Park La Brea, Los Angeles, California

Park La Brea (Spanish: "La Brea" - The tar, after the nearby La Brea Tar Pits) is a sprawling apartment complex in the Miracle Mile District of Los Angeles, California. It encompasses more than 4,000 apartments in both high-rise and garden-style buildings, and sits on 160 acres of land with numerous lawns.

Geography and Transportation

Park La Brea is bounded by 3rd Street on the north, Cochran Avenue on the east, 6th Street on the south, and Fairfax Avenue on the west. The complex is notable for its octagonal street layout, with many thoroughfares at a 45º angle of displacement relative to the Los Angeles street grid.

The Neighborhood

After the arrival of the Spanish in the 1780s and the displacement of the area's indigenous population, most of the area that is now Park La Brea became part of the "Rancho La Brea" land grant, and remained largely devoted to agriculture and petroleum production well into the 20th century. The growth of Hollywood and the Miracle Mile made the adjacent areas desirable centers for residential development in the 1920s, but the mid-rise apartment towers that give the district its current name were built later, between 1944 and 1948. Park La Brea represents something of a historical anomaly, having been built at a time when most visions of Los Angeles' development were dominated by low-rise tracts of single-family houses along freeway corridors. As the towers are relatively isolated from the rest of the Miracle Mile--set far back from major thoroughfares in a nod to Le Corbusier--they developed a reputation as "the projects," since they are reminiscent of such notorious housing developments as Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes and New York's Queensbridge. The street layout was created in a masonic pattern as a reference to the masonic heritage of the Metropolitan Life Insurance group. After a period of decline in the 1970s and 1980s, the complex was refurbished in the early 1990s and is once again considered one of the more desirable residential addresses in Los Angeles.

A sister complex was built by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company as postwar housing. The sister complex, Park Merced in San Francisco, features a similar street layout as Park La Brea .

Design

Park Labrea was designed in the early 1940's by Architects Gordon Kaufman and J.E. Stanton. Inspired by the innovative housing of Le Corbusier in Paris, this architectural team set out to create multifamily housing in a new way.

Garden Townhomes followed an innovative plan that placed blocks around common green space, in a way that gave the impression of a spacious back yard. Landmark Towers, in a revolutionary "X" structure with a unique placement, became icons of the Los Angeles skyline. The ingenious design plan insured that every unit enjoyed expansive views.

History and Revitalization

The area had been the home to several celebrities but fell into ill repair in the mid 1970's. By the 2000s, Park LaBrea was refurbished by new owners and had again become a desirable rental community with its own community center, health club and pool, beauty parlor and drycleaner - along with its proximity to local museums, Farmers Market (Los Angeles), and The Grove at Farmers Market shopping complex.

Education

Residents are zoned to schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Three different elementary schools serve portions of this neighborhood [http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/printedition/la-re-guide23may23,1,66973.story] :
* Carthay Center Elementary School
* [http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Hancock_Park_EL Hancock Park Elementary School]
* Wilshire Crest Elementary School

All of the neighborhood is zoned to John Burroughs Middle School and Fairfax High School.

External links

* [http://www.parklabrea.com/ Official Park La Brea site]
* [http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/communities/2004/la-re-guide23may23,0,1716668.story?coll=la-realestate-communities-2004 "Los Angeles Times", Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "Freshly hip, Park La Brea is an urban oasis" (23 May 2004)]