The primary attractions include Municipal Pier and the sandy beach, popular with tourists and a variety of sports enthusiasts.

Archeological work in the nearby Chowigna excavation show evidence of inhabitants as far back as 7,100 years ago.

[11] The wetlands located at the site of the retired AES power plant in Redondo Beach were a source of foods including halibut, lobster, and sea bass, and also of salt.

[16] The Chowigna were relocated to missions in 1854, when Manuel Dominguez sold 215 acres (87 ha) of Rancho San Pedro, including the lake, to Henry Allanson and William Johnson for the Pacific Salt Works.

[15][17][18] The city's residents and political leaders have long advocated to retire an aging waterfront power plant and allow it to be restored to its natural wetland state,[20][21] rather than converted into a housing development.

[22] The city has also participated in legal proceedings to preserve its ability to participate in residential zoning decisions, including the discretion to regulate single-family homes from being transformed by for-profit developers into “six-on-a-lots.”[23][24] In 1983, the city of Redondo Beach adopted a resolution “recognizing the Goodyear Airship Columbia (aka Goodyear blimp) as the “Official Bird of Redondo Beach.”[25] In 2022, the Redondo Beach government (along with the governments of Torrance, Carson, and Whittier) sued the California state government, seeking to block the California HOME Act (SB 9), which permits the construction of duplexes and fourplexes on lots.

[23] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.2 square miles (16 km2), over 99% of it land.

Redondo Beach first appeared as a city in the 1890 United States census as part of the now defunct Chataqua Township.

[22] Redondo Beach, like its neighboring beach towns, has become one of the most exclusionary cities in Los Angeles by limiting housing production, resulting in a median home costing $1.4 million, 60% higher than the regional average for Los Angeles.

According to the 2010 United States Census, Redondo Beach had a median household income of $99,496, with 5.4% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

[57] Almost two thirds of the residents in Los Angeles County, the majority in Southern California, and a plurality of Californians live in charter cities according to the 2010 US Census.

[63] The Independent Study Program supports grades 9-12 and is housed on the Patricia Deizler campus.

[67][68] The city also has eight established elementary schools: Alta Vista, Beryl Heights, Birney, Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, Tulita and Washington.

[71] Residents of Redondo Beach were in South Bay Union High School District until 1993, when it dissolved.

AdventurePlex has mazes, tunnels, outdoor rock climbing walls, complex ropes courses, and an indoor gymnasium.

In 1928 the Chamber of Commerce recommended a new library be built on the site previously occupied by the Hotel Redondo in what is now Veterans Park.

The Veterans Park Library is a Spanish/Dutch colonial building designed by architect Lovel Bearse Pemberton and opened on July 2, 1930.

The new Main Library for the City of Redondo Beach opened on July 8, 1995, at 303 N. Pacific Coast Highway.

A North Branch Library was also established in 1930 and started at the Grant Community Hall, it then moved to its current location at 2000 Artesia Boulevard in 1949.

The North Branch Library is the first City owned Green building and received Gold LEED certification.

Historically, the city was served by the Santa Fe Railroad and Pacific Electric's Venice-Playa del Rey and Redondo Beach via Gardena lines.