West Los Angeles is a district in western Los Angeles, California. "West Los Angeles" is also often used as shorthand for a large western portion of the city, generally all of the city's neighborhoods west of La Cienega Boulevard or La Brea Avenue (except Crenshaw, which is considered part of South Los Angeles). The neighborhood is also often confused with Sawtelle, the unincorporated area to the north. Nickname: City of Angels Official website: http://www. ... The Westside is generally considered to be the portion of Los Angeles, California and its suburbs that lies east of the Pacific Ocean including Brentwood, west of La Brea Avenue (varying definitions set the boundary at Fairfax Avenue or even the eastern border of Beverly Hills), south of the Santa... Map of La Ciénega Boulevard and the unbuilt SR 170 freeway La Ciénega Boulevard is a major north/south arterial road that runs from El Segundo Boulevard in El Segundo, California on the south to Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. ... La Brea Avenue is a prominent north/south thoroughfare in Los Angeles. ... Crenshaw Boulevard exit sign on the Santa Monica Freeway. ... The huge federal building in the unincorporated L.A. County area (which is often mistakenly thought to be in Westwood or Sawtelle). ...

Geography and transportation

The district is bordered by Santa Monica on the southwest, Brentwood on the northwest, Sawtelle on the north, Westwood on the northeast, Rancho Park on the east and southeast, and Mar Vista on the south and southeast. Its major thoroughfares are Olympic, Santa Monica, Pico, Wilshire, and Sawtelle Boulevards, Barrington and Centinela Avenues, and Bundy Drive. Its generally accepted boundaries are the San Diego Freeway on the east, the Santa Monica Freeway on the south, the city limits of Santa Monica on the west, and Wilshire Boulevard on the north, though there is quite a bit of overlap past those boundaries which is still considered to be part of West Los Angeles (for example, Westwood Village is east of the San Diego Freeway and north of Wilshire). West Los Angeles could potentially be seen as going as far east as the city line of Beverly Hills, and as far north as Sunset Boulevard. Santa Monica Pier entrance Santa Monica pier Santa Monica is a coastal city in western Los Angeles County, California, USA. It borders Santa Monica Bay (part of the Pacific Ocean) on the west, Pacific Palisades and Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles and Mar Vista on the east, and... Brentwood is a district in the West Los Angeles region of Los Angeles, California, United States. ... High-rise buildings line Wilshire Boulevard through the Westwood area Another view of the Westwood skyline Westwood is a district in western Los Angeles, California. ... Rancho Park is a small neighborhood in western Los Angeles, California. ... Mar Vista is a large district on the West Side of Los Angeles, California. ... Olympic Boulevard is a major arterial road in Los Angeles, California. ... California State Route 2; the Santa Monica Boulevard segment is highlighted in red, Alvarado Street is highlighted in green, the Glendale Freeway is highlighted in blue, and the Angeles Crest Highway is highlighted in purple. ... Pico Boulevard is a major Los Angeles street that runs from Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica to South Central Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles. ... Wilshire Boulevard is the principal east-west surface street in Los Angeles, California. ... Sawtelle Boulevard is a north/south street in Los Angeles of important cultural significance. ... Centinela Avenue is an important street in Los Angeles. ... Interstate 405 is the designation of three different tertiary interstate routes of Interstate 5. ... Southern California freeways Interstate 10; the Santa Monica Freeway segment is highlighted in red and the San Bernardino Freeway is highlighted in blue. ... Sunset Boulevard (officially known as West Sunset Boulevard, except in Beverly Hills) is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades. ...

This district contains an area of Japanese-American culture along Sawtelle Boulevard which is sometimes called Sawtelle The huge federal building in Sawtelle (which is often mistakenly thought to be in Westwood). ...

