Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles, California
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Cheviot Hills is a small residential district on the West Side of Los Angeles, California.
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[edit] Geography
Cheviot Hills is bordered on the west by Rancho Park, on the south by Interstate 10, on the north by Century City and Westwood, and on the east by Beverly Hills. The district's boundaries are, roughly, Manning Avenue on the west, the Santa Monica Freeway on the south, Pico Boulevard on the north, and Castle Heights Avenue on the east. Principal thoroughfares include Pico and National Boulevards and Manning and Motor Avenues.
[edit] The Neighborhood
Cheviot Hills is an affluent neighborhood of single family homes located on the Westside of Los Angeles, California.
Most of modern day Cheviot Hills was part of the Spanish Rancho Rincon de los Bueyes land grant, the part south of Manning Avenue was once the . Cheviot Hills remained a pastoral area well into the 20th century.
Cheviot Hills neighborhood is a fusion of several residential tracts that were developed beginning in the early-1920s. Country Club Highlands (1923), Cheviot Hills (1924), and Monte-Mar Vista (1926) retained their separate identities until at least the late 1930s, when they were collectively called Cheviot Hills. In 1939 a fourth tract was added to the south: Cheviot Knolls. The California Country Club Estates tract was built beginning in about 1952.
"Cheviot Hills"
On September 23, 1912, Abraham Lincoln King and his wife Frankie L. le Forge King, prominent residents of The Palms, subdivided 130 acres of what was then called the Palms Hills. The Kings recorded Tract number 1938 with the County of Los Angeles, but they did not develop it. Instead, it remained part of the King's ranch. The area would not be annexed to the City of Los Angeles, as part of the Ambassador Annexation, until May 16, 1923.
Developer Frans Nelson & Sons bought the tract from the Kings for $2100 an acre in 1923, and began laying out streets and installing utilities around 1924. The name Cheviot Hills was chosen through a contest among the developer's salesmen. “One of our salesmen was a Scotchman by the name of Simpson. He turned in the name of a district in his homeland and when this name, Cheviot Hills, was finally selected offered the further suggestion, producing a map of Scotland, that the streets be given Scotch names.” (Houlgate, D., Frans Nelson, a Biography, Los Angeles: The Pueblo Press (1940), pp. 81-82.) They advertised Cheviot Hills' “natural rolling knolls that are so similar to the Cheviot Hills which separate England and Scotland.” (Cheviot Hills streets such as Troon, Dunleer, and Wigtown carry Scotch names.) And they promoted its proximity to several country clubs and movie studios, and for its “convenience to Los Angeles and the beach,” lots in the “finest residential district between Los Angeles and the sea” originally sold from $1780, with homes from $10,500.
"Monte-Mar Vista"
Opened for sale in 1926, Monte-Mar Vista Mountain Sea View) was advertised as the “Central Jewel in a Tiffany Setting.” Subdivided by W.R. McConnell, Fred W. Forrester, and John P. Hayes as well as by Ole Hanson, the Frank Meline Company took over development in 1928. Frank Meline was Alphonzo Bell’s first sales agent in Bel-Air and also subdivided Pacific Palisades’ California Riviera. Monte-Mar Vista homes were advertised for their proximity to Pico Boulevard, “which is close at hand, yet far enough to allow freedom from the noise and confusion.” With “concrete winding boulevards” and “not a pole in sight – utilities are underground,” homes on streets such as McConnell and Forrester were “priced for quick sale at $3900 and up.” Ole Hanson (a friend of Frans Nelson’s and another Monte-Mar Vista developer) is better known for founding San Clemente in 1925.
"Country Club Highlands"
“Country Club Highlands on Pico Boulevard” was developed by general contractor Hall Johnson Co., which trumpeted “homes as low as $750, $112.50 down, 5 years to pay balance!” An early advertisement urged, “Population is rapidly pushing towards Country Club Highlands, pushing on and on! Los Angeles’ population is rapidly growing solid to the beaches – and property values are rising in proportion.” Another advertisement touted the proximity of the Santa Monica "airline to the beaches, with the Wm. Fox studios across the street, and three country clubs near by!"
