West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
For the greater Los Angeles region, see: Los Angeles Westside.West Los Angeles is a district in western
Los Angeles, California. "
West Los Angeles" is also often used as shorthand for a large western portion of the city, generally all of the city's neighborhoods west of
La Cienega Boulevard (except
Crenshaw, which is considered part of South Los Angeles). The neighborhood is also often confused with
Sawtelle, the unincorporated area to the north.
The district is bordered by
Santa Monica on the southwest,
Brentwood on the northwest, Sawtelle on the north,
Westwood on the northeast,
Rancho Park on the east and southeast, and
Mar Vista on the south and southeast. Its major thoroughfares are
Olympic,
Santa Monica,
Pico,
Wilshire, and
Sawtelle Boulevards, Barrington and
Centinela Avenues, and Bundy Drive. Its generally accepted boundaries are the
San Diego Freeway on the east, the
Santa Monica Freeway on the south, the city limits of Santa Monica on the west, and Wilshire Boulevard on the north, though there is quite a bit of overlap past those boundaries which is still considered to be part of West Los Angeles (for example, Westwood Village is east of the San Diego Freeway and north of Wilshire). West Los Angeles could potentially be seen as going as far east as the city line of Beverly Hills, and as far north as
Sunset Boulevard.
This district contains an area of Japanese-American culture along Sawtelle Boulevard which is sometimes called
SawtelleAfter the area's conquest by the Spanish, most of what is now West Los Angeles became part of the
Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica. With the arrival of Anglo settlers after the
Mexican-American War, the original
Californio grandees sold or were forced from their holdings, and by the turn of the 20th century the area was mostly bean and wheat fields. Since the region was in an unincorporated area (somewhat analogous to
East Los Angeles), many
Japanesesettled in the district, establishing many orchards and nurseries in the process. (Some of these nurseries are still in business today, along the stretch of Sawtelle Boulevard between Olympic and Santa Monica Boulevards.) In the 1920s, the area was annexed by the City of Los Angeles, but in keeping with custom, most street addresses within the district are listed by the
United States Postal Service as being in the "city" of West Los Angeles.
As with most parts of the West Side, West Los Angeles is an affluent neighborhood. Its central location has made it a locus of commercial development, with several high-rise office buildings along Olympic, Santa Monica, and Wilshire Boulevards. It also contains a large number of Japanese-owned businesses (most notably the two
Giant Robot stores on Sawtelle Boulevard). The Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a large
Reform Jewish, actually stands on Olympic, some blocks south of Wilshire; the discrepancy is due to the fact that it is a satellite temple of the old, original Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Koreatown.
Housing in West Los Angeles is a mixture of low-rise apartment buildings, mostly inhabited by young professionals, and single-story tract house developments built between 1930 and 1960. One of Los Angeles' tallest residential towers is at the neighborhood's northern edge, at the intersection of Wilshire and Barrington.
Schools in the area, such as Wildwood School, are well-respected and of generally high quality.
University High School, a
secondary school named for nearby
UCLA, is in the district. "Uni" is one of very few older high schools in Los Angeles that have not had to be completely rebuilt following earthquakes over the years, and still has a traditional look to it featuring weathered brick walls and arched entries. As a result, it is a popular with film producers as a shooting location, when school is not in session. The campus also contains within its bounds an artesian well (claimed by the
Tongva people as their ancestral home) which has never failed, even in the driest years. Junipero Serra's party is said to have camped there in the course of their journey up and down the state.
*
West Los Angeles Neighborhood Council*
Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[West Los Angeles (neighborhood): In the vicinity of everything in West L.A." (19 Jan 2003)]
