Westchester is a neighborhood in 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' ...
and the
Westside Region of Los Angeles County, California.
It is home to
Los Angeles International Airport,
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...
,
Otis College of Art and Design
Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...
, and
Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnet Schools (formerly Westchester High School).
Geography
![Sepulveda Blvd - LAX Landing (35948297505)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Sepulveda_Blvd_-_LAX_Landing_%2835948297505%29.jpg)
The main part of Westchester is bordered by
Playa Vista
Playa Vista is a neighborhood in the Westside area of Los Angeles, California. The area was the headquarters of Hughes Aircraft Company from 1941 to 1985 and the site of the construction of the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" aircraft. The ...
and
Culver City on the north,
Inglewood and
Lennox on the east,
Hawthorne
Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Hawthorne may also refer to:
Places
Australia
*Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane
Canada
* Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario
United States
* Hawt ...
on the southeast,
Del Aire
Del Aire () (Spanish language, Spanish for "Of The Air") is a census-designated place (CDP) in the inland South Bay, Los Angeles County, California, United States, between El Segundo, California, El Segundo and Hawthorne, California, Hawthorne. Th ...
and
El Segundo on the south and
Playa del Rey
Playa del Rey (Spanish for "Beach of the King") is a seaside community in the Santa Monica Bay and the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It has a ZIP code of 90293 and area codes of 310 and 424. As of 2018, the community had a populat ...
on the west. It includes all of the
Los Angeles International Airport. There is also a two-block-wide
shoestring district that runs from the intersection of
Centinela Avenue
Centinela Avenue is a 10.2 mile major street in the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California.
Geography
Centinela Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Culver City, Inglewood, Ladera Heights, Mar Vista, Santa Monica, and West Los Angeles. ...
and
La Cienega Boulevard
La Cienega Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road that runs between El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne, California on the south and the Sunset Strip/ Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood to the north. It was named for Rancho Las Cienega ...
north to 63rd Street and then east to Overhill Avenue, where it links with the
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
neighborhood.
The main neighborhood's boundary lines are, generally, on the east: north-south on
La Cienega Boulevard
La Cienega Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road that runs between El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne, California on the south and the Sunset Strip/ Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood to the north. It was named for Rancho Las Cienega ...
or the Inglewood city line; on the south: east-west on the city boundary with El Segundo or Imperial Highway; on the west: north-south on Pershing Drive and Westchester Parkway, then roughly north-south on a series of residential streets west of
Westchester High School to the Playa Vista neighborhood.
[''The Thomas Guide,'' 2006, pages 672, 673, 702 and 703]
History
Westchester began the 20th century as an agricultural area, growing a wide variety of crops in the dry, farming-friendly climate. The rapid development of the aerospace industry near Mines Field (as the Los Angeles Airport was then known), the move of
then Loyola University to the area in 1928, and population growth in Los Angeles as a whole created a demand for housing in the area. Westchester was built with the intention of housing members of the working class. Westchester hosted the cross country part of the
eventing
Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. Thi ...
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
* Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
event for the
1932 Summer Olympics
The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...
in
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' ...
.
[''Westchester, California; An Early History of Westchester, Playa Del Rey, Playa Vista and Environs'', by David J. Dukesherer, 2010](_blank)
/ref>
In the late 1930s, real estate magnate Fritz Burns
Fritz originated as a German nickname for Friedrich, or Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick III, German Emperor) as well as for similar names including Fridolin a ...
and his partner Fred W. Marlow developed a tract of inexpensive prefabricated single-family homes on the site of a former hog farm
The Hog Farm is an organization considered America's longest running hippie commune. Beginning as a collective in North Hollywood, California, during the 1960s, a later move to an actual hog farm in Tujunga, California gave the group its na ...
at the intersection of Manchester and Sepulveda Boulevards. This community, dubbed "Westchester", grew as the aerospace industry boomed in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and afterward. A ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' article in 1989 described the development as "a raw suburb", "created willy-nilly in the 1940s".
