Los Angeles neighborhood from overhead
The view from the Hollywood sign
Santa Monica Pier crosswalk
Venice, California sign
Our areas of expertise extend beyond our work in these neighborhoods -- we grew up here, we each raise our kids here, and we love our life here.
According to the Mapping L.A. project of the Los Angeles Times, Beverlywood is flanked on the north by Pico-Robertson, on the east by Mid-City, on the south by Palms and on the west by Cheviot Hills. Beverlywood's street and other borders are given as: north, Cashio Street and Airdrome Street; east. Canfield Avenue and Robertson Boulevard; south, Cattaraugus Avenue; and west, Beverwil Drive and the boundary with the Hillcrest Country Club.
The borders of the Beverlywood Home Owners Association are as follows: Monte Mar Drive to the north, Hillcrest Country Club and Anchor Avenue to the west, Beverlywood Street to the south, and Robertson Boulevard to the east. These borders are marked by entrance monuments and signs. The neighborhood's HOA owns and maintains several private parks in the neighborhood, including Circle Park, which are gated and only accessibly to Beverlywood residents.
Beverlywood was developed in 1940 by Walter H. Leimert, who also developed Leimert Park. The neighborhood consists of 1,354 single family homes, and was one of the first neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area to have binding CC&Rs. These regulations strictly limit housing size, style, color, and design along with additional restrictions on landscaping, and are enforced by a review committee.
Crestview is a friendly community outlined by the eastern boundary of La Cienega Blvd, Roberson Blvd is on the west and Pickford Street is on the north with Sawyer as the southern boundary. It is comprised of 740 homes and is ranked the 33rd most walkable neighborhood in Los Angeles, according to walkscore.com. Most of the homes in Crestview were built in the 1930’s and 1940’s by developer Elwain Steinkampand William T. Richardson. Their signature stained glass windows set them apart as traditional Spanish-Mexican style homes.
The area was originally serviced by the Pacific Electric Railway company back in the early part of the 19thcentury. The Venice Short Line was a popular train which took residents to Venice and Santa Monica from the La Cienega / Venice stop. Pacific Electric built a bridge for the train to circumvent the swampy areas during the rainy seasons, for this reason the street was named “La Cienega,” which means “the swamp” in Spanish. In September of 1950 the railway company was pushed out of business by the new invention of the bus system and Pacific Electric was forced to shut down. After 13 years of abandonment, the bridge was ultimately demolished, as new developments for the Santa Monica Freeway began. A new bridge completed construction recently which once again brings light rail to our neighborhood.
Rancho Park is a small residential neighborhood in the Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California with mostly single family homes and tree lined streets. The community is nestled between West Los Angeles and Cheviot Hills. This enclave draws young professionals and families and is home to residents working in a variety of professional occupations. History proves the neighborhood was once a part of Westwood until Olympic Blvd. was placed dividing the area North and South. The Southern section, now known as Rancho Park, felt cut off from its North side lobbying for its own identity in the 1930s.
Rancho Park was named by area boosters after World War II. We thought it was about time to have our own community. We must separate ourselves from Westwood. There were many names suggested for our new community but there was a pioneer real estate broker here who had established his office on Pico near Manning back in 1927. His name was Bill Heyler. Bill did as much as any other one person to develop the area; so when it came time to adopting a name for the community, the wisdom of our pioneer was in counsel. The honor of naming this community "Rancho Park" went to Bill Heyler. Heyler is also credited with bringing in the Rancho Park Golf Course, which opened in 1947.
Faircrest Heights is a lovely residential neighborhood named after the bordering Fairfax Avenue and situated in a corner of the Crestview neighborhood. The homes in these communities were mostly built in the 1930’s and 40’s lending a quintessential pre-war American charm to the quiet atmosphere in the middle of a bustling city. Faircrest Heights has been named by Los Angeles magazine as one of the “10 Best Districts You’ve Never Heard Of.”
