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Brookside

Brookside, first known as Windsor Crest, is located on the southern portion of the Hancock Park Los Angeles area and was carved out of the original Rancho Las Cienegas (Ranch of the Marshland), owned by Mexican native Don Francisco Avila. Bounded by Wilshire and Olympic Boulevards, Highland Avenue and Muirfield Road, this neighborhood in Hancock Park Los Angeles known as Brookside, with its diverse architecture, is named for the natural stream running through many of its backyards. The neighborhood was established in 1921, when the Rimpau Estate Company began to sell home Brookside sites to L.A.’s wealthiest families. According to the plan, two-story homes on Longwood north of 9th St. would cost “at least $10,000″ while homes on the south side can cost as much as $5,000 to $7,500. The most luxurious properties in Brookside were along Longwood Ave., where the developers laid out deep rear lots bisected by a natural underground stream known as El Rio del Jardin de las Flores. Surfacing briefly on its journey from the Hollywood Hills to Ballona Creek, the stream wanders from one side of Longwood to the other. Not wanting the stream to run on only one side of the street, the planners developed around it, preserving some of the natural arroyos, barrancas and hills of the original tract which are still there to this day.