West Los Angeles is an officially recognized Community Plan area in 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 different sources. Each of them lies within the larger Westside region of Los Angeles County and together they comprise most of the 90025 zip code.
Geography
The West Los Angeles Community Plan area recognized by the city of Los Angeles is generally bounded by Centinela Avenue on the west; Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard on the north; National Boulevard, Pico Boulevard and Exposition Boulevard on the south; and Durango Avenue, Robertson Boulevard and Canfield Avenue on the east.
Among the neighborhoods included within it are Sawtelle, Rancho Park, Beverlywood, Cheviot Hills, Castle Heights, and Century City. The Community Plan area itself is part of the larger West Los Angeles Area Plan Commission area (i.e., the Westside region). The Automobile Club of Southern California does not mark boundaries on its map but centers the neighborhood of West Los Angeles proper as south of Santa Monica Boulevard, west of Interstate 405, north of Olympic Boulevard and east of Barrington Avenue. The borders of the official West Los Angeles Neighborhood Council correspond closely to this definition. Specifically, its district stretches from the 405 freeway on the east to Centinela Avenue on the west and Wilshire Boulevard to the north and the 10 freeway to the south.
Many people assume West Los Angeles refers to all that lies between the sea and Robertson Boulevard (or wherever their own arbitrary border of central Los Angeles lies). But it is its own place, not just a toponym to be used interchangeably with "the Westside." In 2003, a Los Angeles Times correspondent noted: The meaning of the term West Los Angeles varies widely. Some use it to describe the entire Westside including Santa Monica, Venice and stretching east to Western Avenue. More precisely, though, it is the portion of incorporated Los Angeles between the Santa Monica city limits on the west, Wilshire Boulevard on the north, Century City to the east and extending just beyond National Boulevard on the south.
Sections of West L.A. run the gamut from stylish Cheviot Hills to a cluster of generic homes east of Bundy Drive.
That report on the meaning of West Los Angeles also included Rancho Park and the Westdale Trousdale area near National Boulevard and Barrington Avenue. This definition is similar to the one used by Frommer's, which described West Los Angeles as "a label that generally applies to everything that isn't one of the other Westside neighborhoods.
Education
Primary and secondary schools
Public schools
West Los Angeles is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Neighborhood elementary schools include:
Brockton Avenue Elementary School
Canfield Elementary School
Castle Heights Elementary School
Charnock Road Elementary School
Cheviot Hills Continuation School
Clover Avenue Elementary School
Crescent Heights Boulevard Elementary School
Nora Sterry Elementary School
Overland Elementary School
Shenandoah Street Elementary School
Warner Avenue Elementary School
Middle schools include:
Emerson Middle School
Palms Middle School
Daniel Webster Middle School
High schools include:
Hamilton High School
Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies
University High School and Indian Springs Continuation, both on the same site
Parks and Recreation The Stoner Recreation Center is located at 1835 Stoner Avenue. It includes a waterpark, barbecue pits, a lighted baseball diamond, lighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a lighted football field, an indoor gymnasium without weights and a capacity of 300 people, picnic tables, a lighted soccer field, lighted tennis courts, and lighted volleyball courts.
The Annual Cherry Blossom Festival co-sponsored by the West Los Angeles Japanese American Community Center is held at the park.Other nearby parks and recreation centers in the greater area are Cheviot Hills Park, Rancho Park Golf Course and Reynier Park.
Source: Wikipedia