The boundaries of Faircrest Heights are Pico Boulevard on the north, Fairfax Avenue on the east, Washington Boulevard on the south, andLa Cienega Boulevard on the west. Faircrest Heights is the eastern part of the Crestview neighborhood which is part of the P.I.C.O. Neighborhood Council and where the KROQ-FM Radio Station, the Pepper Claude Senior Center, LAWPD Receiving Station # D, Electric Charging Station, Crescent Heights Boulevard Elementary School and the magnet school, Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies are located.
Neighbors United is a Faircrest Heights neighborhood organization, founded in 1981. Their mission is to preserve and strengthen the quality of the Faircrest Heights district in the Crestview neighborhood by promoting safety, organizing community events, encouraging beautification, and by promoting and facilitating citizen communication, participation, and involvement in local governance.
Situated within a short drive of both Fox Studios and Sony Pictures Studios, the neighborhood has often been the site for the filming of motion pictures and television shows. Examples dating to the 1920s and 1930s include the Laurel and Hardy films The Finishing Touch, Big Business, and Bacon Grabbers, among others. Later examples include The Ropers television series from the late 1970s and the movie Private School in 1983. A house on Cheviot Drive was used in "The Flying Nun" starring Sally Field and a house on Glenbarr Avenue was the home of "Nanny and the Professor". On ABC-TV's "Modern Family" the exterior of a home on Dunleer Drive is seen as Claire and Phil Dunphy's residence.
Developed between 1926 and 1940, Monte Mar Vista is the most affluent part of Cheviot Hills. The neighborhood was originally developed by W.R. McConnell, Fred W. Forrester, and John P. Haynes and consists of sixteen blocks along the northern side of Cheviot Hills bound by the Hillcrest Country Club, Cheviot Hills Park, and Rancho Park Golf Course to the north, west, and east and Lorenzo, Forrester, and Club Drive to the south. In 1928, the development was taken over by Ole Hanson and the Frank Meline Company, who continued to develop the neighborhood. Because of the area's location, many properties enjoy expansive views that overlook the Hillcrest Country Club and Rancho Park Golf Course as well as views of Century City, the Hollywood Hills, and the Hollywood Sign. Many of the lots are large, often covering several parcels, and homes were designed by prominent architects including John L. DeLario, Roland E. Coartes, Wallace Neff, and Eugene R. Ward. The first house designed by Craig Ellwood, Lappin House, is located in this part of Cheviot Hills.
Built in 1952 on the site of the former California Country Club, California Country Club Estates is a neighborhood of single-family homes that is known locally as New Cheviot, as opposed to the rest of Cheviot Hills which is known as Old Cheviot. The neighborhood is located within Cheviot Hills, bound to the north by Club Drive and to the west by Queensbury Drive, but has a separate home owner's association with binding CC&Rs attached to each lot, and its borders are marked by signs and central medians. The neighborhood was originally developed by Sanford Adler, the mob-backed owner of El Rancho Hotel and Casino, and included homes built by architects such as A. Quincy Jones.
Mar Vista is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California. In 1927, Mar Vista became the 70th community to be annexed to Los Angeles. It was designated as an official city neighborhood in 2006. Mar Vista was called Ocean Park Heights from 1904 to 1924. Ocean Park Heights developed along a rail line - the Venice Short Line from downtown Los Angeles to Venice Beach - built in 1902 (present day Venice Boulevard). In 1927, Mar Vista became the 70th community to be annexed to Los Angeles. The neighborhood experienced massive growth in the 1950's through the 1970's. The area north of Venice Boulevard was filled in with suburban single-family development, including many surviving examples of mid-century modern residential architecture along Beethoven, Meier, and Moore street. These developments were originally built as basic, low-cost homes in a relatively far-flung region of the city. But as the surrounding areas of Western Los Angeles have developed into major business and tourism centers, property values rapidly increased to the point where, as of 2020, older homes marketed as tear-downs regularly sell for over $1 million.
The section of the neighborhood south of Venice Boulevard is zoned for apartment buildings, and as such it is significantly more densely populated. This section is home to a large concentration of dingbat apartment buildings which are mostly subject to Los Angeles' Rent Stabilization Ordinance, allowing many long-term renters to stay in the area despite increasingly expensive rents and property values.
