern region for a trail down into the city.
Visit this place before it truly becomes a sunken city. -
Review from Mitchell M.
San Pedro, CA
9/21/2011
I used to live in San Pedro when we opened a dress shop on Western Avenue called Rix Rack. One of my favorite places to walk and explore was Sunken City. I walked my dog there every day. At first I thought it was caused by an earthquake because the houses were literally removed from their foundations but later was told by the locals that it was caused when a water main broke under the area and literally swept earth and foundations out from under the street and homes. Now the city has fenced it off and made it dangerous to enter. Shame because it is one incredible place with a great view of the ocean below and Catalina.
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Review from Gina S.
Long Beach, CA
2/14/2011
Sunken City is quite possibly the coolest place you've never heard of. But if you found yourself here, then I guess you have heard of it. I'd never heard much about it, and what I had heard certainly didn't prepare me for how cool it is. Yes its true you have to crawl under the fence hole to get in, and at any given moment you may be praying that an earthquake or catastrophic event will NOT strike while you're standing on the soft rock and crumbling asphalt of what was once a posh San Pedro neighborhood. But it's really not so scary, but more of an adventurous feel.
The colorfully and artfully urban tagged concrete of the former streets and sidewalks are an ironic visual against the natural glory of the ocean and cliffs you're walking on. If you want to get all philosophical you can view it metaphorically as God's power over Man. Anyway, I was clearly blown away, my pictures are gorgeous but don't do it justice. If you have a desire to seek out the unusual, a tinge of rebel in you that doesn't mind the risk of trespassing and potential bodily injury (its not bad so long as you're not being dumb), then Sunken City is worth the trek. Take your camera. -
Review from Maureen G.
Stockton, CA
5/18/2011 7 photos
This was an awesome adventure in Pedro my yelp friends and colleages.......awesome. We ran across what I thought to be some High School guys drinking from a large bottle of liquor and something I missed but my hubs caught; smoking some cannabis from a pipe! Hah! They acted like they'd been caught by the rents and said politely, "It's our senior year"! I really thought they meant HS, but found out later they meant college.....sorry guys. I've been a senior in college too, although I must admit it was in the mid-70's and my poison of choice was lite beer-lol.
Anyway, this was an awesome and energetic hike (thank goodness my dil did not abandon me....she helped me on some pretty big jumps between sidewalks and asphalt).....along the south bay in Pedro. Lot's of cement and chunks of road that dropped off along the shore some time back....makes you think, don't it? Glad my kids are several blocks from this grim reminder that CA is an unstable coastal area with many unstable plates (San Andreas-it's all your fault)!
I loved how someone took a hack saw and made an opening in the metal fence that protects the public from possible other "events" along the Pedro coastal area. We squished right through with ease. As long as I can do silly things like this with my kids I'm gonna keep doin' it.....putting off old age as long as possible my Pedro friends!Listed in: Pedro, By the Sea By the Sea!, SoCal
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Review from Katrina P.
Torrance, CA
8/11/2010
This place was great.
Went in the afternoon with a few friends and it was our first time there. After reading yelp reviews we though we'd be trying to climbing down a cliff side... we were ready for an adventure. The reviews got me excited, BUT did anyone know there was a damn trail to the left after running past the no trespassing signs? Psh... death defying... anyways, I love that this place is literally 15 minutes away. -
Review from Eden O.
4/6/2010
I was a bit nervous to come here from previous reviews, based on the level of "death defying-ness" skill they made it sound like it took to actually get to the spot. However, once actually here, it was easy. Circa April 2010...there is a gigantic hole under the fence, I managed to get through without one scratch of dirt on me.
You then quickly walk/run/hustle past the 20 NO TRESPASSING signs and you are then at the sunken city. Being from the East Coast this is really something I'd never seen before. Interesting to think about what was once there, you can walk around on all different parts on the area admiring the graffiti that covers every inch of the remaining streets, just watch your step as there are rusty nails, broken bottles and beer caps everywhere.
