Parkdale was founded in 1920, and named for early homesteader William Parker when engineers decided to build a railway station alongside a cluster of five bayside shops.

[3] In terms of state and federal government Parkdale has since 2014 been represented by the Member for the Electoral district of Mordialloc, Tim Richardson in state parliament and in federal parliament by Mark Dreyfus, the Member for the Electoral district of Isaacs since 2007.

Parkdale is accessible by a number of Public Transport Victoria bus routes servicing the area.

[4][5] The new Parkdale station was completed in August 2024, along with the re-opened and level crossing free Warrigal and Parkers Roads.

Other common ancestries listed include Irish (14.16%), Scottish (10.36%), Italian (5.18%), German (3.67%), Greek (3.35%) and Chinese (1.67%).