Members of the Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) contacted Alphonso Bell, the owner of some 22,000 acres in the area, and arranged the purchase of a 640-acre site consisting of 200 acres in Santa Monica Canyon, and another 440 acres on mesas surrounding the canyon. A syndicate was formed, and it was agreed to subdivide and sell the mesa, and donate the canyon acreage plus ten acres on the mesa to the LAAC for a golf course and clubhouse.

According to Our First Century (The Los Angeles Athletic Club 1880-1980) by Betty Lou Young and The Riviera Country Club (A Definitive History) by Geoff Shackelford, "the resulting Riviera tract was to be an exclusive community of gentlemen's estates -- a zone of gracious home life and refinement, insulated against the ugliness of the commercial world and drawing inspiration from the old world homes and estates of Europe."

Somewhat after the LAAC transaction, Alphonso Bell's first sales agent in Bel-Air, Frank Meline, took over the subdivision and sale of a second tract to the South and West. It was called the California Riviera. To this day there are two different sets of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) for these tracts. One way to distinguish the Riviera Tract from the California Riviera Tract is the cobble-stone gutters in the (northerly) Riviera tract. In a 1932 aerial photo included in local historian Randy Young's Street Names of Pacific Palisades, the Riviera tract could also be recognized by its distinctive rows of lemon trees. The area emcompassing both tracts is known today as the Palisades Riviera (map), or just "the Riviera."

The estate sites were to be developed with a feeling of charm and elegance. The minimum/standard lot width was 100 feet with setbacks of 30 feet or more and side yard buffers of a minimum of 10 feet (including fireplaces).

The character of the Palisades Riviera includes wide streets, generous set-backs, proximity to shopping and schools, yet isolated from the hustle-bustle of city life. A relaxing walk through clean, safe, tree-lined streets can afford breath-taking ocean and mountain views.

Most areas in the Palisades Riviera have underground utilities.

FERMO - An ancient town in central Italy, near the Adriatic coast, south of Ancona. Remains of cyclopean walls date back to the 1st century A.D.

LUCCA - A famous Italian walled city west of Florence-source of most of the pasta and olive oil imported into the United States.

MINORCA - Island in the Spanish Mediterranean, the Balearic Group. 'Menorca' is the Spanish spelling.

NAPOLI - Italian port city across the bay from Mount Vesuvius. The Anglicized version is 'Naples.'

PAVIA - A city on the banks of the Ticino River in northern Italy, near Milan - once an important Roman town.

RAVOLI - A town (correctly spelled 'Rivoli') in the Italian Piedmont, near Turin. Beyond Rivoli, the road winds up through the Alps and over the Montgenevre Pass into France.

RIVIERA - The Riviera is a narrow strip of land on the southern Mediterranean coast of France and Italy, specifically extending from Cannes in France to La Spezia in Italy.

ROMANY - A collective name for gypsies, also referring to their language.

SAN ONOFRE - 'St. Humphrey' (Spanish). Derived from a 4th century hermit, who lived as a hermit in the desert of Upper Egypt for seventy years. He became the patron saint of weavers, probably because, according to The Book of Saints, "he was dressed only in his own abundant hair and a loin-cloth of leaves." Nancy and Ronald Reagan lived on San Onofre Street for many years during his governorship and the early months of his presidency.

SAN REMO - 'St. Remis' (Spanish) or 'St. Remus' (Italian). A seaport and popular winter resort in northwestern Italy on the Italian "Riviera del Fiori."

SORRENTO - Celebrated in song and story, Sorrento is the best known of the resort towns along the Amalfi Drive, near Naples.

SPEZIA - The Italian seaport of La Spezia is on the fringe of the Italian Riviera and is the chief naval harbor for Italy.

SPOLETO - A quiet town in the Umbrian Hills, near Rome, famous for its medieval streets and buildings and for its summertime festival of the arts.

TOULON - Mediterranean city on the French Riviera-a major French seaport and naval station.

UMEO - Derivation obscure. Umea is a town in northwest Sweden near the Gulf of Bothnia.