The area was predominantly residential. When the area had 30,000 residents, it was still lacking a police station, fire station, or hospital. It lacked a barber shop even by 1949.
The 1960s saw the introduction of airliners that could make trans-Pacific flights without refueling, causing a massive increase in air traffic at LAX. When the North Airfield Complex was constructed the increase in noise from jet takeoffs greatly decreased the desirability of the residential areas adjoining LAX. In response, the city of Los Angeles began a program of purchasing and condemning houses from noise-weary homeowners; as a result, a number of streets just north of the airport have been decommissioned, and the homes along those streets demolished. In all, Westchester lost 4,500 homes and 14,000 residents. The 18-hole Westchester golf course became a 15-hole course. In 2007 Los Angeles World Airport (LAWA) proposed another move of the north runway into Westchester; local opposition to LAX expansion (first proposed in the late 1990s) rose.
In February 2010, a NASA panel found that the north runway was safe and should stay as it is. That same month, LAWA broke ground on a $1.5 billion expansion of the Bradley International Terminal.
Home prices rose 25 percent in 2013–14 while most southern California communities were recovering much more slowly. A major factor has been the influx of technology companies (including Hulu, Google, and Snap, Inc.) in Playa Vista
Playa Vista is a neighborhood in the Westside area of Los Angeles, California. The area was the headquarters of Hughes Aircraft Company from 1941 to 1985 and the site of the construction of the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" aircraft. The ...
as the Silicon Beach
Silicon Beach is the Westside region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area that is home to more than 500 technology companies, including startups. It is particularly applied to the coastal strip from Los Angeles International Airport north to th ...
phenomenon in west Los Angeles has spread. The community also experienced a boom in home additions or complete rehabilitation of traditional postwar ranch-style house
Ranch (also known as American ranch, California ranch, rambler, or rancher) is a domestic architectural style that originated in the United States. The ranch-style house is noted for its long, close-to-the-ground profile, and wide open layout. ...
s into larger two-story homes. The Howard Hughes Center was a significant addition to the neighborhood in 2001 next to the San Diego Freeway The San Diego Freeway is one of the named principal Southern California freeways. It consists of the following two segments:
* Interstate 5, from California State Route 94 in San Diego to Interstate 405 (El Toro Y) in Irvine
* Interstate 405, in ...
. Development continued until by 2015 the complex had 1.3 million square feet of office space () in high-rise buildings, 3,200 apartments, and an updated, renovated shopping mall.
Since 2013, The cost of living in Westchester has continued to increase. In April 2017, the median sales price for single-family homes in April was $1.21 million - a 27% increase from a year prior.
Population
A total of 39,480 people lived in Westchester's 10.81 square miles, according to the 2010 U.S. census, and that figure included the uninhabited acreage of the Los Angeles International Airport—resulting in a density of 3,652 people per square mile, among the lowest population densities
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...
in the city of Los Angeles but about average for the county. The median age was 35.6, about average for Los Angeles city. The percentage of people from age 19 through 34 was among the county's highest.[
In 2010 Non-Hispanic whites made up 61.1% of the population, ]blacks
Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...
14.2%, Asians 12.0%, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders 0.3%, and others (including two or more races) at 11.9%. Those who identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino (of any race) were 18.2%.
In 2010, the mean family income for the area was $135,026 and the median family income was $106,302, both numbers high for the city. The percentage of families that earned more than $100,000 a year was 53.5%. Renters occupied 48.2% of the housing units, and homeowners occupied the rest. The average household size was 2.3 people, considered low for the city and county. The percentages of divorced men (8.6%) and divorced women (11.9%) were among the county's highest.[
The 2000 census counted 3,055 military veterans, 9.2% of the population, considered a high percentage for the city of Los Angeles but about average for the county.][
]
Government and infrastructure
Local government
Los Angeles Fire Department
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD or LA City Fire) provides emergency medical services, fire cause determination, fire prevention, fire suppression, hazardous materials mitigation, and technical rescue services to the city of Los Angeles ...
