West Los Angeles

The area grew up around the Sawtelle Veterans Home, founded in 1888, and the town of Sawtelle, which was annexed to Los Angeles in 1922. Japanese American nurseries and businesses along Sawtelle Boulevard gave rise to the Sawtelle Japantown district that is now one of the Westside’s best-known restaurant streets.

West Los Angeles is loosely defined, but it generally runs from the VA campus and Wilshire on the north to Pico and the 10 on the south, and from Century City and Rancho Park on the east to the Santa Monica city line at Centinela on the west. The 405 cuts through the middle.

Most of the single-family streets carry bungalows and traditional houses from the 1920s to 1950s on lots of 5,000 to 6,500 square feet, a large share of them rebuilt or replaced by two-story homes and small-lot subdivisions. Prices rise toward Brentwood and Westwood in the north and fall toward Pico and the 10.

Condos and apartments make up much of the housing along the main boulevards and around the 405, from 1960s and 1970s buildings to recent mid-rises. The neighborhood is one of the deeper condo markets on the Westside and a common entry point for buyers priced out of Santa Monica and Brentwood.

Los Angeles Unified School District serves the neighborhood, with Nora Sterry, Brockton Avenue and Clover Avenue elementary schools inside the area, Webster Middle School and University High School Charter nearby. Boundaries follow streets, so check a specific address with the district.

The 405 and 10 meet at the south-east corner of the neighborhood, and Santa Monica, Olympic and Pico boulevards run east–west to Century City and the beach. The Expo Line stations at Bundy and Sepulveda are on the southern edge, and the Purple Line subway extension is being completed in phases to the Westwood/VA station on the neighborhood’s north side.