Beverly Hills
The area’s so-called “Golden Triangle” of wealthy neighborhoods is formed by Beverly Hills and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Bel-Air and Holmby Hills. While Beverly Hills is a separate city, it is culturally very much a part of Los Angeles. In 1900, the land was purchased by the Amalgamated Oil Company. They drilled several wells, only to have their drill bits gather dust above and below ground. And by 1906, the property passed into the hands of the Rodeo Land and Water Company, with Burton E. Green as head of the development company. Green and the new corporation hired a landscape architect, Wilbur D. Cook, who designed a town with large lots for homes and wide curving streets, to be lined with palm, eucalyptus, acacia and other variety of trees. Cook also created a three block long, eighty-feet wide greensward along the north side of Santa Monica Boulevard called Santa Monica Park. When trying to decide on a name for the town they were about to build, Burton Green happened to read a newspaper article that mentioned Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, and as he read, it struck him that Beverly was a pretty name. He suggested the name Beverly Hills to his associates and it was accepted.
Bel-Air
The faux-gated community was founded by Alphonzo E. Bell, Sr. in 1923 and is part of the so-called “Golden Triangle” of Bel-Air, Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills. Bel-Air is known as an exclusive residential community. Residences in Bel-Air range from modest ranch and story and half configurations to grand mansions. Many homes in Bel-Air seem quite modest from the outside, often only six feet from the street, however they tend to have large grounds and an estate feeling. In general, the higher up the mountain, the smaller the building lot and more modest the homes; however those residences along roads such as Stradella Road have magnificent views of the Los Angeles basin and Catalina Island. The most desirable homes are right off the main entrances of Bel-Air and the country club entrance for these homes have both the views of the Bel-Air Country Club and the rest of Los Angeles. Lower Bel-Air homes can sell for over $100+ million. Many families prefer lower Bel-Air because of its proximity to Sunset Boulevard, a major thoroughfare.
Beverly Park
Also referred to as a private gated community located in the hills above Los Angeles, California. This affluent neighborhood is known for its concentration of exceptionally large homes, averaging 40,000+ square feet, and for its famous residents. The neighborhood residents abide by a 70-page homeowners’ covenant that includes a minimum building size: “No dwelling shall be constructed or maintained on any residential lot which has a floor area less than 5,000 square feet (464 m²).” Established in 1990, the 250-acre (100 ha) community was built by Los Angeles-developers Brian Adler and a partner using land that was originally intended to be a golf course named after Dean Martin. It originally contained 64 two-acre lots, a 4-acre landscaped park and over 100 acres of open space; a number of adjacent lots have been purchased and combined for larger estates. The vacant lots originally sold for US$3.5 million to $6 million each, but the prices have since increased. The price of a complete home is $10 million for the smaller homes and can reach up to $150+ million for the largest homes. Located in the 90210 ZIP Code, the neighborhood is considered a part of Beverly Hills. Because of its seclusion and security, including security cameras and constant patrols by guards, the neighborhood is popular among wealthy celebrities and business executives.
Brentwood
An affluent district in the West Los Angeles region of Los Angeles, California, United States. Located at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the east, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, the Santa Monica city limits on the southwest, the border of Topanga State Park on the west and Mulholland Drive along the ridgeline of the mountains on the north. Nearby neighborhoods and cities include Pacific Palisades on the west, Santa Monica on the southwest, West Los Angeles on the south, Sawtelle on the southeast, Westwood on the east, Bel-Air on the northeast and Encino on the north. The area’s ZIP code is 90049, which includes Brentwood and part of Bel-Air Estates (the other section of Bel-Air Estates is located in the 90077 zip code).
