South Carthay is a neighborhood in

Central Los Angeles Central Los Angeles is the historical urban region of the city of Los Angeles, containing downtown Los Angeles, and several nearby regions in southwest Los Angeles County, California. Geographic designation by The City of Los Angeles The Los Ang ...

, 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. The neighborhood of Carthay Circle is to the north.

History

The South Carthay area became a portion of the City of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

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 stores, 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 Fo ...

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 o ...

(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 protecting the historic streetscape . The HPOZ boundaries exclude the commercial thoroughfares of Pico Boulevard and La Cienega Boulevard.

References

{{Los Angeles Historic Preservation Overlay Zones Neighborhoods in Los Angeles Central Los Angeles Wilshire, Los Angeles Westside (Los Angeles County)