RUNNING UP THAT HILL -- MONTEREY HILLS

Monterey Hills sign on Via Mia







Via Marisol on a road diet

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EARLY HISTORY OF THE AREA

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Hillside in Monterey Hills with El Sereno below







DEMOGRAPHICS

GETTING THERE AND AROUND

A man walking on the sidewalk heading toward Hermon

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Euclyptus trees in the forbidden zone

Obvious signs of autumn at Drake Terrace

Someone's been guerrilla gardening... kale in the landscape at Stanford Terrace



Fortress Monterey Hills -- actually Huntington Terrace

Eaton Crest

Someone pushed a cart a ways and then parked it under a tree in Muir Terrace

Music Lessons in Monterey Hills -- let me know what musicians and film figures, if any, are from the Hill

The pool area at Stanford Terrace

A guest parking lot



BUDD WIENER PARK

Budd Wiener Park

Another view of Budd Wiener Park

COUNTERPUBLICS

Official seating area







Neighborhood fortifications agains the Eastsiders below





Ditch-lined hillside above El Sereno



De facto dog park







A shell heap in Monterey Hills

Apparently Max was here... and Dooley's hindquarters

Atop "The Hill"

Marshall Villas pool and clubhouse

Monterey Hills sign on Via Marisol







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In Los Angeles , the Monterey Hills can refer to more than one thing. One is a landform known asthat is technically part of the Repetto Hills , a chain of hills which runs from between the San Rafael Hills and Elysian Park Hills at one end to theat the other (and in doing so forms one of the borders of the San Gabriel Valley ). The hills are especially associated with the city of Monterey Park and there's a subdivision of that community that's also called Monterey Hills.Another Monterey Hills refers to a small residential neighborhood between El Sereno Rose Hill , and South Pasadena . I recently explored that neighborhood with Dooley (a dog) whilst house, dog, and cat-sitting in El Sereno. During my stint on the, Dooley and I visited all the aforementioned communities and additionally explored Arroyo View Estates Lincoln Heights , and University Hills . Our first excursion was of Monterey Hills on a cool, clear day that followed a light, overnight rain.We approached Monterey Hills via, which runs along the western edge of the neighborhood. We then entered the neighborhood via– a ridiculously wide (even on a road diet) street that's an extension of what was formerly. Hermon Avenue was renamed Via Marisol in 1978, when thenrenamed it, attempting to pander to his mostly Latino constituency by explaining that allowing a street to continue to be named "Hermon" in a neighborhood traversed mostly by Spanish -named avenues would have a "jarring influence" on the residents. That the councilman had a then three-year-old daughter namedwas surely a happy coincidence.At least as early as 13,000 years ago people were living in Southern California . The ancestors of thearrived from themuch later -- only about 3,500 years ago. After that they were the dominant people in the area for thousands of years and the Monterey Hills area lay between their villages ofto the north,to the southeast, and Yaangna to the southwest.The Tongva reign ended shortly after's overland expedition passed through the area in 1769, setting the stage for conquest. The Spanish first constructedinin 1771. In 1776 the mission was moved to its present location in, nine-and-a-half kilometers east of what's now Monterey Hills. A few years later, in 1781,was founded 8-and-a-half kilometers to the southwest.The area that became Monterey Hills was located just outside the four Spanish leagues given to the pueblo and was on Mission lands but Spanish rule ended in 1821, when Mexico gained independence and subsequently secularized the church's holdings. Mexico's rule would prove even shorter than Spain's and ended in 1848 whenwas conquered by the US . In 1850, California entered the union and Los Angeles incorporated as a city.The land containing what would become Monterey Hills was subdivided in 1902 along a grid system that ignored the hills' steep topography. The area was annexed by theon 9 February, 1912, as part of the Arroyo Seco Addition . The three hills that now make up Monterey Hills neighborhood remained mostly empty for the decades that followed largely because the gridded street and lot patterns made the development of streets and installation of utilities rather difficult. Nonetheless, there were a few residents and structures in the 1960s , when the idea for thewas first dreamed up by the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).The Monterey Hills Redevelopment Project was adopted by Los Angeles City Council in 1971. The idea was to slap a master-planned community on top of three of the Repetto Hills. To deal with the forbidding terrain, the developers brought in engineering and geological consultants who