Station 5 is in Westchester.
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
operates the Pacific Community Police Station at 12312 Culver Boulevard, 90066, serving the neighborhood.
Los Angeles Public Library
The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the large ...
operates the Westchester-Loyola Village Library, at 7114 W. Manchester Avenue, 90045, as a community library offering free online access, programming and information for all ages.
Los Angeles World Airports
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is the airport authority that owns and operates Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Van Nuys Airport (VNY) for the city of Los Angeles, California. LAWA also owns and manages aviation-related property ne ...
has its headquarters on the property of Los Angeles International Airport.
The Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation operates the West Los Angeles District Refuse Collection Yard, at 2027 Stoner Avenue, 90025, which provides residential refuse collection to Westchester for all residences four units and under.
County, federal, and state representation
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (abbreviated DHS and LADHS) operates the public hospitals and clinics in Los Angeles County, and is the United States' second largest municipal health system, after NYC Health + Hospitals.
DHS ope ...
SPA 5 West Area Health Office serves Westchester.
The United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
Westchester Post Office is located at 7381 La Tijera Boulevard. The United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
Airport Station is located at 8821 Aviation Boulevard, Los Angeles 90009-9997.
Education
About 51.7% of Westchester's residents had completed a bachelor's degree or higher by 2010, a high figure when compared with the city and the county at large. The percentage of the residents who held a master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. or a doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
was also high for the county.
Schools
Postsecondary
* Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...
, 1 LMU Drive
* Otis College of Art and Design
Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...
, 9045 Lincoln Boulevard
* Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and t ...
West Los Angeles Campus, 6100 Center Drive
Secondary and elementary
The schools within Westchester's boundaries are:
* Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnet Schools, LAUSD
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...
secondary, 7400 West Manchester Avenue
* Permanently closed: The Incubator School, LAUSD, 7400 West Manchester Avenue
* Westchester-Emerson Community Adult School, LAUSD, 8810 Emerson Avenue
* WISH Academy High School 9-12, 7400 W Manchester Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90045
* Bright Star Secondary Charter Academy, 5431 West 98th Street
* Permanently closed: Carousel, private K–12 special education, 7899 La Tijera Boulevard
Middle
* Orville Wright Middle School, 6550 West 80th Street
* Katherine Johnson STEM Academy, 8701 Park Hill Dr. Los Angeles, CA 90045
* WISH Community School 6-8, 7400 W Manchester Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Elementary
* Cowan Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 7615 Cowan Avenue
* Kentwood Elementary School, LAUSD, 8401 Emerson Street
* Loyola Village Elementary School, LAUSD, 8821 Villanova Avenue
* Open Magnet Charter Elementary School, LAUSD, 5540 West 77th Street
* St. Anastasia Elementary School, private, 8631 South Stanmoor Drive
* St. Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is com ...
Elementary School, private, 5580 Thornburn Street
* Visitation Elementary School, private, 8740 South Emerson Avenue
* Westchester Lutheran School, private, 7831 Sepulveda Boulevard
* Westport Heights Elementary School, LAUSD, 6011 West 79th Street
* WISH Charter Elementary School, 6550 W 80th St, Los Angeles, CA 90045 (at Orville Wright Middle School)
As of 2014 the Wiseburn School District
The Wiseburn Unified School District is a school district in Los Angeles County, California operating elementary and middle schools. Its headquarters are on the grounds of the Da Vinci charter schools facility in El Segundo. Previously they wer ...
allows parents in Westchester to send their children to Wiseburn schools on inter-district transfers.
