Westwood

Westwood Village (also known as Westwood) is best known as the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The prime portions of this community are often thought of as distinctly different neighborhoods: Holmby Hills; in the center, Little Holmby; to the north, Westwood Hills; and to the south, the Flats of Westwood: this is largely due to differences in value, lot size, and topography.

History:

The first developer of the land that Holmby Hills, Westwood, and UCLA now occupy was Don Maximo Alanis, a Spanish soldier who obtained title to 4,438 acres under a Mexican land grant in 1843. He called it San Jose de Buenos Ayres.

In 1884, about 3,300 acres of this land came into the possession of a forty-niner named John Wolfskill, who paid $10 an acre for it and built a ranch house near the present-day Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1919, the old Wolfskill Farm was purchased by wealthy retailer Arthur Letts. Letts’ son-in-law, Harold Janss, Vice President of Janss Investment Company, developed the area and started advertising new homes in 1922. Principally built to attract professors to UCLA, located nearby, the homes were charming and affordable. As you walk the area, you can still see sidewalks and bricks stamped with the Janss name, and the year the homes were built.

The Los Angeles Times reported the news: “Westwood, the subdivision of the Wolfskill ranch, 3300 acres of scenic territory between the city and Santa Monica, is to be opened to homeseekers and investors today by the Janss Investment Company. The tract comprises approximately 1000 residential and business lots, situated west of the Los Angeles Country Club on Santa Monica Boulevard and the Rancho Country Club on Pico Boulevard.”