West Los Angeles is a district in western Los Angeles, California. Much as the term "South Central" originally described only one neighborhood but came to embody an entire region of the city, "West Los Angeles" is often used as shorthand for all of the city's neighborhoods west of La Cienega Boulevard or La Brea Avenue (excepting Crenshaw , which is considered part of South Central). It is also often confused with Sawtelle, the unincorporated area to the north.

The district is bordered by Santa Monica on the southwest, Brentwood on the northwest, Sawtelle on the north, Westwood on the northeast, Rancho Park on the east and southeast, and Mar Vista on the south and southeast. Its major thoroughfares are Olympic, Santa Monica, Pico, Wilshire, and Sawtelle Boulevards, Barrington and Centinela Avenues, and Bundy Drive. The San Diego and Santa Monica Freeways form its eastern and southern boundaries, respectively.

History

After the area's conquest by the Spanish, most of what is now West Los Angeles became part of the Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica. With the arrival of Anglo settlers after the Mexican-American War, the original Californio grandees sold off their holdings, and by the turn of the 20th century the area was mostly bean and wheat fields. Since the region was in an unincorporated area (somewhat analogous to East Los Angeles), many Japanese--barred from purchasing land within the boundaries of the City of Los Angeles--settled in the district, establishing many orchards and nurseries in the process. (Some of these nurseries are still in business today, along the stretch of Sawtelle Boulevard between Olympic and Santa Monica Boulevards.) In the 1920s, the area was annexed by the City of Los Angeles, but in keeping with custom, most street addresses within the district are listed by the United States Postal Service as being in the "city" of West Los Angeles.

The Neighborhood Today

As with most parts of the West Side, West Los Angeles is an affluent neighborhood. Its central location has made it a locus of commercial development, with several high-rise office buildings along Olympic, Santa Monica, and Wilshire Boulevards. It also contains a large number of Japanese-owned businesses (most notably the two Giant Robot stores on Sawtelle Boulevard). The Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a large Reform Jewish synagogue, is located in the district (ironically not on Wilshire, but several blocks south on Olympic).

Housing in West Los Angeles is a mixture of low-rise apartment buildings, mostly inhabited by young professionals, and single-story tract house developments built between 1930 and 1960. One of Los Angeles' tallest residential towers is at the neighborhood's northern edge, at the intersection of Wilshire and Barrington.

Schools in the area are well-respected and of generally high quality. University High School, a secondary school associated with nearby UCLA, is in the district.