Side Note: getting to this area...you drive through parts of CA I didn't even know existed, keep the doors locked. -
Review from Augusta S.
Costa Mesa, CA
4/6/2009 2 photos
The Sunken City is one of my favorite San Pedro attractions... a stretch of coastal land, once home to those that could afford a cliff side view of the Pacific...that had by 1929, begun to slip and slide into the Pacific below... It's documented that at one point, eleven inches of land was eroding per day...and I thought the East had it bad.
By 1931, a six acre area that was once considered primo beach real estate was revolutionized by way of Mother Nature into a post-Apocalyptic, eerie and awe-inspiring urban jungle of broken concrete, jutting sidewalks, and graffiti.
This, friends, is an awesome spot to play photag.
Hard to believe that Pacific Ave used to wrap around and meet Paseo del Mar.
Now closed off, fenced in and marked every 50 feet or so with "NO TRESPASSING ALLOWED" signage... this area of San Pedro is still considered unsafe and the land continues to move... a literal vortex if your feet are dangling over the edge. (I don't recommend that, by the way... 'less ya have a death wish)... You can hop the fence (shhhh...) and find a way in... there were several people doing exactly this as we visited last Saturday. Everybody does it! Just don't get caught.
And yes, it was at the Sunken City where 'Walter Sobchak' lifted a Folgers coffee can high and eulogized his comrade...
"He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives! And so would Donny.
Donny, who loved bowling... and so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos... in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince."
The Dude Abides.
And the Sunken City rules.Listed in: Yo' History Book Ain't Got…, LA Bizzaro
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Review from Javier J.
6/27/2009
You know how there's all those East Coast folks hoping that California just sinks into the ocean? The type that say it simply because they're beyond jealous of our cool weather, wonderfully tolerant stance on gay marriage, excellent budget and low crime rates? Oh wait.. maybe they have a point. We might as well sink into the ocean.
Well, be thankful that much like there's signs of global warming, there's signs that California is eroding away. The Sunken city shows that we're slowly getting eaten up. Well, San Pedro at least. And really, who the hell really goes to San Pedro anyways?
Sure they have a great Korean Bell but all that does is ring. It doesn't make you all you can eat short ribs or kimche or anything.
So what's so grand about Sunken City? It's forbidden fruit. It wasn't always. When I was a kid I would come out here with my family for a picnic and wander around the area. I think my folks were trying to teach me something. Along the lines of "Nothing last forever" or that "Mother nature will always win in the end." I don't really remember anymore. All I do remember is we had terrible KFC.
Years later when I learned how to drive and was able to come out here on my own, the fences came up blocking the area. I suppose it is unsafe. But then again, I've been to Linda Vista, I'm not going to let fences stop me.
Once you hop, go around or simply find a hole in the fence you can really explore this once beach front property. Lots of concrete slabs still liter this place. So maybe mother nature will win in the end. Maybe in a zillion years California will not be around. Hopefully by then the budget issues will be sorted out.
For my money, Sunken City is a place that everyone should come to and experience. It's forgotten Los Angeles and it really shouldn't be. A humbling reminder that while you may not have beach front property, it's not always cracked out to be that great.
Besides, Donny was spread out here from the Big Lebowski.. and remember, he wasn't just a bowler, he was a surfer as well. Just don't go looking for the Folgers can. I'm sure Walter took that with him. -
Review from Abel A.
Los Angeles, CA
5/22/2010
4 stars only because of the beer trash that's there!
Regardless it's pretty cool. I really enjoyed my time there and I hope to return. I went to basically scout for a photoshoot. I got there pretty early. at 5:45am and by 6:30am 3 to 4 others arrived with their cameras to either take some photos or film something.
At around 6:15 to 6:45 the way the sun hits everything looks really nice. I think it's pretty easy to get around and it's definitely worth checking out because it's a loon into the past and maybe future. -
Review from Jenny C.