Hancock Park
Developed in the 1920s, by the Hancock family, with profits earned from oil drilling in the former Rancho La Brea (much of which is now the Miracle Mile district). Hancock Park owes its name to developer-philanthropist G. Allan Hancock, who subdivided the property in the 1920s. Hancock, born and raised in a home at what is now the La Brea tar pits, inherited 440 acres, which his father, Major Henry Hancock had acquired from the Rancho La Brea property owned by the family of Jose Jorge Rocha. Some 71 oil wells were operating at capacity on the land from 1905 to 1910. Nine years later Hancock subdivided the property into residential lots. He leased 105 acres to the Wilshire Country Club with an option to buy. Architects such as Paul Williams, A. C. Chisholm and John Austin were hired to design homes for many of the city’s pioneer families. The list of families who moved into Hancock Park’s first homes reads like a “Who’s Who” of California: Doheny, Chandler, Huntington, Van Nuys, Crocker, Banning, Newmark, Van de Kamp and Duque, were some of the early residents.
Holmby Hills
Affluent neighborhood in western Los Angeles, California. Sunset Boulevard is the area’s principal thoroughfare. Holmby Hills, Bel-Air, and Beverly Hills form the “Golden Triangle” of Los Angeles’ priciest and most exclusive neighborhoods. Many of the estates in Holmby Hills boast panoramic views of the entire Los Angeles Basin. Many high-level entertainment industry executives, such as Interscope Records founder Jimmy Iovine, television producer Aaron Spelling, and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner (whose home is better known as the Playboy Mansion), reside or resided in the area. The area gained a significant amount of notoriety as it was home to the legendary Walt Disney and Humphrey Bogart. “The Ultimate in Residential Estate Development.” Zoning for the community, which straddles Sunset Boulevard, was designed to accommodate large lot sizes (up to 4 acres). Electric and telephone lines were buried beneath the wide, tree-lined streets to preserve the landscape. Handsome, English-style street lamps, designed exclusively for Holmby Hills, were erected throughout the neighborhood. Among the first mansions built here in the late 1920s was the Tudor-style home of the founder’s son, Arthur Letts, Jr. (purchased in 1971 by Hugh Hefner as his Playboy Mansion West). Thanks to its lush landscaping, enormous lot sizes, and privacy, from the beginning Holmby Hills has attracted the rich and famous. In the 1950s, Walt Disney built his dream home here, which featured a miniature steam railroad, complete with 300 feet of track and a 90-foot-long tunnel.
Malibu
A city located in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 12,575. The city of Malibu is a 27-mile (43.5 km) strip of Pacific coastline; a beachfront community famous for its warm, sandy beaches, and for being the home of countless movie stars and others associated with the Southern California entertainment industries. Most Malibu residents live within a few hundred yards of Pacific Coast Highway (California State Route 1), which traverses the city; the city is also bounded (more or less) by Topanga Canyon to the east, the Santa Monica Mountains to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the south, and Ventura County to the west. Its beaches include Surfrider Beach, Zuma Beach, Malibu State Beach and Topanga State Beach; its neighboring parks include Malibu Creek State Park and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. A popular Malibu license plate frames reads, “Malibu: A Way of Life.” Signs around the city proclaim “27 miles of scenic beauty.”
Santa Monica
A coastal city in western Los Angeles County, California, USA. As of the 2005 census, the city had a population of 96,500, but an early 2006 estimate has the population at 103,255. Santa Monica is named for Saint Monica of Hippo because the area on which the city is now located was first visited by Spaniards on her feast day. In the skateboard and surfing communities, Santa Monica’s Ocean Park neighborhood and adjacent parts of Venice are sometimes called Dog-town. Santa Monica is sometimes referred to with the colloquial abbreviation “SaMo”. Because of its agreeable weather, Santa Monica had become a famed resort town by the early 20th century.
West Hollywood
An incorporated city in Los Angeles County, California, was founded on 29 November 1984. The total residential population is just over 37,000; however, the nighttime and weekend population swells to between 80,000 and 100,000, with a high of up to 500,000 during major events such as Halloween or the Gay & Lesbian Pride Parade. The city is one of the most notable gay villages in the United States. This area is occasionally referred to as WeHo. The Sunset Strip is probably the best known portion of Sunset, embracing a premier collection of boutiques, restaurants, rock clubs, and nightclubs that are on the cutting edge of the entertainment business. It is also known for its trademark array of huge, colorful billboards.