Don, thanks, I downloaded that thesis...thought it would be useful. I've met Andy..he works with Mark Legg and I thing Rob Mellors. The Palos Verdes fault is a right-lateral strike-slip fault that slips about 3 mm/yr. So, it would take 300 years to build up 1 m of slip. It is unclear how much of the fault would slip at any one time. But, the 1933 earthquake on the Newport-Inglewoood fault might be a good model. The smaller the earthquakes that release the buildup of strain/stress, the more often they can occur.

But, what I have been talking about lately is not a strike-slip earthquake on the Palos Verdes fault. It is a greatly more catastrophic earthquake on a low-angle (meaning, not steep) thrust or oblique thrust. Such as earthquake is probably rarer than a Palos Verdes fault strike-slip fault. But, the accelerations mightg be larger, and they would last longer, so it would be more of a problem for taller buildings. A lot of this is fairly sketchy, though...which makes writing a paper on this and getting it published more difficult.
Chris
Chris