. Provided by friendly neighbor and historian Bruce Hoel. Thanks Bruce!
Take a peek at some exciting restoration projects in our neighborhood. Check
out
Restoring Montecito Heights!
Maybe you've wondered what's going on down the street, or maybe you're thinking about moving in to the neighborhood. Real estate professionals know that one sure sign of a neighborhood just about ready to explode in value is the number and extent of homes revitalization occuring in the area. Well, Montecito Heights must be reaching critical mass, because homes are being renovated all over the place! Here is an inside look at some of the homes currently in restoration, and how these homes got a new lease on life. Click on
Restoring Montecito Heights! to find out more.
Montecito Heights Overview
The community of Montecito Heights,
located between Los Angeles and Pasadena, has attracted
artists, visionaries and intelligentsia for nearly a
century. This picturesque district possesses a rich
history as one of the oldest and most fascinating
sections of Los Angeles. To read the fascinating life
story of the elusive region of Los Angeles which
enchanted
Aimee Semple McPherson
and cured
Charles Lummis’ wanderlust,
click here or on
"History" anywhere
in these pages .
Montecito Heights area attractions include
Heritage Square’s
collection of meticulously restored Victorian houses, the notable
Lummis Home, the famed
Southwest Museum
(Los Angeles’ first museum), and the astonishingly vast
Ernest E. Debs Regional Park.
The
Audubon Society has expressed an interest in
Debs Park, and community leaders who wish preserve
Debs as an authentic native wilderness area have
joined with Audubon to study the creation of a park
bird sanctuary.
Montecito Heights’ prime location, a pleasant ten
minute drive from downtown Los Angeles, not only adds
hours to the waking life of any former commuter, it
also makes for fabulous and convenient sightseeing,
whether entertaining one’s guests or oneself. The
treasures enfolded in the boundaries of downtown Los
Angeles are too numerous to list, but here are a few:
MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art),
Olvera Street,
Chinatown,
Little Tokyo,
the
L.A. Children’s Museum, the historic
Angel’s Flight trolley
that links the Grand Central Market to California Plaza's astonishing water sculptures,
Dodger Stadium, the palatial
Los Angeles
Central Library, and the
newly renovated
Union Station. For a great list of downtown sites,
click here.
Of course, the throb of a close and vigorous
colossal urban center makes the exquisite natural
haven of Montecito Heights seem like paradise to
hard-working residents. And to native wild creatures,
it truly is a paradise. Songbirds abound, and many
migratory birds have selected lovely Montecito Heights
as an interim destination in their long journeys. The
skies above Montecito
Heights would look bare to her residents without
containing at least one soaring red-tailed hawk.
Coyotes occasionally sing their eerie midnight hunt
songs, though they rarely show themselves. Great white
owls occasionally make spectacular appearances,
swooping past on their enormous wings; and many
endangered trap-door spiders make their homes in the
Montecito Heights brush lands. For more information
about our secret Eden,
click
here or on
"Nature" anywhere in these pages.
The Montecito Heights Improvement Association has
operated for over two decades with the goal of
protecting the historic integrity, preserving the
natural beauty and advancing the progress of this
little gem of a neighborhood.
Where Exactly IS Montecito Heights?
Montecito Heights, in the renowned Northeast portion of Los Angeles, borders the celebrated Arroyo Seco River (our westernmost boundary) and stretches up the lovely eastern hills behind the magnificent Heritage Square Victorian houses you can see from the 110 freeway at Avenue 43. Our community is bounded by the Arroyo Seco River on its west, Avenue 35 to the south, and includes the vast virgin arroyo wilderness lands of Ernest E. Debs Park. Our northeastern border touches the charming community of Hermon. Our easterly border adjoins the Monterey Hills community at Monterey Road. Our good neighbors to the west include Mt. Washington and Highland Park. A map is available to show you in greater detail just where our community is located.
ASNC describes our boundaries as follows:
Begin at the intersection of the 110 freeway at approximately Avenue 55, move southwest along the 110 freeway to the intersection of the 110 freeway and Pasadena Avenue, south on Pasadena Avenue, southern boundary of Heritage Square Avenue 35, east to Griffin Avenue to Idylwild Avenue, north along Avenue 33 to Lupin Terrace, east to Von Keithian Street and the imaginary line to the summit of Flat Top of Hill, center of radio tower, to the corner of Sierra Street and Mercury Avenue, along due north imaginary line bisecting Debs Park, to 110 freeway.
See the ASNC map.
MHIA, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Seek to Preserve Flat-Top
Several years ago Montecitans came out to the River Center in force to ask
Santa
Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) to preserve Flat-Top as a
natural open space. The allotted chair space was used up and the crowd spilled
into the foyer. MHIA's Open Space/Land Use Committee Chair Tom Berg in
conjuction with Virginia Palmer and Jim Stewart of
People
for Parks have put in vast amounts
of energy to make a
proposal
to SMMC supporting the preservation efforts. People for Parks' extensive report
to the SMMC can be found
here.
We are seeing development all over the wild hills we cherish. MHIA thanks Tom
Berg, People for Parks, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and all of
the fine Montecitans and fellow community members who want to keep
Montecito Heights a Wilderness in the City by preserving our few last remaining
acres of natural open space as they are today.
The process has already begun with the
hill saved by Nancy Smith.
Nancy Smith spearheaded the efforts to preserve Mt. Olympus hill above Avenue
33. Nancy and many other Montecito Heights community members worked to defeat a
proposed high-density, low-income housing development proposed almost a decade
ago. Developers planned to
cut off the top of the hill in order to build. Eventually the parcel was purchased with Prop 40 funds.
During this process, Nancy Smith and People for Parks' Virginia Palmer toured
Mt. Olympus as well as the larger Mt. Olympus II (more commonly known as Flat-Top Hill). Palmer
(who still refers to Flat-Top as Mt. Olympus II) became convinced that Flat-Top is an amazing
wild open-space treasure that should be preserved.
After the wonderful turnout for the Jan. 26th meeting, Chuck Arnold said,
"Now that the Conservancy is informed we will go about doing the business
that we do. We will work to have the land protected."
UPDATE: The Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council voted to support SMMC preservation efforts for Flat-Top.
Read the
People for Parks Report
Have a look around! Click on any highlighted text to visit the
site you want:
- Click fast! The new QuickClick Page offers short text info about all the great pages on the site.
- Links - Meet the neighbors! Check out the home pages of some Montecito Heights residents.
- More Links - Read great webpages describing local attractions and neighboring communities.
- Government - Find out who represents you, and how to make them aware of your concerns.
- From the padres of the Missions to today's Arroyo Arts Collective, Montecito Heights has attracted a very special kind of people. Here's a more detailed history of Montecito Heights.
- A splendid view of downtown Los Angeles from one window, pure nature from another. Read about Montecito Heights’ vibrant wilderness areas and our protective and careful custodianship of our precious lands.
- Post your concerns on our Bulletin Board.
- Use our handy and secure online
incident report form to report any suspicious activity
you've seen occurring. Not sure whether it's worth
reporting? Check the handy list of
who to call, when or our extensive list of list of
important phone numbers.
- Contact Us - MHIA Officers and other contact people.
This site belongs to all the residents of Montecito Heights. If you have any suggestions, comments, concerns or questions, please
let me know!