Parks and recreation
The Westchester Recreation Center is in Westchester. The center includes an auditorium, barbecue pits, a lighted baseball diamond, lighted outdoor basketball courts, two indoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, a lighted football field, an indoor gymnasium without weights, picnic tables, a lighted soccer field, and lighted tennis courts.[Westchester Recreation Center]
" City of Los Angeles. Retrieved on March 23, 2010. The Westchester Pool, on the recreation center site, is an outdoor heated seasonal pool renovated in 2010. The Westchester Tennis Courts in the recreation center consist of ten lighted courts. A skate park is also located in the recreation center. The Westchester Golf Course is located just east of the recreation center.
The Westchester Senior Citizen Center has a 200-person auditorium, barbecue pits, a 20-person community room, a garden, a kitchen, picnic tables, and a stage. The Carl E. Nielsen Youth Park Carl may refer to:
*Carl, Georgia, city in USA
*Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name
*Carl², a TV series
* "Carl", an episode of te ...
is located in Westchester. In 1991, Los Angeles World Airports
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is the airport authority that owns and operates Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Van Nuys Airport (VNY) for the city of Los Angeles, California. LAWA also owns and manages aviation-related property ne ...
planned to pave over the park and use the lot as parking spaces and leased space to rental car companies. During that year, LAWA decided to keep the park open.
Architecture
Pann's restaurant, at 6710 La Tijera Boulevard, is "probably the best-preserved example" of the Googie-style architecture developed by Eldon Davis
Eldon Carlyle Davis (February 2, 1917 – April 22, 2011) was an American architect, considered largely responsible for the creation of Googie architecture, a form of modern architecture originating in Southern California. Googie architecture ...
. Pann's includes an angular edifice and large plate-glass windows and has been described as having "the classic coffee shop architecture".
Pann's was featured in a story in the ''Los Angeles Times'', "Going on a hunt for Googie architecture", which noted the restaurant's tilted roof and sign, tropical plants and exposed stone walls indoors and out, and glass windows wrapping around the restaurant. Pann's celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008.
The Theme Building is a structure at the Los Angeles International Airport which opened in 1961 and is another example of Googie architecture. It was said that the distinctive white building resembles a flying saucer
A flying saucer (also referred to as "a flying disc") is a descriptive term for a type of flying craft having a disc or saucer-shaped body, commonly used generically to refer to an anomalous flying object. The term was coined in 1947 but has g ...
that had landed on its four legs. The Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles in California.
The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The President of the Los Angeles City Counc ...
designated the building a cultural and historical monument (no.570) in 1993.
Notable people
* Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme
Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme (born October 22, 1948) is an American criminal who was a member of the Manson family, a cult led by Charles Manson. Though not involved in the Tate–LaBianca murders for which the Manson family is best known, ...
* Phil Hartman
Philip Edward Hartman (; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and his family moved to the United States w ...
, actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic artist
* Susanne Marsee, opera singer
* Pat Russell, politician
* Danny Sugerman
Daniel Stephen Sugerman (October 11, 1954 – January 5, 2005) was the second manager of the Los Angeles-based rock band the Doors. He wrote several books about Jim Morrison and the Doors, including ''No One Here Gets Out Alive'' (co-authored with ...
, music manager
* The Turtles
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, 1960s rock band; 4 members attended Westchester High School.
* Suicidal Tendencies
Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Mike Muir. Muir is the only remaining original member of the band. Along with D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, and Stor ...
, crossover thrash band from Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
; at least two of their former members were born and raised in Westchester.
See also
* Centinela Adobe
The Centinela Adobe, also known as La Casa de la Centinela, is a Spanish Colonial style adobe house built in 1834. It is operated as a house museum by the Historical Society of Centinela Valley, and it is one of the 43 surviving adobes within ...
* List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles
This is a list of notable districts and neighborhoods within the city of Los Angeles, California, present and past. It includes residential and commercial areas and business-improvement districts, but does not include sales subdivisions or sales ...
References
External links
*
Westchester/Playa Neighborhood Council
{{Authority control
Neighborhoods in Los Angeles
Westside (Los Angeles County)
Venues of the 1932 Summer Olympics
Olympic equestrian venues