assured them they they need only remove soil from the hills and dump it into the canyons. Once the dust -- and hopefully landfills -- had settled, large condominiums and town homes could be built that would be affordable to middle and working class first time home buyers drawn to the development by its proximity to the(now the) and thus to Downtown Los Angeles Construction began in 1973 and over the years that followed, 21 residential complexes were ultimately built which contain a total of 1,781 units. The complexes include, and[I seem to be missing one]. I was pleasantly surprised to find that not one them has been rebranded in that silly, trite "The such-and-such at so-and-so" manner (e.g. Fremont Villas have escaped being renamed "The Villas at Fremont.")Problems with some of the complexes began to arise in the 1980s , however, when the experimental landfills that they were built upon continued to settle, bringing some of the residential complexes with them and creating significant structural damages in the process. Understandably incensed, the homeowners banded together and instigated the longest civil jury trial in Los Angeles County history.At the end of the trial, $21,634,466 were awarded in damages and the fund created with the money is still used to remedy damages. Since the end of the trail, only the sixteen-unit Bradley Court townhouses have been constructed in the neighborhood. However,proposed a similar development -- albeit one targeting wealthy homebuyers -- in the adjacent Elephant Hill of El Sereno in 1984. In 2009, however, the city took control of the land and decided to preserve it as open space.The ethnic breakdown of Monterey Hills, according to information gleaned from, is roughly 36%, 34%, 24%, and 10%Dooley and I walked to Monterey Hills from El Sereno. Monterey Hills isn't particularly well served by public transit. Only Metro 's 256 line accesses the area. The route winds alongandnear the neighborhood's edges. Although it's been on the chopping block before due to low ridership, the 256 has its share of fans -- mostly due to the fact that its route manages to visit Altadena Pasadena , andAlthough hilly, the neighborhood is small and both easily walkable and bikeable for the able bodied. Presumably its relatively low walk score (28) on Walkscore is due to the fact that getting coffee, picking up groceries, eating out, shopping, and enjoying more forms of entertainment all require leaving the neighborhood (although walking to both El Sereno and Hermon where those things can be found is quite easy). It's transit score is 23 and its bike score only 11.There's little if any native vegetation in Monterey Hills. Most of it was grazed out of existence during the Spanish era and today most of the landscape architecture is pretty inconspicuous and, although the hill tops are covered with groves of eucalyptus that have a certain allure and the leaves of some of the trees were changing color -- which is apparently one of the only way that some people raised in temperate climates can recognize the arrival of autumn Via Marisol is lined withtrees. Sometimes a seed pod would fall from one, shattering the silence and startling both Dooley and I. The crisp air smelled wonderful, carrying as it did, the mixed scent ofand. All aound us we could hear the cawing of, the cooing ofand the calls of various other birds -- in stark contrast to the neighborhoods beneath it, which are generally dominated by a-raising canine cacophony.In my research I had read that each of Monterey Hills' large residential complexes were built in what were supposed to be a variety of styles and judging from the directories, their layouts vary. Yet somehow all of them are variations on a particular sort of residential architecture that I'm still struggling to make peace with. Regardless of their variations, to me they invariably all resemble business parks or newish college campuses and -- encountering almost no one in our walk -- it felt a bit like exploring those after business hours or during a long break.In the course of our constitutional, Dooley and I did encounter a few women and men strolling, -- walking with weights or dogs, or jogging without either -- but the overall lack of people and the heavy autumnal ambiance gave the neighborhood a forlorn air, although I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. Everything has its unique charm and almost before I realized it I found myself quietly singingby Suede , a band who along with several of their early '90s contemporaries (e.g. The Auteurs Pulp ) famously celebrated (or at least expertly chronicled) the discreet charm of suburban life and the great indoors.Monterey Hills' near complete rejection of public space is part of the master-community plan, which includes no theaters, no art centers, no community gardens, no restaurants, no shops, no cinemas, and no houses of worship. The original development plan contained four categories: "Residential," "Residential/Alternate Hillside Preserve," "Residential/Alternate