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'''East Gate Bel Air''' (or '''Old Bel Air''') is a very small and very wealthy (and the most prestigious) area within the [[Bel Air, Los Angeles|Bel Air]] section of [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]. It is made up of large, old estates developed mostly before [[World War II]], all of which are heavily-gated compounds where "tall, dense hedges allow only an occasional glimpse of the homes, creating an air of inaccessibility, wealth and power"<ref name="Gold">"[http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/27/business/la-fi-hot-streets27-2010mar27 Streets of gold: L.A.'s most desirable addresses]," ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', Mar. 27, 2010</ref> (even by [[Platinum Triangle, Los Angeles|Platinum Triangle]] standards).
'''East Gate Bel Air''' (or '''Old Bel Air''') is a small and affluent area within the [[Bel Air, Los Angeles|Bel Air]] section of [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]. It is made up of large, old estates developed mostly before [[World War II]], all of which are heavily-gated compounds where "tall, dense hedges allow only an occasional glimpse of the homes, creating an air of inaccessibility, wealth and power"<ref name="Gold">"[http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/27/business/la-fi-hot-streets27-2010mar27 Streets of gold: L.A.'s most desirable addresses]," ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', Mar. 27, 2010</ref> (even by [[Platinum Triangle, Los Angeles|Platinum Triangle]] standards).


==Location==
==Location==

Revision as of 18:38, 1 August 2012

East Gate Bel Air
Neighborhood of Los Angeles
The East Gate entrance to Bel Air at Beverly Glen and Sunset Blvds.
The East Gate entrance to Bel Air at Beverly Glen and Sunset Blvds.
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountyLos Angeles
CityLos 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, all of which are heavily-gated compounds where "tall, dense hedges allow only an occasional glimpse of the homes, creating an air of inaccessibility, wealth and power"[1] (even by Platinum Triangle standards).

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 impressive huge iron East Gate entrance[2]—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.[3] 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).[4]

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 (where, as Los Angeles Magazine put it, "Just as the ascetic Saint Pierre guards the gates of heaven, (the) saint stands sentry at a lofty gateway of his own: the eastern entryway of Bel Air, where Saint Pierre Road begins."[5]), it borders equally prestigious Holmby Hills. This combined contiguous area of East Gate Bel Air and Holmby Hills straddling North Beverly Glen Boulevard (at a verdant bend of Saint Pierre Road and De Neve Square Park)—which in 2010 contained both the most expensive sale in the country[6] and the most expensive listing in the world[7]—represents easily the highest concentration of property value and wealth in Los Angeles, if not the United States.

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).[2]

Aside from its pedigree and "pancake flat, very big estates,"[1] the modern day attractiveness of the East Gate Old Bel Air location is purportedly (according to the Los Angeles Times) its feeling of "being part of the city and apart from the city all at the same time"—that is to say, its privacy and seclusion (despite a preponderance of gawking tour buses) yet urban cachet from being just north of Sunset Boulevard and central convenience within Los Angeles.[2] This attractiveness, though, has inspired much recent residential development, including large residences (such as by the king of Saudi Arabia[8] and by Ritz-Carlton developer Mohamed Hadid[9]), and with buildable lots so scarce, unsightly sizable concrete walls have even been erected on several hillsides.[2]

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.[3] He decreed that Bel Air would be “a haven of rest for the businessman who toils in big, noisy, congested Los Angeles,”[10] and installed uniformed guards at the entry gate to check in visitors—a first for any local community.[2] “A comprehensive plan of restrictions for the protection of its residents” controlled who could buy and build and live behind Bel Air’s gates.[3] In fact 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.[10] A design committee existed (and still exists to the present day[4]) to preserve the “architectural harmony” of the community, with restrictions including low masses, horizontal lines, pitched roofs, and unobtrusive and harmonious colors,[3] and deed restrictions required land purchasers to spend a minimum of $20,000 on home construction.[2]

Demographics

East Gate Old Bel Air has always been home to many of the wealthiest people in the United States (from the highest paid man in America in the 1930s Louis Mayer, who lived on Saint Cloud Road,[11] to the highest paid CEO in the world in 2009 Ray Irani).[12][13]

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.[14] (Notable among them is Jerry Perenchio, who election records show paid over $18 million in donations to Republican candidates, party funds and related causes as of 2006.)

Notable residents

Current and former residents of the six roads that make up East Gate Old Bel Air range from business leaders and studio heads to celebrity entertainers (and even a former President and First Lady of the United States[15]).

