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, not to be confused with Westwood, California. Westwood is best known as the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The eastern portions of the district are often thought of as a distinctly different neighborhood, Holmby Hills. Westwood was carved from the old Wolfskill Farm, a 3,000-plus-acre tract that was purchased in 1919 by wealthy retailer Arthur Letts. Letts' son-in-law, Harold Janss, was vice president of Janss Investment Co., which developed the area and started advertising new homes in 1922. Wilshire Boulevard eastbound in Westwood, California as seen on July 5, 2004. ... Wilshire Boulevard eastbound in Westwood, California as seen on July 5, 2004. ... Image File history File links Skyline of Westwood, Los Angeles, California. ... Image File history File links Skyline of Westwood, Los Angeles, California. ... Nickname: City of Angels Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: State California County Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Area    - City 1,290. ... Westwood is also a district in the city of Los Angeles, California Westwood is a census-designated place located in Lassen County, California. ... The University of California, Los Angeles, generally known as UCLA, is a public, coeducational university whose main campus is in the residential area of Westwood, Los Angeles, California. ... The University of California, Los Angeles, popularly known as UCLA, is a public, coeducational university situated in the neighborhood of Westwood within the city of Los Angeles. ... Holmby Hills is a neighborhood in western Los Angeles, California. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Because there is a census-designated place (CDP) in Northern California's Lassen County named Westwood, California, the United States Postal Service has declared that all mail addressed to the Westwood district of Los Angeles must be labeled "Los Angeles, CA" instead of "Westwood, CA". In general, all districts of Los Angeles located south of the San Fernando Valley (with one or two exceptions) are addressed "Los Angeles, CA". A census-designated place (CDP) is an area identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical reporting. ... Lassen County is a county located in northeastern California. ... Westwood is also a district in the city of Los Angeles, California Westwood is a census-designated place located in Lassen County, California. ... A previous USPS logo 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 States; it is generally referred to within the United States as the post office. ... San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley in southern California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles. ...

Geography

Located in the northern central portion of Los Angeles' West Side, Westwood is bordered by Brentwood on the west, Bel-Air on the north, Century City and Beverly Hills on the east, West Los Angeles on the southwest, Rancho Park on the southeast, and Sawtelle on the south and southwest. The district's boundaries are generally considered to be Santa Monica Blvd. (or by wannabees and real estate agent's, Olympic Bl.) on the southeast, the city limits of Beverly Hills on the northeast, and Sunset Boulevard on the north; its southwestern boundary is the San Diego Freeway between Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards, and Veteran Avenue between Wilshire and Sunset. 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... Brentwood is a district in the West Los Angeles region of Los Angeles, California, United States. ... Bel Air is a neighborhood in west Los Angeles, California, USA. The faux-gated community was founded by Alphonzo E. Bell, Sr. ... View of the Century City skyline from the Getty Center. ... Beverly Hills is a city in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles. ... West Los Angeles, also called 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... Rancho Park is a small neighborhood in western Los Angeles, California. ... The huge federal building in the unincorporated L.A. County area (which is often mistakenly thought to be in Westwood or Sawtelle). ... 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. ... 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. ... Southern California freeways The San Diego Freeway; the Interstate 405 segment is highlighted in red, the Interstate 5 segment is highlighted in blue. ... Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile District, looking east toward Downtown Los Angeles Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, looking east toward the Millionaires Mile Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California. ...

Transportation

The In N Out Burger at the corner of Gayley and Le Conte in Westwood where UCLA students congregate.

