About Cheviot Hills

West Los Angeles’ Cheviot Hills neighborhood is a fusion of several residential tracts that were developed beginning in the early-1920s. First came Country Club Highlands (1923), Cheviot Hills (1924), and Monte-Mar Vista (1926). These three tracts retained their separate identities until at least the late 1930s. In 1939 a fourth tract was added to the south: Cheviot Knolls. The California Country Club Estates tract was built beginning in about 1952, followed by the final nearly two-dozen homes on the east in around 1968.

Cheviot Hills

Begun around 1924, the Cheviot Hills tract’s developers, Frans Nelson & Sons, advertised that it was named for its “natural rolling knolls that are so similar to the Cheviot Hills which separate England and Scotland.” (Cheviot Hills streets such as Troon, Dunleer, and Wigtown carry Scotch names.) Promoted for its proximity to several country clubs and movie studios, and for its “convenience to Los Angeles and the beach,” lots in the “finest residential district between Los Angeles and the sea” originally sold from $1780, with homes from $10,500.

Monte-Mar Vista

Opened for sale in 1926, Monte-Mar Vista (Mountain Sea View) was advertised as the “Central Jewel in a Tiffany Setting.” Subdivided by W.R. McConnell, Fred W. Forrester, and John P. Hayes as well as by Ole Hanson, the Frank Meline Company took over development in 1928. Frank Meline was Alphonzo Bell’s first sales agent in Bel-Air and also subdivided Pacific Palisades’ California Riviera. Monte-Mar Vista homes were advertised for their proximity to Pico Boulevard, “which is close at hand, yet far enough to allow freedom from the noise and confusion.” With “concrete winding boulevards” and “not a pole in sight – utilities are underground,” homes on streets such as McConnell and Forrester were “priced for quick sale at $3900 and up.” Ole Hanson (a friend of Frans Nelson’s and another Monte-Mar Vista developer) is better known for founding San Clemente in 1925.

Country Club Highlands

“Country Club Highlands on Pico Boulevard” was developed by general contractor Hall Johnson Co., which trumpeted “homes as low as $750, $112.50 down, 5 years to pay balance!” An early advertisement urged, “Population is rapidly pushing towards Country Club Highlands, pushing on and on! Los Angeles’ population is rapidly growing solid to the beaches – and property values are rising in proportion.”

Cheviot Knolls

Cheviot Knolls’ 120 homesites came to the south side of the neighborhood in 1939. A view lot was advertised at $1125 in 1940, and a “California ranch-style home – two bedrooms and den – 1 1/2 baths – tile kitchen – large walled-in rear porch” was priced at $7250. Cheviot Knolls was developed by Walter Leimert, better known for his eponymous development to the south and east, Leimart Park.

California Country Club Estates

The next tract added to the area was the California Country Club Estates, which replaced its namesake – the California Country Club – in 1952. Considered part of “Cheviot Hills” by some, others exclude it especially because it has its own homeowners association, California Country Club Homes Association. According to a contemporaneous Los Angeles Times article, Adler’s 410 home California Country Club Estates development – valued at $15,000,000 – was sold out by 1955.

Hillcrest View Estates

The Hillcrest View Estates development was squeezed between California Country Club Estates to the south and the Chaminade Catholic High School grounds to the north. On June 5, 1955, the Los Angeles Times reported that developer Sanford D. Adler had completed three models on Medill Place and Anchor Avenue and had twenty homes (priced from $34,000 to $50,000) under construction “in Cheviot Hills, on Club Drive at Medill Place, adjoining the Hillcrest Country Club.”