South Carthay is a neighborhood in
Central Los Angeles
__NOTOC__
Central Los Angeles is the historic urban region of the City of Los Angeles, California.
Geography The City of Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Department of City Planning divides the city into Area Planning Commission (APC) areas, each fur ...
, California. Located south of
Carthay Circle,
[''The Thomas Guide,'' 2008, page 633] South Carthay was developed in the 1930s by Spyros George Ponty.
Geography
The neighborhood is bounded by Olympic Boulevard on the north, La Cienega Boulevard on the west, Pico Boulevard on the
south, and Crescent Heights Boulevard on the east.
History
The South Carthay area became a portion of the City of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
on February 28, 1922. Residential development in the area began during the early 1930s on land that previously grew produce for
Ralphs
Ralphs is an American supermarket chain in Southern California. The largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, it is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Kroger also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Foods Co. names ...
markets. Greek developer Spyros George Ponty worked with architect Alan Ruoff to design 147 modest Mediterranean-style homes in the area. While the builder's influence is found in Westwood, Norwalk, Beverly Hills, South-Central Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, South Carthay's Spanish Colonial Revival homes represents one of his earliest legacies.
All of the 147 homes designed by Ponty share red-tiled roofs and stucco exterior walls, wrought iron and glazed-tile detailing. Yet each home was built slightly differently from the next, with flipped floor plans and doors and windows in different places.
South Carthay remains an architecturally cohesive community, with few intrusions from the succeeding decades.
Historic Preservation Overlay Zone
In 1984, South Carthay became the second neighborhood in the city to receive the designation of
Historic Preservation Overlay Zone
The Historic Preservation Overlay Zone of the City of Los Angeles in California has been hailed by historic preservation advocates for its pioneering program, which designates not just buildings but entire neighborhoods or districts as worthy of h ...
(HPOZ).
The South Carthay preservation plan was adopted by the City of Los Angeles on December 9, 2010. Objectives of the HPOZ include: Safeguarding the character of historic buildings and sites and recognizing and protecting the historic streetscape and development patterns. The HPOZ boundaries exclude the commercial thoroughfares of Pico Boulevard and La Cienega Boulevard.
References
{{Wilshire
Neighborhoods in Los Angeles
Central Los Angeles
Wilshire, Los Angeles
West Los Angeles
Westside (Los Angeles County)