WEST LOS ANGELES (REGION)

'West Los Angeles' (also known as 'West L.A.' or 'the Westside') is generally considered to be the portion of Los Angeles, California that lies east of the Pacific Ocean, west of La Cienega Boulevard (or, by some, Fairfax or even La Brea Avenue), south of the Santa Monica Mountains, and north of the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). (Compare to East Los Angeles or South Los Angeles.) It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the northwest by Ventura County and the Conejo Valley, on the north by the San Fernando Valley, on the east by Hollywood district and the Wilshire area, and on the south by South Los Angeles and South Bay.
The short form for the region, "West L.A.", is an imprecise term which can mean different things depending on usage and context. As a geographical term, "West L.A." can either refer to the region discussed here, or to the small neighborhood of West Los Angeles located in the center of the region. To disambiguate, locals often refer to the larger region as "the Westside".

Contents

Business and Transportation

Subcultures & Ethnicities

Ethnic and Cultural Groups

African American

East Asian

Hispanic/Latino

Middle Eastern/South Asian

Persians

Pakistanis

"The 310"

West Side communities

Northern West Los Angeles

Southern West Los Angeles

References

Business and Transportation

Many of the major educational, retail, cultural, and recreational attractions of Greater Los Angeles are located in the area, as is a large portion of the entertainment industry. Century City is the major business hub of the Westside, containing many major production corporations, talent agencies, and entertainment law firms. Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and new developments near LAX are also important entertainment industry centers. The Westside rivals downtown Los Angeles for the number of people commuting to it from other areas, particularly the San Fernando Valley to the north and the South Bay to the south.
The Westside's traffic congestion is legendary. Although once served by the Pacific Electric Railroad's streetcars, it was the first region of Los Angeles to be developed largely around the automobile, and is notorious for its lack of significant public transportation. The almost transcendently gridlocked San Diego Freeway is the primary transportation corridor in the region, and much of the area's commercial development is along it.
The proposed Pacific Coast, Beverly Hills, and Laurel Canyon freeways undoubtedly would have sped up the region's traffic flow, but went unbuilt in the face of massive community opposition. Unfortunately, a great deal of high-density development took place in anticipation of these roadways' construction, resulting in significant congestion on the area's surface streets. Getting to Hollywood from the West Side is particularly difficult. Major east-west streets between the regions are jammed during much of the day. Proposals to widen the existing freeways or extend the Purple Line to the ocean have been stalled by their great expense; more recently, an old proposal to turn Pico and Olympic into one-way streets has been revived.^[1]

Subcultures & Ethnicities

The Westside is generally stereotyped as the "white part" of the City of Los Angeles, in contrast to Latino-dominated East Side, the Latino and Asian areas such as Pico-Union and Koreatown in and around downtown, and the black and Latino neighborhoods of South Los Angeles.
The area contains a significant amount of cultural diversity, with most White (non-Hispanic) ethnicities represented in an enclave or small business district somewhere in the region.
"Westside" can also be a shorthand term to describe the concentration of wealth in this area and its attendant values. It functions similarly to the Upper East Side of New York City as a driver of local and state politics. A "Westside Liberal" or "limousine liberal" describes a politically active, white and wealthy Democrat that typically lives in a gated community (although in reality there are few gated communities in the area) who would, in rare instances, break against party lines to support Republicans through votes and donations.

Ethnic and Cultural Groups

African American

Westchester, Palms, Culver City, and parts of Venice and Santa Monica have significant black populations which vary in income demographics and have always been considered distinct from the traditionally black neighborhoods of South Los Angeles. Ladera Heights is the only one of LA's affluent, predominantly black neighborhoods which lies west of La Cienega Boulevard. Culver City's Fox Hills area, which adjoins Ladera Heights, is similarly black and wealthy, although white, Asian, and Latino families are an increasing presence in the neighborhood. The "Westside" is often mentioned in West Coast rap and gangsta rap music, especially in songs dating from the mid-to-late 1990s. However, this refers to black-dominated areas of South Los Angeles (such as Crenshaw and Jefferson Park) located west of Main Street.

East Asian

Sawtelle Boulevard between Pico and Santa Monica boulevards became a center of Japanese business and culture in the first half of the 20th century, when restrictive covenants and laws made it impossible to purchase property in adjoining incorporated areas. As a particular profession of Japanese in Los Angeles was gardening, the street was filled with plant nurseries and related stores. Today, many of the nurseries have been replaced by shops and offices that still cater to Japanese and Japanese Americans, including two Giant Robot stores that feature all kinds of Japanese pop culture collectibles.