Institutional," and "Residential/Alternate Commercial."The "alternate commercial" area was the at one point the proposed site of abut residents successfully fought against that and it became the neighborhood's only park. One of the "Alternate Institutional" areas was developed with homes. The other is home of the Los Angeles International Charter High School -- formerly the site of-- a site more often associated with the Hermon neighborhood than "The Hill" (as Monterey Hills is nicknamed). There are shared private spaces in the form of designated seating areas, swimming pools, and tennis courts -- all of which were invariably empty -- as were the guest parking lots.As Monterey Hills' only official public space (unless one counts the sidewalks), Budd Wiener Park not surprisingly hosts the neighborhood's official community activities. The best known event that takes place there is thehas taken place since 1993. In the past it's featured performers including the Angie Whitney Group Nocy , the Ron McCurdy Collective , and Susie Hansen Latin Band , among others.Budd Wiener has also hosted Movies in the Park , in which family friendly fare is screened outdoors. When there aren't organized events taking place in the park, it's not exactly the most inviting place. There are no no pedestal grills, no jungle gyms, no spring riders, no basketball courts… just a couple of empty benches and a poop bag dispenser or receptacle (I can't remember which -- maybe it's both).Monterey Hills is blessed with quite a bit of mostly undeveloped space as well. It's separated from Hermon below by a steep, woody hillside. The hillside separating Monterey Hills from El Sereno (an "alternate hillside preserve") is less steep but terraced and lined with anti-erosion drainage ditches and a chain link fence. The earthen slope appears to have been built up considerably, almost as if it's meant to serve as a defensive wall to protect this modernin the unlikely event of a siege.Some of the concrete ditches are heavily tagged. If I'm correct that the goal of tagging is to place one's handiwork in highly visible yet inaccessible places then spraying ones tag on the bottom of easily accessed and little-seen ditches must be the equivalent of mere scent marking.There's also a large open area next tothat seems to serve as an unofficial park… or possibly dog park as it was the one spot in the otherwise decidedly clean neighborhood that was littered with dog defecation, garbage, and more. Dooley and I walked a well-worn trail and encountered signs of a small fire (or at least a burned log). The area affords a spectacular view and an empty case of, an empty box of, an empty case of, and an empty case of something calledsuggest that it's a popular site to do some outdoor drinking, relaxing -- and sadly, littering. There was also the expected litter fromand. More surprising was a midden where the shells of various animals seemed to have been dumped.Feeling a bit confined I decided to ignore the clearly-posted prohibitions against trespassing and scale the tallest hill in the neighborhood. Perhaps it's officially known asas that's the name of both a condo and street on it. In my imagination, however, it felt like I'd scaled Weathertop (or "" as it's known in Sindarin ).After catching my breath I found that I was not the firstto bound up that barrow. Although a fadedribbon was possibly carried to the hilltop grove of trees by a nearby and deflated mylar balloon, there was also a 20 oz glassbottle (c. 1990) and a single tennis shoe that were presumably carried there by fellow explorers. The abandoned footwear, Dooley's continued interest in sniffing underneath concrete ditch covers, and the darkening skies found me changing my tune, suddenly humming songs from the moody movie). Thankfully Dooley and I didn't find any bodies but after a bit more exploration I decided that Dooley and I should head back down the hill to the street.Back in the neighborhood we encountered a couple more people out for their perambulations but most seemed to be safely indoors. We did spy some younger people towards the end of our visit. Two girls sat in a parked car -- both on their smartphones. Not long after, a group of school kids jogged up the sidewalk along Via Marisol as Dooley and I made our way back towards El Sereno. One said, "I like your dog" which seemed to signal to Dooley that it was time to cheerfully gallop the rest of the way to Monterey Road -- pulling me along with her.The distinction between Monterey Hills and El Sereno below felt more pronounced upon our return. On every curb Dooley and I seemed to pass discarded, rain-soaked furniture, enraged dogs and people apparently walking to or from somewhere (rather than speed walking in loops). Banda music blasted at a deafening level from a passinga brood of chickens and a rooster scratched at the street, ice cream trucks played their century old rags , and there was a freshly-painted gang tag on the wall of the home in which I was staying.