The area was originally settled by Tongva Native Americans. Most of today’s West Los Angeles was part of the Spanish land grant Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica.
California became part of the United States in 1848 through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which marked the end of the Mexican-American War. The Republic of California was admitted as a U.S. state on September 9, 1850.
By the 20th century the area was used to mostly cultivate beans and wheat. Many Japanese farmers moved in establishing orchards and nurseries. Although a couple of the nurseries survive, most of the Japanese farmers were rounded up and imprisoned in camps like Manzanar after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. After the war, many Japanese moved back to reclaim their businesses.
The core of West LA was incorporated as the City of Sawtelle. In the 1922 the area was annexed by the City of Los Angeles.
West Los Angeles bordered by Santa Monica on the west, Brentwood on the northwest, the Veterans Administration grounds on the north, Westwood on the northeast, Rancho Park on the east and southeast, and Mar Vista on the south and southeast.
In West LA, 42,000 people live in three square miles. They are 77% White, 11% Asian, 5% Latino, 2% Black. West Los Angeles has a median household income of $86,000. 60% of the residents 25 and older have a four year degree. The median age is 34. One in three has a Bachelor’s Degree. 29% of the population is foreign born. Iranian and Mexican are the most common ancestries. 58% of the residents speak English at home.
Two major freeways border West Los Angeles, the San Diego Freeway on the east and the Santa Monica Freeway on the south. West LA’s major surface routes Olympic, Santa Monica, Pico, Wilshire, and Sawtelle Boulevards, Barrington and Bundy Drives.
It’s an affluent area with it’s accessible location leading to the construction of several high rise office buildings along Olympic, Santa Monica, and Wilshire Boulevards.
Although there are many single story tract homes built in developments between 1920- and the late 1960s, most of the people in West LA live in low rise apartment buildings. There are two high rise residential towers at the intersection of Wilshire and Barrington on West LA’s northern border.
In recent years, more apartment buildings have been constructed in West LA with single family homes being demolished to make way for them. 77% of the population rents. The median number of rooms in apartments is 3. Most of the housing stock was built between 1960 and 1980. Most renters pay between $1000 to $2000 a month in rent, with most of these people paying between $1500 and $2000 a month. Most renters own a car. 74% of the residents drive to work.
The Stoner Recreation Center features barbecue pits, a lit baseball diamond and basketball courts, a children’s playground, a lit football field, an indoor gym, picnic tables, a soccer field, tennis and volleyball courts. The Annual Cherry Blossom Festival, co-sponsored by the West Los Angeles Japanese American Community Center, is held at The Stoner Recreation Center.
Brentwood Place Shopping area has Borders Books, TJ Max and several restaurants
