Los Feliz

Even More on Los Feliz

Los Feliz is a hillside neighborhood located in the central region of Los Angeles. It sits alongside Hollywood, and encompasses part of the Santa Monica Mountains. It was named after colonial Spanish-Mexican land granter José Vicente Feliz, and makes up the original Rancho Los Feliz land concession when combined with Griffith Park. This city was pronounced "laws-FEEL-iz" by those who migrated there over the years, but recently, a number of residents have begun using the original pronunciation of "Los Feh-LEES." The newer version returns to the area’s Spanish origin and means “the ones from the Feliz family,” with feliz meaning happy in English.

Like much of Los Angeles, Native Americans were the first inhabitants of the greater Los Feliz area, and are believed to have settled here over 10,000 years ago. Native Americans established villages called rancherias throughout the country side, with one settlement in particular that was to fall within Rancho Los Feliz’ boundaries. Native inhabitants were renamed Grabielinos, nomenclature that was given by the Spanish because of the Native Americans’ association with the San Gabriel Mission. It was a prominent area for explorers, and was even visited by the famous Gaspar de Portola in 1769.

Los Feliz encompasses several smaller but distinct areas including Laughlin Park, Los Feliz Village, Los Feliz Square, Los Feliz Knolls, and Franklin Hills. There's also Los Feliz Hills and Los Feliz Estates, both north of Los Feliz Boulevard. Los Feliz is surrounded by Griffith Park to the north, Atwater Village to the northeast, Silver Lake to the southeast, East Hollywood to the south, and Hollywood and Hollywood Hills to the northwest. It is situated near both the 101 and 5 freeways. Los Feliz has distinct boundaries due to its origin as a rancho. It's separated from Griffith by Fern Dell Drive and Riverside Drive. It's also bound by the Los Angeles River, Hyperion Avenue, Griffith park Boulevard, Fountain Avenue, Hollywood Boulevard, Western Avenue, and Los Feliz Boulevard.

This central Los Angeles city has a population of around 37,000 with a median age of 36. It has among the highest percentage of residents aged 65 and older in the county and a high portion of 25+ residents have a four-year degree, with many established and successful residents. Los Feliz is highly diverse with respect to ethnicity. Of the residential homes here, 75.5% are rented with house or apartment owners making up the rest. The homes that are owned are reminiscent of other affluent, hill-oriented communities, such as Hollywood Hills. Los Feliz Hills right below Griffith Park is the sector of Los Feliz containing many multimillion-dollar homes with famous, often creative, inhabitants. There's also Laughlin Park, a gated community of 60 houses, described as the most exclusive neighborhood in Los Feliz. Within Los Feliz are also many schools, making it a family-friendly area. You'll find: John Marshall Senior High School, Franklin Avenue Elementary School, Los Feliz Elementary School, and Thomas Starr King Middle School of LAUSD as well as private schools Our Mother of Good Counsel and Lycée International de Los Angeles Los Feliz campus.

Later, Rancho Los Feliz was succeeded to Griffith J. Griffith. At the time, only about 23 properties resided in the 1900s-version of Los Feliz. Griffith J. Griffith died in 1919 and bequeathed $700,000 and his Los Feliz farm to be used as additions to Griffith Park. Half of the ranch was donated to the city of Los Angeles, becoming one of the largest city-owned parks in the entire country.

Los Feliz is home to some of the best-known residential architecture in Los Angeles, including two homes by Frank Lloyd Wright — the Ennis House and the Hollyhock House. The neighborhood had been home to many early studios, such as D.W. Griffith’s, and now has The Prospect Studios (known before as First National-Warner Brothers and ABC Television Center). It's also home to Monogram Pictures of KCET’s public television program. Many of the city's historic nightlife places, like The Derby, The Dresden Room, and Figaro Bistrot used to be frequented by artists, writers, and poets like Charles Bukowski and Lawrence Tierney. Los Feliz was often used in popular culture, like in scenes of Double Indemnity and J.G. Quintel’s Close Enough series, where the main characters live in Los Feliz. Current-day Los Feliz is home to movie stars, musicians, and many Hollywood elite.