In a town where 80 percent of residents are relatively transient renters, West Hollywood’s largest neighborhood is its most stable, seeing as how it’s dominated by long-term home owners who know their neighbors.
Hidden away on the side streets north of Beverly Boulevard, south of Melrose Avenue between Doheny and La Cienega, almost 1,100 homes make up West Hollywood West. This is the only area in town zoned exclusively for single-family homes and duplexes (the handful of apartment buildings in the area predate the city’s incorporation in 1984). These homes, some of which now fetch prices in the low seven figures, were originally built for the streetcar workers.
“I love my neighborhood because it feels like a small town in the middle of a big city,” said Lauren Meister, president of the West Hollywood West Neighborhood Association. “I love that neighbors know each other, we are there for each other, and we all appreciate what the neighborhood has to offer.”
The residents first came together in the mid 1980s to get parking restrictions for the area (workers at the nearby Beverly Center would park there for their entire work day), according to Marty Strudler, president emeritus of the neighborhood association. Soon after that, the neighbors coalesced to fight a 25-story hotel and convention center proposed for the Sherbourne Triangle (Sherbourne Drive at San Vicente; currently a parking lot for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center).
“The raison d’être is to keep that sense of community, to keep it small,” Strudler said of the neighborhood association. “These streets are residential, and we want to keep that.”
Strudler calls West Hollywood West one of the safest areas in town, attributing that in large part to the cul de sacs, which create dead-end streets and which the residents fought hard to get the city to approve.
In addition to having more families than any other neighborhood, the area is also incredibly dog friendly. “I think 80 to 90 percent of us have dogs,” Strudler said. “Walking our dogs is one of the best ways to keep up with our neighbors.”
Amenities:
Le Pain Quotidian,
8607 Melrose Ave. at Westbourne, which serves French patisseries, is a neighborhood spot for a non-Starbucks coffee break.
West Hollywood Park
647 N. San Vicente Blvd. just north of Melrose, just a block north of the neighborhood’s northern border, offers a swimming pool and tennis courts.
West Hollywood Public Library
625 N. San Vicente Blvd., also just a block north of Melrose, is the city’s only library — and a great one at that. Jones offers coffee on the ground floor.
Petrossian
321 N. Robertson near Beverly, is one of a number of expensive restaurants in the neighborhood. Despite the Russian name, the LA Times has billed it as “a little taste of France on Robertson Boulevard.”