Hispanic/Latino

In the area northwest of the 405-10 injunction is the traditional ''barrio'' of the near-defunct Sotel gang. hanging out in the cities Stoner Park. It drew its members from descendants of the Latino farmhands who worked the orchards and bean fields that once covered the area. Today, much of the population immediately to the southwest of the 10-405 junction contains young White and Asian professionals and UCLA students drawn to the area's cheap rents and large UCLA housing complex, but significant Latino communities are still found in Culver City and Palms. Also, large numbers of Latino families reside at Mar Vista Gardens, a Del Rey housing project operated by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. Palms also plays host to a small, closely-knit Brazilian community, with several restaurants and shops catering to it.

Middle Eastern/South Asian

Persians

Brentwood, Rancho Park, and Westwood host a large Iranian/Persian exile community that is apparent by the numerous bookstores and restaurants on Westwood Boulevard with signage in both Farsi (Persian language) and English. Beverly Hills,
Santa Monica and West Hollywood have also become major destinations for upwardly mobile Persians, with ethnic Iranians comprising perhaps as much as a fifth of the population of Beverly Hills. Persians are also a significant presence in Palms, with the Iranian Muslim Association of North America maintaining its headquarters in the district. Ironically, many Persians in Los Angeles belong to the Jewish faith, while Orange County has a Muslim (mostly secular) majority among its Persian population. The Iranian Jewish Federation maintains its headquarters in West LA.

Pakistanis

Farther south, Palms is considered one of the major centers of Pakistani life in Los Angeles. Venice Boulevard is lined with numerous Pakistani restaurants and groceries. ''Hijab''-clad Pakistani women are a frequent sight in Palms, particularly in the western blocks of the district.

"The 310"

Area code 310 covers most of West Los Angeles and is commonly synonymous with it: young people often refer to the region as "the 310." The area code 310 also covers parts of southwest Los Angeles, such as Carson, Gardena and Compton. In April 2005, local telecommunications providers petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission to overlay area code 424 onto 310, due to a projected shortfall of telephone numbers; this overlay took into effect in August 2006.

West Side communities

Independent Cities are listed in 'bold'. Districts in unincorportated L.A. County are in ''italics''. All other districts are part of the city of L.A.

Northern West Los Angeles

★ Bel-Air

★
★ Roscomare Valley

★
★ Beverly Glen

★
★
★ Benedict Canyon

★ Beverly Crest

★ 'Beverly Hills'

★
★ Trousdale Estates

★ Beverlywood

★ Brentwood

★
★ Brentwood Circle

★
★ Brentwood Glen

★
★ Brentwood Hills

★
★ Brentwood Park

★
★ Bundy Canyon

★
★ Kenter Canyon

★
★
★ Crestwood Hills

★
★ Mandeville Canyon

★
★
★ Westridge Heights

★
★ South Brentwood

★
★ Westgate

★ Century City

★ Cheviot Hills

★ Crestview

★ 'Malibu'

★ Pacific Palisades

★
★ Castellammare

★
★ Huntington Palisades

★
★ Palisades Highlands

★
★ Santa Monica Canyon

★
★
★ Rustic Canyon

★ Rancho Park

★
★ Home Junction

★ 'Santa Monica'

★
★ Ocean Park

★
★ Sunset Park[1]

★
★ Santa Monica Canyon

★ ''Sawtelle (V.A. Hospital)''

★ South Robertson

★ ''Topanga Canyon''

★
★ Topanga

★ West Los Angeles

★
★ Sawtelle (Little Osaka)

★ Westwood

★
★ Holmby Hills

★
★ Westwood Village

Southern West Los Angeles

★ 'Culver City', see Culver City, California#Neighborhoods

★ Del Rey

★ Marina Peninsula

★ Mar Vista

★
★ Westdale

★ ''Marina Del Rey''

★ Palms

★
★ Westside Village

★ Playa del Rey

★ Playa Vista

★ Venice

★
★ Oakwood

★ Westchester

★
★ Los Angeles International Airport (Westchester)

★
★ Manchester Square

References

1. Guccione, Jean, "One-way streets may get Westside on the fast track," ''Los Angeles Times'' 29 March 2007: A1.