Westwood's major thoroughfares include Santa Monica, Sepulveda, Beverly Glen, Wilshire, Westwood, and Sunset Boulevards. The district is served by the San Diego Freeway. Numerous bus lines serve the area, and recently instituted bus rapid transit service runs along Wilshire. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 1259 KB) Summary The famous In N Out in Westwood where many UCLA students congregate (Picture by Mike Downey 3/4/06) Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 1259 KB) Summary The famous In N Out in Westwood where many UCLA students congregate (Picture by Mike Downey 3/4/06) Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... 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. ... Sepulveda Boulevard a street in Los Angeles, California, USA, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest municipal street in the world, stretching from the north end of the San Fernando Valley to the south end of San Pedro, a distance of over 60 miles. ... Beverly Glen Boulevard is one of three major routes that connects West Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley (the other two are the 405 Freeway and Sepulveda Boulevard ). It starts off at Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles. ... Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile District, looking east toward Downtown Los Angeles Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, looking east toward the Millionaires Mile Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California. ... Westwood Boulevard is a street in Los Angeles that runs through the heart of Westwood Village and further south in West Los Angeles. ... 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. ... Southern California freeways The San Diego Freeway; the Interstate 405 segment is highlighted in red, the Interstate 5 segment is highlighted in blue. ... Silver Line in Boston Bus rapid transit (BRT) is a broad term given to a variety of different transportation systems that, through infrastructural and scheduling improvements, attempt to use buses to provide a service that is of a higher quality than an ordinary bus line. ...

The area's notorious traffic has led to calls for the extension of the Wilshire leg of the Los Angeles Metro's Red Line subway to Westwood from its current endpoint at Western Avenue in Koreatown. Los Angeles, California, is the center of an intercity hub, transporting passengers and shipping intermodally between sea, land, and air ports. ... The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (also known as Metro, MTA or LACMTA) is the regional transportation planning and public transportation operating agency for the county of Los Angeles. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown Koreatown, also known as Wilshire Center, is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California. ...

The Metro and Caltrans have also begun a project to widen the San Diego Freeway between the interchanges with the Marina Freeway (CA/SR-90) in Culver City and the Ventura Freeway (U.S. Route 101) in Sherman Oaks; the project, which will finally add a northbound carpool lane to the congested route, is not scheduled for completion until 2007 at the earliest. Caltrans logo The soaring ramps in the stack interchanges favored by Caltrans often provide stunning views. ... The Marina Freeway The Marina Freeway is a short freeway in southwestern Los Angeles, California and the nearby suburbs. ... California State Route 90, for most of its length better known as Imperial Highway and the Marina Freeway, is an east/west numbered highway running between Orange and Los Angeles counties. ... Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. ... The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California running from Ventura to Pasadena. ... Highway 101 redirects here. ... Sherman Oaks is a district of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. ... A permanent, separated high-occupancy vehicle lane on I-91 in Connecticut In transportation engineering and transportation planning, a high-occupancy vehicle lane (or HOV lane) is a lane for vehicles with a driver and one or more passengers. ...

Attractions

A center of movie-going on the Westside and the site of many movie premieres, Westwood is home to several vintage movie theaters, including the Art Deco Crest, the Mann Village (once called the Fox Theatre) and the Mann Bruin. For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as part of... A typical multiplex (AMC Promenade 16 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California). ... Asheville City Hall. ...

Westwood is also home to the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, the last resting place of many of Hollywood's biggest stars. A museum named for and endowed by activist and philanthropist Armand Hammer, longtime head of Occidental Petroleum (which maintains its headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard), has become one of Los Angeles' trendiest cultural attractions since UCLA assumed its management in the 1990s. The Hammer, as it is commonly known, is particularly notable for its collection of Impressionist art and cutting-edge modern art exhibitions. Cemetery view looking South-East. ... Greetings from Hollywood Hollywood is a district of the city of Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., that extends from Vermont Avenue on the east to just beyond Laurel Canyon Boulevard above Sunset and Crescent Heights Boulevards on the west; the north to south boundary east of La Brea Avenue... A movie star is a celebrity who is well known for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. ... The Hammer Museum is a major art museum in Los Angeles, California, operated by UCLA. It contains one of the worlds premier collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. ... Dr. Armand Hammer Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an enigmatic Jewish-American industrialist and art collector. ... Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) (NYSE: OXY) is an international petroleum exploration and development company headquartered in the Westwood district of Los Angeles. ... Impressionism was a 19th century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists who began publicly exhibiting their art in the 1860s. ... Modern art is a general term used for most of the artistic production from the late 19th century until approximately the 1970s. ...

