Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pacific Palisades is a district within the U.S. 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 a very 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 Boulevard--consisting of restaurants, stores, banks, and offices--known 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." Notable shops in the village include PaliSkate, Benton's Sporting Goods, Mort's Palisades Deli and Village Books on Swarthmore Street.
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[edit] History
Pacific Palisades has humble roots. In 1911, the area was home to director Thomas Ince's Western film factory Inceville, which at its peak employed nearly 600 people. A decade later, the Rev. Charles H. Scott and the Southern California Methodist Episcopal Church bought the land; in 1922, Scott founded Pacific Palisades, envisioning an elaborate religious-intellectual commune. Believers snapped up choice lots and lived in tents during construction. By 1925, the Palisades had 100 homes. One subdivision has streets named for Methodist missionaries. The tents gave way to cabins, which gave way to bungalows, which gave way to multimillion-dollar homes with priceless views.
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 Temescal Gateway Park. Will Rogers owned a large ranch adjoining the Palisades in Rustic 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, Oskar Homolka and Vicki Baum, along with others in nearby areas, such as Bertolt Brecht. Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester were also known for their hospitality. Steven Spielberg has a home here, and two California governors, Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, lived in the district for many years at different times. Author Henry Miller and poet Maya Angelou also lived in Pacific Palisades.
[edit] Areas
- The Riviera features The Riviera Country Club, a high-end country club, and streets named after various locations in the French and Italian Riviera. The neighborhood is divided into north and south sections by Sunset Boulevard. It is also the closest to Santa Monica and Brentwood.
- The Huntington is close to the 'village' proper, and is more of a typical suburb. It is located south of Sunset Blvd.
- The Alphabet Streets are north of Sunset Blvd. and are characterized by narrow streets. The street names are consecutively named beginning with A, B, C, D, etc - hence the name Alphabet Streets. It is a popular destination for trick-or-treaters on Halloween.
- The Bluffs are located further out-of-town along Sunset Boulevard and start past Palisades Charter High School and Via De La Paz. they extend for a long distance between Sunset Blvd and the Palisades Bluffs.
- Palisades Highlands is a Real-Estate Development near the end of Sunset Blvd. Almost fifteen minutes away from the center of the town, The Highlands could almost be considered their own separate community. The Highlands are located in the Santa Monica Mountains, along Palisades Dr. Notable residents include Ray Liotta, Steve Guttenberg, and Alexandra Paul.
- Marquez Knolls is an area situated between The Highlands and The Village. It features hilly terrain and ocean views. It spreads up into the Santa Monica Mountains and is a popular base for hiking trails.
- Rustic Canyon Located between The Village and The Rivera features post-war homes located on the former polo field of The Uplifters, the original site of The Uplifters clubhouse (now a city park) and the "cabins" developed as second homes and weekend retreats. This area is also known as Uplifter's Ranch.
[edit] Residents
- Patti Davis often describes growing up in the Palisades in her memoirs, including The Long Goodbye.
- 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.
- Actress Thelma Todd died in Pacific Palisades under suspicious 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. Yet bruises around her neck and her cracked ribs imply a struggle, and cast doubt on the suicide hypothesis. Speculation took place that Todd was murdered by Lucky Luciano. However the most plausible theory regarding Todd's death has 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 1980s.
- The Murphy Ranch was the home of Herr Schmidt in the 1930s and 1940s. Herr Schimdt was a Nazi sympathizer who helped organize self-defense, sharpshooting, and physical training exercises at the ranch. This continued until the OSS intercepted communications between Schmidt and Nazi officers in Mexico, South America, and Europe. These communication interceptions led to Herr Schmidt's eventual arrest.
- Rex Sinquefield lives in Pacific Palisades.
- Tony and Emmy Award winning comic actor Martin Short and Canadian comic actress Nancy Dolman ("Soap") have lived in Pacific Palisades since 1987.
- Writer James Robert Baker committed suicide in his Pacific Palisades home in 1997.
- Artist and illustrator Joseph Morgan Henninger lived in a hilltop home overlooking Pacific Palisades for over forty years.
- NBA athlete Vlade Divac and his family live in the Palisades.
- Actor Ray Liotta lives in Pacific Palisades.
- Actor Michael Richards lives in Pacific Palisades.
- South Park co-creator Matt Stone currently lives in Pacific Palisades
- Seinfeld co-creator and star of Curb Your Enthusiasm Larry David lives in Pacific Palisades.
- Country Singer Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams have a home in Pacific Palisades.
- Actor Chris O' Donnell lives in Pacific Palisades
- Actor Stephen Collins (7th Heaven) lives in Pacific Palisades.
- Actors Anthony Quinn and Adam West have at one point called Pacific Palisades home.
- Actor Richard Boone (Have Gun Will Travel) lived in Pacific Palisades until one night when he was in Hawaii people broke into his house and started a fire burning a portion of the house down.
[edit] Filming location
- The 2005 Anne Hathaway, Bijou Phillips film Havoc was set in the Palisades.
- The 2003 Disney film: Freaky Friday with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan was filmed at Palisades Charter High School.
- The 2001 film Crazy/Beautiful starring Kirsten Dunst was filmed at Palisades Charter High School.
- The 1977 NBC television program James at 16, starring Lance Kerwin was filmed at the same school, which was then called Pacific Palisades High School, or more commonly as "Pali" High.
- Food Netwoork's Everyday Italian is filmed on El Medio.
- The TV series Baywatch was filmed at Lifeguard Headquarters by tower 15 of Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades.
[edit] Cultural references
- 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.
- Title of a 1997 TV series produced by Aaron Spelling.
- Title of a 1990 film starring Sophie Marceau.
- The NBC television series Saved by the Bell was set in Pacific Palisades.
[edit] Fire service
Los Angeles Fire Department Station 69 is in Pacific Palisades.
[edit] Education
Residents are zoned to Los Angeles Unified School District schools:
- Pacific Palisades Elementary School
- Revere Charter Middle School
- Palisades Charter High School
Los Angeles Public Library operates the Palisades Branch.
[edit] See also
- Eames House
- The Getty Villa
- Villa Aurora
[edit] References
- Exiled German-Speaking Intellectuals in Los Angeles
- Young, Betty Lou, Pacific Palisades, Where the Mountains Meet the Sea, Pacific Palisades Historical Society Press (1983)
[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
- The Palisadian-Post (the weekly newspaper serving the community)
- Pacific Palisades Community Council
- Pacific Palisades Grenola/Las Casas Neighborhood Group
- Villa Aurora (former residence of writer Lion Feuchtwanger and now artis residence)
- LA Times' West Magazine
