East Gate Bel Air, Los Angeles

East Gate Bel Air
Neighborhood of Los Angeles
The East Gate entrance to Bel Air at Beverly Glen and Sunset Blvds.
East Gate Bel Air Location within Western Los Angeles
Coordinates: 34°04′51″N 118°26′08″W / 34.080833°N 118.435556°W / 34.080833; -118.435556
Country	United States
State	California
County	Los Angeles
City	Los Angeles

East Gate Bel Air (or Old Bel Air) is a small and affluent area within the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, California. It is made up of large, old estates developed mostly before World War II.

Location

As shown in the “Bel Air First Residential Allotment” map from 1923, the original Bel Air tract of East Gate Old Bel Air founded and opened by Alphonzo E. Bell, Sr. was composed of 128 lots on Bel Air Road (which passes north from South Beverly Glen and Sunset Boulevards through the East Gate entrance^[1]—and hence the logical East Gate name) and the five roads which branch from it: Saint Pierre, Saint Cloud, Bellagio (to Stone Canyon), Copa De Oro, and Nîmes Roads.^[2] Though many of these 128 lots have since been combined into single properties, this original 1923 Bel Air allotment is what distinguishes East Gate Old Bel Air from the rest of present day Bel Air, which was gradually added by Bell starting in 1931 with Stone Canyon (known then as Bel Air Woodland), and by 1937 Bel Air extended westward all the way to Sepulveda Boulevard (its westernmost boundary today).^[3]

At its southernmost edge (where Copa de Oro Road meets Sunset Boulevard), East Gate Old Bel Air borders the campus of UCLA. At its easternmost edge, it borders Holmby Hills. This combined contiguous area of East Gate Bel Air and Holmby Hills straddles North Beverly Glen Boulevard (at a verdant bend of Saint Pierre Road and De Neve Square Park).

In general, the further one moves west from Saint Pierre Road to West Gate Lower Bel Air and north from Sunset Boulevard up the Santa Monica Mountains to Upper Bel Air, the smaller and the less flat the building lots and the more varied the styles and price ranges of the homes (with development fueled largely by postwar demand in the 1950s).

History

On the undeveloped hillsides of original Bel Air in 1922, Alphonzo Bell built water and sewage pipes, installed underground electric and telephone lines, and planted thousands of trees along winding streets traversing the hilly terrain.^[2] Bell refused to sell the original East Gate Old Bel Air allotments to anyone in the film business, though changed his mind on all of Bel Air with the arrival of the Great Depression. A design committee existed (and still exists to the present day^[3]) to preserve the “architectural harmony” of the community, with restrictions including low masses, horizontal lines, pitched roofs, and unobtrusive and harmonious colors,^[2] and deed restrictions required land purchasers to spend a minimum of $20,000 on home construction.^[1]

Demographics

East Gate Old Bel Air is unusual in having a rather high concentration of very large Republican Party contributors, as Los Angeles is otherwise heavily Democratic.^[4]

Notable residents

References

Westside region, Los Angeles
Districts and neighborhoods	Bel Air Benedict Canyon Beverly Crest Beverly Glen Beverly Hills Post Office Beverlywood Brentwood Brentwood Circle Brentwood Glen Carthay Square Century City Cheviot Hills Del Rey East Gate Bel Air Faircrest Heights Holmby Hills Kenter Canyon Little Ethiopia Mandeville Canyon Marina Peninsula Mar Vista Palisades Highlands Pacific Palisades Palms Picfair Village Playa del Rey Playa Vista Rancho Park Reynier Village Rustic Canyon Sawtelle South Carthay South Robertson Venice West Los Angeles Westchester Westdale Westside Village Westwood Wilshire Vista
Points of interest	Getty Center LAX Loyola Marymount University Sunset Strip UCLA
Neighboring cities and communities	Beverly Hills Culver City Ladera Heights Malibu Marina del Rey Santa Monica West Hollywood
LA Regions Crescenta Valley Downtown Eastside Harbor Area Greater Hollywood Northeast LA Northwest LA San Fernando Valley South LA Westside Wilshire Mid-City West Mid-Wilshire

City of Los Angeles
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LA Regions Crescenta Valley Downtown Eastside Harbor Area Greater Hollywood Northeast LA Northwest LA San Fernando Valley South LA Westside Wilshire Mid-City West Mid-Wilshire