History

After the area's conquest by the Spanish, most of what is now West Los Angeles became part of the Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica. With the arrival of Anglo settlers after the Mexican-American War, the original Californio grandees sold or were forced from their holdings, and by the turn of the 20th century the area was mostly bean and wheat fields. Since the region was in an unincorporated area (somewhat analogous to East Los Angeles), many Japanese--barred from purchasing land within the boundaries of the City of Los Angeles--settled in the district, establishing many orchards and nurseries in the process. (Some of these nurseries are still in business today, along the stretch of Sawtelle Boulevard between Olympic and Santa Monica Boulevards.) In the 1920s, the area was annexed by the City of Los Angeles, but in keeping with custom, most street addresses within the district are listed by the United States Postal Service as being in the "city" of West Los Angeles. Combatants United States Mexico Commanders Zachary Taylor Winfield Scott Stephen W. Kearney Antonio López de Santa Anna Mariano Arista Pedro de Ampudia Strength 60,000 40,000 Casualties KIA: 1,733 Total dead: 13,283 Wounded: 4,152 25,000 (Mexican government estimate) The Mexican-American War was fought... A Californio was a Spanish-speaking inhabitant of Alta California who lived there when it was a part of Mexico, before it was taken by the United States after the Mexican-American War. ... Welcome sign on Atlantic Boulevard East Los Angeles (often shortened to East L.A.) is an unincorporated area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States that is bounded by the city of Los Angeles to the west and north, the cities of Montebello and Monterey Park to the east... A USPS logo A USPS truck in San Francisco A smaller truck (a Long Life Vehicle or LLV) used in suburban areas The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent establishment of the executive branch of the United States government (see ) responsible for providing postal service in the United...

The neighborhood today

As with most parts of the West Side, West Los Angeles is an affluent neighborhood. Its central location has made it a locus of commercial development, with several high-rise office buildings along Olympic, Santa Monica, and Wilshire Boulevards. It also contains a large number of Japanese-owned businesses (most notably the two Giant Robot stores on Sawtelle Boulevard). The Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a large Reform Jewish, actually stands on Olympic, some blocks south of Wilshire; the discrepancy is due to the fact that it is a satellite temple of the old, original Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Koreatown. Giant Robot can mean one of three things: Giant Robot (magazine) Giant Robot (band) Giant Robot (genre) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Reform Judaism can refer to (1) the largest denomination of Judaism in America and its sibling movements in other countries, (2) a branch of Judaism in the United Kingdom, and (3) the historical predecessor of the American movement that originated in 19th Century Germany. ...

Housing in West Los Angeles is a mixture of low-rise apartment buildings, mostly inhabited by young professionals, and single-story tract house developments built between 1930 and 1960. One of Los Angeles' tallest residential towers is at the neighborhood's northern edge, at the intersection of Wilshire and Barrington.

Schools in the area, such as Wildwood School, are well-respected and of generally high quality. University High School, a secondary school named for nearby UCLA, is in the district. "Uni" is one of very few older high schools in Los Angeles that have not had to be completely rebuilt following earthquakes over the years, and still has a traditional look to it featuring weathered brick walls and arched entries. As a result, it is a popular with film producers as a shooting location, when school is not in session. The campus also contains within its bounds an artesian well (claimed by the Tongva people as their ancestral home) which has never failed, even in the driest years. Junipero Serra's party is said to have camped there in the course of their journey up and down the state. University High School (known as Uni) is a secondary school located in West Los Angeles, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California near the border of Santa Monica. ... Secondary school may refer to Secondary school in the United Kingdom, is the general term for the schools for children between the ages of eleven and eighteen in most areas (a few areas have schools for 13-18 year olds instead, and these are called upper schools). ... The University of California, Los Angeles, popularly known as UCLA, is a public, coeducational university located in the residential area of Westwood within the city of Los Angeles. ... The Tongva are a Native American people who inhabited the area in and around Los Angeles, California before the arrival of Europeans. ...

External links

Coordinates: 34.04639° N -118.44722° E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically); large version (pdf) The geographic (earth-mapping) coordinate system expresses every horizontal position on Earth by two of the three coordinates of a spherical coordinate system which is aligned with the spin axis of the Earth. ...

• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
  • Satellite image from Google Maps or Windows Live Local
• West Los Angeles Neighborhood Council
• Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[West Los Angeles (neighborhood):] In the vicinity of everything in West L.A." (19 Jan 2003)