Westwood Village

Westwood Village

Built by the Janss family and wildly successful from its earliest stages, the Westwood Village shopping district successfully retained its cozy village atmosphere even as the San Diego Freeway came through the area in the 1950s and high-rise office towers went up around it in the following decades. However, much of this construction was planned around the never-built Beverly Hills Freeway; in combination with a severe parking shortage at UCLA, high-density development in Westwood has created some of the worst traffic congestion in Los Angeles. Even with the opening of numerous municipal parking structures in the 1990s and 2000s, finding a parking spot in Westwood Village is still a notoriously difficult task. With the proximity of Westwood's towering business area to its shops that line the streets around UCLA, parking and traffic issues dominate local planning debates. Image File history File linksMetadata Westwoodvillage. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Westwoodvillage. ... Shopping is the purchase of goods and services from retailers. ... The Beverly Hills Freeway was the name for a never-built freeway intended to link the Los Angeles districts of Westwood and Echo Park along the route of Santa Monica Boulevard. ... Underground parking garage at the University of Minnesota. ... Traffic jams are common in heavily populated areas. ...

Recent history

Many local observers contend that Westwood Village's heyday was between the 1960s and the mid-1980s, when some of the streets were so crowded with pedestrians that they were closed to vehicular traffic.^[1] The murder of innocent bystander Karen Toshima, during a gun battle between rival gangs on January 30, 1988, gained nationwide notoriety^[2] and led to the widespread impression that even affluent Westwood was not immune to the crime wave then ravaging Los Angeles. It would take more than a decade for this perception to fade.^[3] Some residents hold to a conspiracy theory that Westwood's '90s doldrums were a consequence of local developers intentionally depressing local businesses in hopes forcing them to sell out so that they could overtake whole blocks and implement plans for large mixed use complexes. A gang is a group of individuals who share a common identity and, in current usage, engage in illegal activities. ... January 30 is the 30th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Today, while Westwood is again regarded as one of the safest neighborhoods in the city, its retail sector has been slow to recover in the face of increased competition from Century City, the newly revitalized Culver City, the very popular Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, and mid-city attractions like Park La Brea's The Grove, as well as Downtown Los Angeles which itself is going through a renaissance. Recently, it has been notoriously difficult for new stores to stay in business. Century City is the name of: A neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, USA. See: Century City, Los Angeles, California. ... Culver City sign near the intersection of the 405 and the 90. ... The Third Street Promenade is a pedestrian street in Santa Monica, California, United States. ... Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica is a coastal city located in Los Angeles County, California USA, by the Pacific Ocean, south of Pacific Palisades and Brentwood, west of Westwood, Los Angeles, and north of Venice. ... Park La Brea is a sprawling apartment complex in the Miracle Mile District of Los Angeles, California. ... Image:Grove7web. ... The Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles as seen from USC, which makes up most of Downtowns skyline. ...

Mormon Temple

The Los Angeles California Temple, the second-largest temple operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is on Santa Monica Boulevard in Westwood. The temple complex also includes a Visitors Center open to the public and the headquarters for the church's missionary efforts in Southern California. The church purchased the land for the temple from silent film star Harold Lloyd in 1937, but did not open the temple until 1956. The Los Angeles California Temple is the tenth operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ... The temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located in Salt Lake City, Utah is the largest attraction in the citys Temple Square. ... A silent film is a film which has no accompanying soundtrack. ... Harold Clayton Lloyd (April 20, 1893–March 8, 1971) was an American actor and film maker, most famous for his hugely successful and influential silent film comedies. ...

Housing and Demographics

Many of the area's permanent residents are of European and Iranian ancestry and generally affluent, living in high-rise apartment buildings and, in Holmby Hills, some of the most luxurious single-family houses in Los Angeles. An NPR report in fact recently put the Iranian population of nearby Beverly Hills as high as 20% of the total population.[1] Holmby Hills is a neighborhood in western Los Angeles, California. ... NPR logo For other meanings of NPR see NPR (disambiguation) National Public Radio (NPR) is a private, not-for-profit corporation that sells programming to member radio stations; together they are a loosely organized public radio network in the United States. ... For other uses, see: Beverly Hills (disambiguation). ...

