Rancho Park, Los Angeles, CA
Rancho Park is a residential neighborhood in the Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California with mostly single family homes and tree lined streets. The community is nestled between West Los Angeles and Cheviot Hills. This enclave draws young professionals and families and is home to residents working in a variety of professional occupations. History proves the neighborhood was once a part of Westwood until Olympic Blvd. was placed dividing the area North and South. The Southern section, now known as Rancho Park, felt cut off from its North side lobbying for its own identity in the 1930s.
It is bordered by Sawtelle on the west, West Los Angeles on the northwest, Cheviot Hills on the east, and Westside Village on the south. The district's boundaries, while somewhat ill-defined, are generally considered to be the San Diego Freeway (I-405) or Sepulveda on the west, Olympic Boulevard on the north, Manning Avenue (south of Pico Boulevard) and Beverly Glen Boulevard (north of Pico) on the east, and National Boulevard on the south. (Los Angeles City signs mark Olympic Boulevard as the district's northern boundary.) Major thoroughfares include Pico, Westwood, Olympic, Sepulveda, and Beverly Glen Boulevards, along with Overland and Manning Avenues. Nearby is Santa Monica Boulevard. Century City is also located nearby.
We thought it was about time to have our own community. We must separate ourselves from Westwood. There were many names suggested for our new community but there was a pioneer real estate broker here who had established his office on Pico near Manning back in 1927. His name was Bill Heyler. Bill did as much as any other one person to develop the area; so when it came time to adopting a name for the community, the wisdom of our pioneer was in counsel. The honor of naming this community "Rancho Park" went to Bill Heyler.[1] Heyler is also credited with bringing in the Rancho Park Golf Course, which opened in 1947