THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Los Felizis an affluent hillside neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is located just south of Griffith Park and Hollywood Hills to the east. The typography consists of a flat area with commercial shops & restaurants surrounded by homes, apartments, and the two hillside areas of Franklin Hills and The Los Feliz Estates. The neighborhood has been home to movie stars, musicians, and the Hollywood elite. It boasts some of the best-known residential architecture in the city, including two homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright—the Ennis House and the Hollyhock House—and Richard Neutra‘s Lovell House.
HISTORY
The area is believed to have been settled by Native Americans about 10,000 years ago.
Originally called Rancho Los Feliz, the area was one of the first land grants in California and was granted to Corporal José Vicente Feliz. An old adobe house built in the 1830s by his heirs still stands on Crystal Springs Drive. Griffith Park was named for Colonel Griffith J. Griffith, who donated over half of the rancho to the city of Los Angeles in 1896. Griffith Park became one of the largest city owned parks in the country and is the second-largest city park in California. Other sections of the rancho were developed and became the communities of Los Feliz and Silver Lake
Another area is called the Franklin Hills, home of the famous Franklin Hills Bridge known for its beauty which leads into this final section of Los Feliz and Silver Lake. The area is residential, and generally affluent, boasting very well-kept homes set on the hills east of Los Feliz Village. To the east of the bridge begins The Franklin Hills Public Stairway system which provides a pedestrian link between the curvy streets, a series of 14 staircases originally built in the 1920’s to provide hillside homeowners pedestrian access to the trolley lines below.
MOTION PICTURES
Mickey Mouse was “born” in Los Feliz: Walt Disney drew his first image of the now-legendary character in the garage of his uncle’s house, which was located on Kingswell Avenue between Vermont Avenue and Rodney Drive. Disney’s first animation studio was also located on Kingswell Avenue, just down the street from his uncle’s house and east of Vermont Avenue. Disney’s second, larger studio (now a Gelson’s supermarket) was located at the corner of Griffith Park Boulevard and Hyperion Avenue, on the Silver Lake side of the Los Feliz – Silver Lake boundary.
Los Feliz was also home to many other early studios, such as D. W. Griffith‘s, which now houses The Prospect Studios , at the intersection of Prospect Avenue and Talmadge St.On Sunset Boulevard was Monogram Pictures (KCET public television), where early Charlie Chan movies were filmed, as well as Hurricane, starring Dorothy Lamour,
HOMES
The estate properties North of Los Feliz Boulevard consists of the prestigious neighborhoods of Laughlin Park, The Oaks, The Estates and the Los Feliz Hills. The Oaks and Laughlin Park are the most prestigious and valued area of Los Feliz. The Oaks consists of traditional estate properties of character that were predominately built in the 1960’s reflecting the mid-century style of many of the homes. Laughlin Park, a private gated neighborhood was established in 1905. The grand estates include diverse architectural styles such as English, Mediterranean, Craftsman and Modernist homes, many of which include remarkable city and ocean views. These estates were once home to seminal Hollywood figures such as C.B. DeMille, Charlie Chaplin and Carole Lombard and the neighborhood continues to be a haven for the Hollywood elite. To maintain their privacy the Laughlin Park community has established a voluntary homeowners association.