Los Angeles City Council District 5 is one of the 15 districts of the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the 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 council and the president pro temp ...

. District 5 represents Los Angeles communities in the Westside, central-eastern

Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in ...

, and central-southern

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

. Katy Young Yaroslavsky is the current council member.

Geography

Present day district

The district covers all or a portion of the following communities and neighborhoods:

Westside

Bel Air, Beverly Crest, Beverly Grove,

Beverlywood Beverlywood is a neighborhood in the Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California. History Beverlywood was developed in 1940 by Walter H. Leimert, who also developed Leimert Park. The neighborhood consists of 1,354 single family homes, and wa ...

, California Country Club, Carthay Circle,

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of ...

Cheviot Hills The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes T ...

, Comstock Hills, western Fairfax District,

Holmby Hills Holmby Hills is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. The neighborhood was developed in the early twentieth century by the Janss Investment Company, which developed the rest of Westwood as well as other Los Ang ...

Melrose Melrose may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Melrose, Scottish Borders, a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland ** Melrose Abbey, ruined monastery ** Melrose RFC, rugby club Australia * Melrose, Queensland, a locality in the South Burnett R ...

, Palms,

Pico-Robertson Pico-Robertson is a relatively densely-populated neighborhood in the Westside of Los Angeles, California, flanked on the north, northeast, and west by Beverly Hills, on the east by Carthay and Mid-City, on the south by Mid-City, Beverlywood and ...

, Roscomare, Westwood,

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, and Westside Village.

Valley

Encino and Oak Forest Canyon. For all the neighborhoods within the 5th District, see the officia
City of Los Angeles map of District 5

Historical locations

The 5th District was mapped at its origin in 1925 in the West Adams District of Los Angeles, but over the years its boundaries have been shifted west and north in keeping with the city's population changes. A new

city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document ('' charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charte ...

effective in 1925 replaced the former " at large" voting system for a nine-member council with a district system with a 15-member council. Each district was to be approximately equal in population, based upon the voting in the previous gubernatorial election; thus redistricting was done every four years. (At present, redistricting is done every ten years, based upon the preceding U.S. census results.)Tina Daunt and Seema Mehta, "Council Districts Drawn to Benefit Valley, Latinos," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 12, 2002
/ref> The numbering system established in 1925 for City Council districts began with No. 1 in the north of the city, the

, and ended with No. 15 in the south, the Harbor area. The 5th District originally encompassed the

West Adams West Adams is a historic neighborhood in the South Los Angeles region of Los Angeles, California. The area is known for its large number of historic buildings, structures and notable houses and mansions throughout Los Angeles. It is a youthfu ...

area, bounded on the north by Washington Boulevard, on the south by Exposition Boulevard, on the west by Robertson Boulevard and on the east approximately by

Vermont Avenue Vermont Avenue is one of the longest running north–south streets in City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, California. With a length of , is the third longest of the north–south thoroughfares in the region. For most of its length betw ...

. The district has followed the increase in the population in Los Angeles from the west-of-Vermont area westward and northward toward the San Fernando Valley. Rough boundaries or descriptions of the 5th District have been as follows: 1926: West Adams and Jefferson Street area, with district headquarters at 2646 South Normandie Avenue. 1928: "The east boundary of the Fifth District remains as Vermont avenue and the south boundary remains as Exposition Boulevard. The north boundary runs from Vermont avenue west on Washington street to Western avenue and then the line turns north on Western avenue to Eighth street and west on Eighth street to West Boulevard, which constitutes the western boundary." 1932–33. "Bounded on the east by Vermont avenue, on the north by Wilshire Boulevard, on the west by La Brea avenue and on the south by Exposition Boulevard." 1937: ". . . on the east by Western to Pico, by Hobart to Washington, and by Vermont to Exposition and on the west by Crenshaw and Rimpau." 1940: On the north by Wilshire Boulevard, on the east by Western or Vermont, on the south by Exposition Boulevard, on the west by Arlington, Crenshaw and minor streets. 1949: ". . . part of the general Wilshire area.""Election of These Council Candidates Recommended by Times," ''Los Angeles Times,'' April 3, 1949, page 3
/ref> 1957: Part of the Wilshire Boulevard area, extending to Westwood and

West Los Angeles West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped differently by di ...

. 1965. From

Fairfax Avenue Fairfax Avenue is a street in the north central area of the city of Los Angeles, California. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard in Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end. From La Cienega Boulevard (be ...

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 ...

and from Bel-Air and

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...

south to Washington Boulevard.Richard Bergholz, "Seven in Council Seek Re-Election," ''Los Angeles Times,'' March 29, 1965, page 3
/ref>

Population

According to the official website, the district has approximately 260,000 residents. The population is 74% White non-Hispanic, 10% Asian, 8% Latino, 4% mixed race, and 3% Black. The district is composed of approximately 46% homeowners and 54% renters.

Officeholders

District 5 has been represented by eleven council members.

Council member ephemera

Robert Stewart Sparks Robert Stewart Sparks (1871–1932) was a Los Angeles City Council member in the 1920s. He was the first person to represent the 5th District under a new city charter effective in 1925. Earlier, he was given the nickname "Cupid" while he manage ...

's nickname was "Cupid," and he gave romantic advice. *

Roy Donley Roy Laurence Donley (June 15, 1885 – September 25, 1939) was a businessman who became a member of the Berkeley, California, Board of Park Commissioners and then the Los Angeles City Council, from 1931 to 1933. Biography Donley was born June 15 ...

was acquitted on a charge of accepting a bribe. * Byron B. Brainard died of strangulation on a piece of meat. * Arthur E. Briggs was a law school dean. *

Rosalind Wiener Wyman Rosalind Wiener Wyman (October 4, 1930 – October 26, 2022) was an American politician, Los Angeles City Councilmember, and California Democratic political figure who, at 22 years old, was the youngest person ever elected to the Los Angeles Ci ...

, at age 22, was the youngest council member ever seated, and the second woman elected to the city council. *

Zev Yaroslavsky Zev Yaroslavsky (born December 21, 1948) is a politician from Los Angeles County, California. He was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from District 3, which includes the San Fernando Valley, the Westside of Los Angeles and ...

and

Edmund D. Edelman Edmund D. Edelman (September 27, 1930 – September 12, 2016) was an American attorney and politician. He served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1965 to 1974 and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from 1975 to 1994. Ear ...

were later elected Los Angeles County Supervisors.

References

*Note: ''Access to most ''Los Angeles Times'' links requires the use of a library card''.

External links

Official Los Angeles City Council District 5 website

City of Los Angeles: detailed street map showing boundaries and communities of District 5

Articles in the ''Los Angeles Times'' about District 5 since 1995
{{coord missing, Los Angeles County, California LACD05 LACD05 LACD05 Encino, Los Angeles Bel Air, Los Angeles LACD05 Holmby Hills, Los Angeles Century City, Los Angeles LACD05 Rancho Park, Los Angeles LACD05 Westwood, Los Angeles LACD05 LACD05