WEST LOS ANGELES, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

'West Los Angeles' is a district in western Los Angeles, California located within the larger region often referred to as the "Westside."

Contents

Geography and transportation

History

The neighborhood today

Emergency services

Police service

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Private schools

External links

Geography and transportation

The district is bordered by Santa Monica on the west, Brentwood on the northwest, the unincorporated Sawtelle VA Complex on the north, Westwood on the northeast, Rancho Park on the east and southeast, and Mar Vista on the south and southeast. 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.
Its major thoroughfares are Olympic, Santa Monica, Pico, Wilshire, and Sawtelle Boulevards, Barrington and Centinela Avenues, and Bundy Drive.
Because Santa Monica's municipal bus line uses UCLA as a terminal, it provides good public transit within the region, especially along east-west routes, as does the LACMTA to a lesser extent. However, public transit from West Los Angeles to other, more distant districts within L.A. is poor.
This district contains an area of Japanese-American culture along Sawtelle Boulevard which is sometimes called Sawtelle.

History

After 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 Japanese—barred from purchasing land within the boundaries of the City of Los Angeles—settled 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.
The core of what is now West Los Angeles, including the Civic Center Area at Santa Monica & Purdue, was originally incorporated as the City of Sawtelle. In the 1920s, the area was annexed by the City of Los Angeles.

The neighborhood today

As with most parts of the Westside, 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. A satellite congregation of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, one of the most prominent Reform Jewish congregations in Southern California, occupies the northeast corner of Olympic and Barrington.
Housing in West Los Angeles is a mixture of low-rise apartment buildings, mostly inhabited by young professionals and working-class families, and single-story tract house developments built between late 1920 and 1960. Two of Los Angeles' tallest residential towers are at the neighborhood's northern edge, at the intersection of Wilshire and Barrington. There is a trend toward greater density, as single-family houses get replaced by apartment buildings, or apartment buildings by taller ones, as building sites become available through demolition.
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, even when school is in session, much to the chagrin of the students and faculty. 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 is the home of a Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP). It is part of an initiative by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide mail order prescriptions to veterans using computerization at strategic locations throughout the United States.
West Los Angeles has a small Hispanic community evident by the authentic Mexican restaurants and a few Mexican shops. Among the area's Latino residents are a large number of immigrants from Oaxaca.^[1]
Despite having the city's lowest crime statistics, West Los Angeles houses a small dwindling gang problem which can be seen by graffiti taggings "sotel 13" mostly in the city's area between the 405 and the 10 freeways.

Emergency services

Police service

Los Angeles Police Department operates the West Los Angeles Community Police Station at 1663 Butler Avenue, 99025, serving the neighborhood [1].

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Residents are zoned to Los Angeles USD schools.[2]

★ Some residents are zoned to Brockton Avenue Elementary School, while others are zoned to Sterry Elementary School or Warner Avenue Elementary School.

★ Some residents are zoned to Emerson Middle School, while others are zoned to Webster Middle School.

★ All residents are zoned to University High School. Indian Springs Continuation High School is on the site of University High School.

Private schools

St. Sebastian School and West Los Angeles Baptist School are nearby private schools.

External links

★ West Los Angeles Neighborhood Council

★ [http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/communities/2003/la-re-guide19jan19,0,7488432.story?coll=la-realestate-communities-2003 ''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)]

★ Sawtelle Blvd.