Palms, Los Angeles, California
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- Not to be confused with the following cities in California: Twentynine Palms, Palm Springs, and Palm Desert.
Palms is a district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California.
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[edit] Geography
Palms is bordered by Culver City to the south, Rancho Park and West Los Angeles to the north, and Mar Vista to the west. The district's boundaries are National Blvd. and the Rosa Parks Freeway (I-10) on the north, the Culver City boundary on the south, and the San Diego Freeway on the west. Principal thoroughfares include National, Palms, Venice, and Sepulveda boulevards and Overland and Motor avenues.
The portion of Palms bounded by Overland, Sepulveda, National, and Charnock Road was developed just before World War II as Westside Village and is considered by its property owners' group (the Westside Village Civic Association) to be a distinct neighborhood.
[edit] History
The oldest community on the Westside of Los Angeles, Palms was founded in 1886 at a midpoint on an electric rail line (which later became part of the famous Pacific Electric "Red Car" system) between Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Before the massive urban growth engendered by the Los Angeles Aqueduct, Palms was the center of a farming and ranching area. As with many other Los Angeles suburbs, access to water from that Owens Valley aqueduct proved irresistible to Palms residents, and in 1915 they voted to be annexed to Los Angeles.
In the latter part of the 20th Century, much of Palms (except principally for the upscale Westside Village) was rezoned for multiple housing, and now some 92% of Palms residents live in rented apartments or condos. Even in Westside Village the number of renters is about 70% because of UCLA family housing and other multiple uses on the main streets.
Since the late 1990s, Palms has seen an upturn in its fortunes, with the revival of Culver City's adjacent downtown adding new life to the area. The district's diversity, affordability, and central location have made it an appealing center for young professionals seeking alternatives to traffic-choked Westwood and Santa Monica, but still wanting to live in a diverse urban setting in a neighborhood relatively close to the beach. Palms' growth will probably continue well into the 21st century with the arrival of the Metro Expo Line, a light-rail corridor stretching along Exposition Boulevard from Downtown Los Angeles to eastern Culver City, just east of Palms. This line will eventually extend to Santa Monica, passing through Palms on a portion of its route.
[edit] Neighborhood Council
The Palms Neighborhood Council was certified as part of the city government on December 14, 2004. Its founding president was Len Nguyen, who resigned shortly after his taking office in order to go to work for newly elected City Council Member Bill Rosendahl. Todd Robinson succeeded as the second president, but he resigned a few months later. In March 2006 Vice President Pauline Stout moved up to become president.
All of the stakeholders in Palms are members of the neighborhood council. Stakeholders include not only those who live, work or own property in the district, but also a broader category of people who can claim affiliation through some other kind of activity on behalf of Palms oganizations. Three from that category were elected in spring 2005 to the Representative Assembly, a 13-member governing body composed of officers chosen on a districtwide basis and representatives elected from local areas.
[edit] Housing
Until the early 1960s, most of Palms was single-family homes[1] and small duplexes and triplexes, most of which were built in the Craftsman and Spanish Colonial styles that dominated Southern California in the first quarter of the 20th century. Under pressure to provide affordable housing, the city of Los Angeles rezoned most of the district for large multifamily dwellings. (Homeowners' associations in Westside Village, Mar Vista, Rancho Park, and Beverlywood successfully banded together to fight against any such rezoning in their neighborhoods.) [citation needed] This had the result of most of Palms' historic housing stock being razed and replaced with two-story (or larger) apartment buildings. Very few original houses remain, and many of those are on lots where additional housing units have been built on what were once backyards. Palms is now one of Los Angeles' most densely populated neighborhoods.
The housing stock in historic Palms is now almost completely composed of apartment buildings, and 92% of the population there are renters. The upscale Westside Village district contains the only significant remaining concentration of owner-occupied single-family homes, largely constructed by developer Fritz Burns in assembly-line style just before World War II; most of these houses have been expanded during their lifetime, and some have been replaced in recent years by bigger, two-story dwellings (including a number of "Persian palaces"). Apartment buildings, including two UCLA family- and graduate-student housing complexes, line even Westside Village's major thoroughfares.
[edit] Transportation
Palms is served by the 405 San Diego and 10 Rosa Parks freeways. It has a good bus system, with the No. 12 Santa Monica Big Blue Bus (and the express Super 12) providing a direct line to UCLA on the north, Culver City on the south and the South Robertson area on the east. Venice Blvd. is served by the No. 33 (and Express 333) bus lines of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The No. 6 line of Culver CityBus on Sepulveda Blvd. links UCLA with the Los Angeles Airport and the Green Line of the light-rail system, while Culver City's No. 3 line connects the district to Century City. The city's Department of Transportation offers a commuter freeway express to downtown in the morning and return in the afternoon.
[edit] An interesting sidelight
On Aug. 25, 1993, in Woodbine Park (east of Motor Avenue between Palms and National Blvd.), rap singer Snoop Doggy Dogg (real name: Calvin Broadus) was arrested on suspicion of being an accomplice in the killing of reputed gang member Philip Woldemariam. Broadus's bodyguard actually pulled the trigger and claimed self-defense at the trial. Both were acquitted.
[edit] Demographics and neighborhood composition
Per the United States Census of 2000, Palms (including Westside Village) had a population of 40,293. Racial and ethnic breakdown was as follows: 48.1% white or Caucasian, 11.9% black or African-American, 0.7% American Indian or Alaska native, 21.6% Asian or Pacific Islander, 11.7% some other race, and 6.1% two or more races. 23.0% the district's population of any race was of Hispanic or Latino background. Per capita income was $23,268; 16.8% of individuals were below the federal poverty line.
Included in Palms' white and Asian population figures are large Middle Eastern and South Asian populations. With an average annual household income of roughly $45,000, Palms is generally considered the last working class, un-gentrified neighborhood on Los Angeles' Westside. Much of its population consists of students at Santa Monica College, UCLA, and USC.
[edit] Landmarks and attractions
Palms' diversity is reflected in its landmarks. Its major religious sites are the complexes of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and the Iranian-American Muslim Association of North America (IMAN). A list of all religious institutions can be found at http://www.palmsvillagesun.info/Religion.html
The Lycée Français de Los Angeles, a French-language school that boasts actress Jodie Foster among its alumni, occupies several buildings in various parts of the neighborhood]. It is in the process of building a new high school campus on Exposition Blvd. at the top of Vinton Ave.
Palms Middle School is the largest public school within Palms. Other public schools are Charnock Road, Clover Avenue and Palms elementary schools, as well as Pacifica Community Charter School. http://www.palmsvillagesun.info/Schools.html
Palms has a large number of Indian and Pakistani restaurants and businesses.In addition, it is also one of the centers of the Brazilian community in Los Angeles, with a number of Brazilian-oriented restaurants and shops, and one nightclub.
The area is host to an unusual museum, the Museum of Jurassic Technology, and a research institute, the Center for Land Use Interpretation. It has a legitimate theater, the Ivy Substation, which is now home to the Actors Gang, led by Tim Robbins. The Ivy Substation is within Media Park, which has been leased to Culver City on a long-term basis.
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Palms Neighborhood Council
- The Palms-Village Sun Web site
- Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[Palms:] Freeway close, family-friendly" (7 Aug 2005)