Single-family homes tend to be east and southeast of UCLA, particularly in the areas behind the LDS temple. Housing in the portion of the district bounded by Sepulveda, Santa Monica, Westwood, and Wilshire Boulevards is mostly low- or medium-rise apartment buildings catering to upscale young professionals, as well as some UCLA students. Most UCLA students in Westwood, however, live in the hilly area of low-rise apartments between Veteran Avenue and the campus' western boundary. Sepulveda Boulevard a street in Los Angeles, California, USA, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest municipal street in the world, stretching from the north end of the San Fernando Valley to the south end of San Pedro, a distance of over 60 miles. ... 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. ... Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile District, looking east toward Downtown Los Angeles Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, looking east toward the Millionaires Mile Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California. ...

Westwood as seen from Bel Air

Because of consistently high demand and the district's proximity to so many Westside attractions and businesses, rental housing in Westwood is very expensive relative to most areas of Los Angeles. For all but the wealthiest UCLA students, living off-campus in a Westwood apartment necessitates sharing a room. As a result, many UCLA students live 5 miles south of campus in Culver City and the Los Angeles districts of Mar Vista and Palms, both in private housing and in large UCLA-owned apartment complexes. Significant numbers of UCLA students also live in the San Fernando Valley, but heavy traffic congestion through the Sepulveda Pass and Beverly Glen can wreak havoc on commutes between the Valley and Westwood. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2304x1728, 1672 KB) Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2304x1728, 1672 KB) Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Bel Air is a neighborhood in west Los Angeles, California, USA. The faux-gated community was founded by Alphonzo E. Bell, Sr. ... Mar Vista is a large district on the West Side of Los Angeles, California. ... Palms is a district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California. ... San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley in southern California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles. ... The Sepulveda Pass is a mountain pass through the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles, California, USA. It connects the Los Angeles Basin to the San Fernando Valley via the San Diego Freeway (I-405) and Sepulveda Boulevard. ...

Businesses owned or operated by the Iranian community are clustered along Westwood Blvd., earning it the sobriquet Little Persia. Little Persia in Westwood, Los Angeles, California refers to the stretch of Westwood Boulevard between Pico and Wilshire boulevards. ...

2000 Census

As of the census of 2000, it is estimated that there were 47,844 people residing in the Westwood neighborhood. The ethnic or racial makeup was 62.53% non-hispanic White, 2.10% Black or African-American, 0.15% Native American, 23.06% Asian, 0.15% Pacific Islander, 3.19% from other races, and 5.46% from two or more races. 7.13% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The median income for a household was $60,752, and for a family was $89,946. The per capita income was $47,428.

The Millionaire's Mile

The winding two-mile section of Wilshire Boulevard to the east of Westwood Village is dominated by residential high-rises, and is variously known as the Millionaire's Mile, the Golden Mile^[4] or the Wilshire Corridor. Penthouse apartments in the corridor's high-rise condominiums routinely sell for amounts in excess of $20 million. Countless celebrities maintain an address on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood. A penthouse apartment is a special apartment on the top floor of a building. ... A condominium is a form of housing tenure. ...

References

(Clockwise from upper left) Notable Time magazine covers from the dates May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ... The Los Angeles Times (also known as the LA Times) is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the western United States. ...

See also

• Tehrangeles
• Beverly Hills

Tehrangeles is a portmanteau deriving from the combination of Tehran, the capital of Iran, and Los Angeles. ... For other uses, see: Beverly Hills (disambiguation). ...

External links

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 34.05611° -118.42972°
  • Wiki Satellite view at – WikiMapia
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA

• A directory of businesses in Westwood Village
• Birds of Westwood - A guide to birds found on and near the UCLA campus
• Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[Wilshire Corridor:] "Mini-Manhattan, just west of Los Angeles" (14 Nov 2004)
• Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[Westwood:] That Westside college town" (7 Sept 2003)