The Country Club Highlands names was no longer in popular use by the late 1930s. In 1948, another area name Rancho Park was created. Meanwhile, the Cheviot Hills label was spreading, and when the Cheviot Hills Homeowners Association was formed on May 29, 1963, its borderlines included the south and easterly parts Country Club Highlands. Today, much of the north and west part of this tract considered part of Rancho Park, while – with some overlap – the balance is considered part of Cheviot Hills.
"Cheviot Knolls"
Cheviot Knolls’ 120 homesites came to the south side of the neighborhood in 1939. A view lot was advertised at $1125 in 1940, and a “California ranch-style home – two bedrooms and den – 1 1/2 baths – tile kitchen – large walled-in rear porch” was priced at $7250. Cheviot Knolls was developed by Walter Leimert, better known for his eponymous development to the south and east, Leimert Park.
"California Country Club Estates"
The next tract added to the area was the California Country Club Estates, which replaced its namesake – the California Country Club – in 1952. Considered part of “Cheviot Hills” by some, others exclude it especially because it has its own homeowners association, California Country Club Homes Association. According to a contemporaneous Los Angeles Times article, Sanford D. Adler’s 410 home California Country Club Estates development – then valued at $15,000,000 – was sold out by 1955.
Because the Monte Mar Vista development was the most expensive and Country Club Highlands the least, the neighborhood tend to be more upscale in the northern part, and less expensive in the southern part of the neighborhood. Most of the homes were built in the 1940s and early 1950s. There are also some apartment buildings in the southern part of the neighborhood. The homes in the area are largely traditional in style.
Cheviot Hills is adjacent to Century City and the 20th Century Fox Film Studio. It is surrounded by two golf courses (Rancho Park and Hillcrest Country Club), a large public park as well as a private tennis and social club (Beverly Hills Country Club). It is in close proximity to the office towers of Century City where many of its residents work, two upscale shopping malls (Westfield Century City Mall and the Westside Pavilion) as well as the City of Beverly Hills. Cheviot Hills also offers easy freeway access to Downtown Los Angeles.
The hills that provide the district with its name offer excellent views of much of the Los Angeles Basin.
Historically, Cheviot Hills has long been popular among empty-nesters and the elderly (many of whom were original owners), and was considered less than desirable for families from the 1970s to the 1990s due to problems with crime and poverty in Palms, which shares its schools with Cheviot Hills. Recently, however, there has been a small influx of families with children. Many of the new families have performed substantial remodeling work on their homes.
Recently, there has been some controversy in Cheviot Hills over the construction of the LACMTA Expo Line. The Cheviot Hills Homeowners' Association opposes the construction of the Expo Line along the Exposition Right of Way, which runs through adjacent Rancho Park, Los Angeles, California rather than Cheviot Hills itself, and would prefer that the line go through Palms. A growing number of residents support the construction of the Expo Line in Rancho Park [1] and accuse those who oppose it as being racist. [2]. A rival homeowners' association in support of its construction is being set up right now.
One notable resident of Cheviot Hills is the famous American author Ray Bradbury.
[edit] Emergency services
[edit] Police service
Los Angeles Police Department operates the West Los Angeles Community Police Station at 1663 Butler Avenue, 99025, serving the neighborhood [3].
[edit] Education
Cheviot Hills is zoned to Los Angeles USD schools.[1]
Some residents are zoned to Castle Heights Elementary School while some residents are zoned to Overland Avenue Elementary School (Older site at [4]).
All residents are zoned to:
As an alternative, many families send their children to the various private schools in the area. There is a wide selection of religious and secular private schools within a short drive from Cheviot Hills.
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- Cheviot Hills Homeowners Association
- Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[Cheviot Hills:] The burr of Scotland and the whir of cameras" (26 Oct 2003)
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