Name Road
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (former)[8] East Gate at Sunset Blvd.
Beny Alagem[16] Bel Air
John Anderson (former)[17] Bellagio
Stephen Bollenbach[18] Saint Cloud
Sonny Bono and Cher (former) Saint Pierre
Franklin Otis Booth, Jr. (former) Bellagio
Bruce Cabot (former)[19] Saint Pierre
Nicolas Cage (former)[20] Copa De Oro
B. Gerald Cantor (former)[21] Saint Cloud
Johnny Carson (former) and Joanna Carson[22] Saint Pierre
Marion Davies (former)[23] Saint Pierre
Michael Eisner[15] Bel Air
Georgia Frontiere[20] Bellagio
Zsa Zsa Gabor Bel Air
Judy Garland (former) Bel Air
Brad Grey Copa De Oro
Salma Hayek Nîmes
Rick Hilton Copa De Oro
Darby Hinton and Daryn Hinton (former) [24] Bel Air
Alfred Hitchcock (former)[25] Saint Cloud
Alan Horn[26] Saint Cloud
Howard Hughes (former)[27] Bellagio
Ray Irani[13] Saint Pierre
Mick Jagger (former)[23][28] Saint Pierre
Jonas Brothers (former)[29] Saint Pierre
Tom Jones (former) Copa De Oro
Jordan Kerner (former)[29] Saint Pierre
Otto Klemperer (former)[30] Bel Air
Carole Lombard (former)[25] Saint Cloud
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony (former)[31] Saint Pierre
Dean Martin (former) Copa De Oro
Louis Mayer (former)[11] Saint Cloud
Bob Newhart Bel Air
Jerry Perenchio[15] Saint Cloud
John Phillips (former)[28] Saint Pierre
Tyrone Power, Linda Christian and Romina Power (former)[32] Copa De Oro
Elvis Presley (former)[27] Bellagio
Prince Rainier of Monaco (former)[27] Bellagio
Ronald Reagan (former) and Nancy Reagan[15] Saint Cloud
Terry Semel[33] Bellagio
Mark Spitznagel[34] Saint Pierre
Elizabeth Taylor (former)[35] Nîmes
Cheryl Tiegs[36] Nîmes
Sir Peter Ustinov (former) Bellagio
Johnny Weissmuller (former)[23] Saint Pierre

References

  1. ^ a b "Streets of gold: L.A.'s most desirable addresses," Los Angeles Times, Mar. 27, 2010
  2. ^ a b c d e f "A part of the city, yet apart from it too," Los Angeles Times, Mar. 6, 2005
  3. ^ a b c d Houses of Los Angeles, Volume II, Sam Watters, 2007. p.12,13
  4. ^ a b Bel Air Association website
  5. ^ "The Apostle: One Man's Mission to Find the Divine in L.A.'s Streets, by Sarah Blackwill," Los Angeles Magazine, November, 2003
  6. ^ "Bel-Air mansion fetches highest price this year for a U.S. residence," Los Angeles Times, Jun. 11, 2010
  7. ^ "Candy Spelling and the Most Expensive House in the World," CNBC, Apr. 23, 2010
  8. ^ a b "A regal residence in Bel-Air," Los Angeles Times, Nov. 29, 2009
  9. ^ "L.A. Developer Hadid Offers $85 Million Home," The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 20, 2009
  10. ^ a b Hotel Bel-Air website
  11. ^ a b "Biography for Louis B. Mayer," IMDb
  12. ^ "The Top Ten Highest Paid CEOs," The Wall Street Journal, Apr. 1, 2010
  13. ^ a b The Huffington Post FundRace 2008 Contributions map
  14. ^ The Huffington Post FundRace 2008 Contributions map
  15. ^ a b c d "Reagans Settle In at 668 Saint Cloud," The New York Times, Jan. 23, 1989
  16. ^ Wikimapia
  17. ^ BlockShopper website
  18. ^ "The Sky’s the Limit", Los Angeles Magazine, Jan., 1998. p.52
  19. ^ Big Time Listings website, Nov. 1, 2008
  20. ^ a b Big Time Listings website, Feb. 29, 2008
  21. ^ "Be The Reagans' Neighbor," Forbes, Dec., 2000
  22. ^ King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson, Laurence Leamer, 2005. p.240
  23. ^ a b c Paul Revere Williams Project website
  24. ^ Los Angeles County Assessor/1234 Bel Air Road
  25. ^ a b Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, Patrick McGilligan, 2004. p.245
  26. ^ The Huffington Post FundRace 2008 Contributions map
  27. ^ a b c Legendary Estates
  28. ^ a b "King of the wild frontier," The Observer, Mar. 15, 2009
  29. ^ a b Real Estalker website, Oct. 21, 2008
  30. ^ A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler's Emigres and Exiles in Southern California, Dorothy Lamb Crawford, 2009. p.45
  31. ^ Real Estalker website, Nov. 21, 2008
  32. ^ http://www.tyrone-power.com/article_portraits_1.html /Look Magazine December 2, 1952
  33. ^ The Huffington Post FundRace 2008 Contributions map
  34. ^ "J-Lo and Marc Anthony Sell In Los Angeles to Financier," The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 8, 2010
  35. ^ Movie Star Homes , Judy Artunian, Mike Oldham 2004.
  36. ^ The Huffington Post FundRace 2008 Contributions map
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