Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California
Pacific Palisades is a district within the city of
Los Angeles, California, located between
Brentwood to the east,
Malibu to the west,
Santa Monica to the southeast, the
Santa Monica Bay to the southwest, and the
Santa Monica Mountains to the north. The area currently has about 27,000 residents. It is an affluent and primarily residential area, with a mixture of large private homes, small (usually older) houses, condominiums, and apartments. It has a small central business district on
Sunset Boulevardknown as the "village." It also includes some large parklands and many hiking trails.
Palisades Charter High School serves the neighborhood. It is known as "Where Sunset Meets the Sea."
Originally the home of the
Inceville movie studio, the first of the many "movie ranches" used for making
western films and housing a small number of mostly
Asian fishermen, the area was first subdivided in the
1920s and settled by
Methodists. One subdivision has streets named for Methodist missionaries. For many decades it had a virtual ban on local drinking, a
Chinese restaurant famously holding the only liquor license in town. The Presbyterian Church formerly owned a conference center in Temescal Canyon before it was sold to become part of Topanga State Park.
Will Rogers owned a large ranch adjoining the Palisades in Santa Monica Canyon, now also a state park, and helped to attract
movie stars to the area. It has been the home to a number of intellectuals, such as
Aldous Huxley.
During
World War II a German exile community formed in the Palisades. It was centered at the Amalfi Drive home of
Lion Feuchtwanger and included Palisades residents
Thomas Mann,
Emil Ludwig, and
Vicki Baum, along with others in nearby areas, such as
Bertolt Brecht.
Charles Laughton and
Elsa Lanchester were also known for their hospitality. Two California governors,
Ronald Reagan and
Arnold Schwarzenegger, each lived in the district for many years at different times.
It is mentioned in
The Beach Boys' "
Surfin' USA". Band members
Mike Love and
Dennis Wilson were Pacific Palisades residents, but did not live there at the time they recorded the song. It is also mentioned in the
Bran Van 3000 song called
Drinkin in L.A. Patti Davis often describes growing up in the Palisades in her memoirs, including
The Long Goodbye. The Northern Ireland rock group
Ash featured a song named "Pacific Palisades" on their 2001 album
Free All Angels. The fictional
Marvel Comics superhero team called the
The Avengers may have once headquartered in a Pacific Palisades compound. The series
Baywatch was filmed at Lifeguard Headquarters by tower 15 of
Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades. "Pacific Palisades" is the title of a 1997 13 episode TV-series produced by
Aaron Spelling which takes place outside of the Palisades in the Valley.
Actress
Thelma Todd died in Pacific Palisades under suspicous circumstances in her Roadside Cafe on Pacific Coast Highway. She asphyxiated due to carbon monoxide poisoning in her garage. Potential causes of death have included both murder and suicide. However bruises around her neck, and her cracked ribs imply a struggle and cast doubt on the suicide hypotheisis. Speculation took place that Todd was murdered by Lucky Luciano. However the most plausible theory regarding Todd's death have been put forth by Marvin Wolf and Catherine Mader. They claim that Todd was killed by Roland West, who they also allege confessed to the murder in the 1980's.
The Murphy Ranch was the home of Herr Schmidt in the 1930's and 1940's. Herr Schimdt was a Nazi sympathizer who heloped organize self-defense, sharpshooting, and phsycical training exercises at the ranch. This continued until the OSS intercepted communicastions between Schmidt and Nazi officers in Mexico, South America, and Europe. These communication interceptions led to Herr Schmidt's eventual arrest.
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Eames House* The
Getty Villa*
Exiled German-Speaking Intellectuals in Los Angeles*
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The Palisadian-Post (the weekly newspaper serving the community)
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Pacific Palisades Community Council