Long Beach, CA
3/25/2010 2 photos
I never knew this existed. Growing up in OC, we had the bunkers and bamboo jungle to explore. KB brought me here on our day of adventures and it is awesome!
Slide through the hole some helpful soul dug under the fence, behind the concrete wall. Watch your step, it would be humiliating to get airlifted out! Lots of cool post-apocalyptic jutting sidewalks and roads. For some reason I find it reassuring that nature so quickly reclaims what we've tried to pave and tame. Beautiful, eerie, secluded. Good times! -
Review from Patricia L.
La Mirada, CA
First, the park next to this place has a beautiful view of Catalina and the ocean(of course), second this place is fun to get to and an amazing site to see.
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Review from S F.
Torrance, CA
9/6/2010
Another tip regarding access: If you park along the back (Shephard St. or South Carolina St.), there is one spot about 80' east of Shephard St. where someone has widened the gap in the wrought iron fence. I don't think it's wide enough for a guy to fit through (I'm an averaged size guy and it wasn't even close) but if you're a thinner female or a kid, you can squeeze through. My friend who is about 5'3" 110lbs fit through this like she was walking through a doorway. If you can fit, this access point might be a little bit more stealth than hopping the wall at the park, and you don't have to walk through the wide open area with all the no-trespassing signs.
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Review from Joe G.
Long Beach, CA
2/15/2011
If you're like me then you don't mind breaking rules, especially when the rules are "for your own protection." Having said that let me say that the sunken city is not dangerous as far as I'm concerned. This place is probably where the cool kids in high school hung out, drinking and smoking late at night. From the tops of the sunken cliffs you'll find great views of the coast with a glimpse into the past. The graffiti artwork adds to experience.
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Review from Joe C.
Los Angeles, CA
11/28/2010
Go check it out. A must see if you're a Big Lebowski fan
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Review from Shawn S.
Carson, CA
6/14/2010
Broken bottles, death defying hills, and it's illegal... what can be better than a hike down to sunken city??
Listed in: Group Fun!, Get Smashed!
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Review from Martin S.
8/20/2010
I've lived here for 20 years and still love to stroll around here. The place really has a dark history for being so beautiful. It seemed like for a long time I'd hear the helicopters out over the cliff fishing some poor soul off the rocks a couple of times a month. Once a man shot his wife there and then himself . Crazy. And everyone read about the promising college football player who jumped. I even remember two in one weekend one was an accident and the guy lived! So very strange.
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Review from matt g.
Long Beach, CA
7/15/2010
The whole is still there that Eden O. refers to. And if you go at night....is that not the BIGGEST FRIGGIN SPIDER you've ever seen that makes her web across the front gate????? Holy Crap! It's like a midgets hand floating in space. How does an orb weaver get the size of a small tarantula? I named her betty and I will think of her as cute unless she eats my first born.
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Review from Kira B.
4/19/2009
I finally got in. I didn't think it was possible but it is! You basically hop over the wall and scale your way down the metal fence.. it's pretty freaking scary and you could totally lose your footing and die, but I made it. Once in, you can hike around all the concrete slabs and settle down for a nice, romantic picnic. The view is pretty amazing and worth the death defying entrance.
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Review from Rocio A.
Los Angeles, CA
7/27/2010
I used to come here as a high school teen with friends, late at night of course for bonfires and drinking ;) Not nearly as brave now! Pretty much everything everyone else says is true. It's forbidden, it's dangerous (especially at night) and its awesome.
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Review from kellie b.
Long Beach, CA
3/24/2010 3 photos
The Sunken City is such a great little adventure right outside your door! You have to scale a low concrete wall and shimmy under the fence, but that's half the fun! Once inside it's a bizarre landscape resembling Bryce Canyon If taggers were allowed to run amok! There's great views of the coast too! I highly recommend checking it out!
