Los Angeles County · Land Surveying
Avalon is Los Angeles County's only island city — about two square miles of steep hillside neighborhoods wrapped around a harbor, reached by ferry rather than freeway. Surveying here is normal boundary work under unusual logistics, and both halves deserve planning.
Tell us the parcel and the project, and we will plan the record work and the island trip around it. Call (213) 787-3342 to talk it through.
Everything about Avalon's built form is compact: small town lots stacked along narrow streets, cottages and condos climbing the canyon walls, golf carts instead of second cars. Property lines that would be generous margins on the mainland are working tolerances here — a deck, stair, or retaining wall a foot out of place has nowhere to hide on a narrow hillside lot.
Mainland-based crews reach the island by ferry, so island work is planned deliberately: records pulled and reviewed before the crossing, equipment sized to what travels well, and field time scoped so the trip accomplishes everything the project needs. That preparation happens before we book the boat.
Island requests usually fall into a few patterns:
Avalon's residential fabric dates largely to the early and mid twentieth century, and its terrain never made subdivision easy. Lines run up slopes, corners land on stairways and walls, and the physical evidence of old surveys survives unevenly. Retracement leans on record research and careful fieldwork on ground where every horizontal foot matters.
Terrain drives design questions too. Additions, wall replacements, and drainage fixes on canyon parcels often need elevations and slope detail, not just lines. Because the crossing is the scarce resource, we combine related scopes where it makes sense — lines and terrain measured in the same trip — so one mobilization serves the whole project.
Most island work draws on these six, and combining them into one trip is usually the sensible scope:
The measurement standards are identical; the logistics are not. Crew and equipment travel by ferry, so the record work happens before the trip and the field scope is set to finish what the project needs. Bundling related questions — line plus topography, for example — into one mobilization is usually the economical approach.
With the line. We locate the boundary and the wall's actual footprint relative to it, so you and your neighbor know whose ground the rebuild occupies before contractors price it. On Avalon's slopes that answer frequently decides the engineering, not just the etiquette.
Yes — steep and terraced sites are standard island conditions. We plan measurement positions around stairs, decks, and slopes, and where terrain warrants it we discuss scope options with you up front rather than improvising on site.
Usually, yes. The deed anchors the record research; we assemble the surrounding maps and surveys, then reconcile that record with the monuments and occupation we find on the ground. Island records are older but the retracement method is the same.
We prepare the survey-based drawings — site plans, topographic bases, and exhibits — that your designer or expediter builds the permit package around. What the city requires varies by project, so we match the deliverable to what your reviewer asks for.
Island scoping benefits from more upfront detail than mainland work:
We complete the record research on the mainland, confirm scope with you, then schedule the crossing and fieldwork as one planned package. See how it works for the general sequence.
We serve property throughout Avalon and across Los Angeles County — request a survey quote for any parcel in the area.
Survey scope and deliverables depend on title records, site conditions, and what your project requires. Call (213) 787-3342 to discuss the property and the survey you need.
Call (213) 787-3342 early in your planning — island scheduling rewards lead time — and Southern California Land Surveyors will scope the crossing, fieldwork, and deliverables together.