Surfridge, CA was a wealthy oceanfront neighborhood in Los Angeles, built on sand dunes in the 1920s just south of what became LAX. Between 1965 and 1975, more than 800 homes were condemned and demolished because jet noise from the expanding airport made the area unlivable. The 307-acre site is now a fenced-off ecological preserve run by Los Angeles World Airports, home to the federally endangered El Segundo blue butterfly. A few paved cul-de-sacs and fire hydrants are about all that is left of the houses.
The Neighborhood That Used to Be There
Surfridge was developed by Dickinson & Gillespie, a Minneapolis real estate firm that moved its headquarters to the end of Culver Boulevard in 1924. The company was already building Palisades del Rey to the south, and Surfridge was pitched as its coastal extension. A 1925 public contest picked the name, and the winner collected $1,000 for a word chosen for its “brevity, euphony, ease of pronunciation.”1Los Angeles Times. Surfridge
Lots sold for fifty dollars down and twenty dollars a month over three years. Deed restrictions required brick, stone, or stucco exteriors and, in keeping with standard Los Angeles practice at the time, barred anyone “not entirely that of the Caucasian race” except domestic employees of white owners.1Los Angeles Times. Surfridge The Great Depression nearly sank the project, but by the early 1930s Surfridge was drawing wealthy buyers attracted to views that ran from Palos Verdes to Malibu. Fritz B. Burns, a central figure in both developments, built his own home at 200 Waterview Street. It still stands.2LMU Magazine. Our Neighborhood Ghost Town
Why the Airport Doomed It
The City of Los Angeles leased a dirt runway inland from Surfridge called Mines Field in 1928. Commercial carriers preferred Burbank and Glendale, so for years the airfield posed no real threat to the neighborhood. During World War II, the military stationed fighters there and built gun batteries inside Surfridge itself. After the war, the field was renamed Los Angeles International Airport.2LMU Magazine. Our Neighborhood Ghost Town
The Boeing 707 arrived in 1959 and changed everything. The jets took off to the west, directly over the houses. Local historian Duke Dukesherer said residents had to “literally stop talking” during takeoffs. The Boeing 747 made it worse. A quiet beachside enclave now sat under one of the busiest flight paths in the country.2LMU Magazine. Our Neighborhood Ghost Town
How the Buyouts and Demolition Worked
By the early 1960s, roughly two-thirds of Surfridge homeowners voted to accept buyouts from the airport authority. The process took about a decade and cost an estimated $60 million, most of it federally funded.2LMU Magazine. Our Neighborhood Ghost Town
On January 4, 1967, the Los Angeles City Council passed Resolution No. 4022, formally calling for 26 streets, alleys, and four public walks in the Palisades del Rey acquisition area to be vacated.3California Supreme Court Historical Society. Dickerson Holdouts fought back with lawsuits and injunctions, but the city kept moving. A few hundred remained by 1970. By the end of 1971, all of them were gone. More than 800 homes were condemned and bulldozed between 1965 and 1975, and the community ceased to exist by 1975.4SFGate. Los Angeles Ghost Town Sits Right at Edge of LAX
The acquisitions fell under the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, which requires fair market value, at least 90 days’ written notice before a required move, and access to comparable replacement housing.5Federal Aviation Administration. Land Acquisition for Public Airports Surfridge was not the only area taken. In the 1970s, LAX used eminent domain to acquire another 3,500 homes in Westchester, north and east of the runways.2LMU Magazine. Our Neighborhood Ghost Town
What the Land Is Now
The empty dunes drew regulatory protection almost immediately. In 1976, the El Segundo blue butterfly was listed as federally endangered, and Los Angeles County designated the dunes a “Significant Ecological Area” the same year.6U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. El Segundo Blue Butterfly Recovery Plan In 1982, the Los Angeles Department of Airports proposed turning roughly two-thirds of the site into a golf course. The California Coastal Commission denied the plan as inconsistent with Coastal Act protections for environmentally sensitive habitat.7California Coastal Commission. Reports
The city locked in protected status through the Los Angeles Airport/El Segundo Dunes Specific Plan, adopted as Ordinance No. 167,940 in 1992. It set aside about 200 acres as a Dunes Habitat Preserve. A 1994 ordinance (No. 169,767) extended preserve status to the remaining roughly 100 acres that had been held open for a possible golf course, closing the entire site to commercial development.8City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning. Los Angeles Airport/El Segundo Dunes Specific Plan9LAWA. Coastal Zone Management and Coastal Barriers Because the area has no certified Local Coastal Program, the California Coastal Commission keeps permanent jurisdiction over any proposed development.
Restoration work has focused on coast buckwheat, the only plant the El Segundo blue butterfly feeds on, and on removing invasives like acacia and ice plant.10LAWA. LAX Dunes Home Page11ABC7. LAX Dunes Endangered Species Federal recovery planning identifies the LAX Dunes as the species’ largest and most resilient population, and one of four sites that must be permanently protected before the butterfly can be downlisted from endangered to threatened.6U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. El Segundo Blue Butterfly Recovery Plan
Crews have also been removing the neighborhood’s old bones. Starting in June 2013, LAWA pulled up roughly 32,000 square feet of pavement from abandoned streets including Napoleon, Gillis, Palace, Sterry, Bolt, and Pope, along with curbs, gutters, retaining walls, and old foundations.12Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission. LAWA CDIP Ecological Monitoring Report A major restoration phase finished in early 2026, with 24,000 native plants installed and 17.9 acres of invasive vegetation cleared.13SFGate. Ghost Town at LAX Becomes Nature Preserve In 2023, the California Natural Resources Agency awarded LAWA a $500,000 grant through the Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation program to restore 50 acres of butterfly habitat.14California Natural Resources Agency. Natural Resources Agency Awards Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Grants
Can You Visit?
No, not the preserve itself. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the entire 307-acre site was fenced off because of its location next to LAX’s runways. Hurricane fencing and “no trespassing” signs surround it, and access is limited to volunteer groups from organizations like The Bay Foundation that enter for restoration work.15Los Angeles Times. LAX Dunes Preserve2LMU Magazine. Our Neighborhood Ghost Town You can look in from the Waterview Trail, which runs along the preserve’s northern edge from Pershing Drive to Vista Del Mar Boulevard, and a small public park fronts Vista Del Mar.13SFGate. Ghost Town at LAX Becomes Nature Preserve
Most of the old street grid is gone, torn up or buried under returning scrub and sand. A handful of paved cul-de-sacs still trace where families once lived in brick-faced houses with ocean views, before the airport grew large enough to swallow them.