Pebble Beach began as the name of a rocky cove and beach within a Mexican land grant. Chinese fishermen had settled along Carmel Bay, including at Stillwater Cove, and the Pacific Improvement Company, a group of railroad barons, bought the land in 1880 and built the Hotel Del Monte and a scenic carriage road. Samuel F.B. Morse formed the Del Monte Properties Company in 1919 and took over the holdings.
Today the community has its own post office and is part of the larger Del Monte Forest, with a Community Services District for fire, wastewater and other services. Pebble Beach Golf Links opened in 1919 and was ranked the number-one course in America by Golf Digest in 2001, the first public course to be so named.
It is also home to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the finale of Monterey Car Week.