East Gate Bel Air, Los Angeles
East Gate Bel Air (or Old Bel Air) is a very small and very wealthy area within the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, California. It is so named because of its location adjacent to the East Gate entrance to Bel Air (located at Beverly Glen and Sunset Boulevards), and because it was the original Bel Air tract founded and opened by Alphonzo E. Bell, Sr. in 1922.
East Gate Old Bel Air is the most prestigious section of Bel Air (followed by West Gate Lower Bel Air to the west and then Upper Bel Air, which stretches up the Santa Monica Mountains to Mulholland Drive to the north), and it is made up of very large, old estates developed mostly before World War II. (In general, the homes in Upper Bel Air are smaller building lots and more modest homes, developed largely with post-war, middle class ranch houses, though many have magnificent views.)
Location
As shown in the “Bel Air First Residential Allotment” map from 1923, the original Bel Air tract of East Gate Old Bel Air is composed of 128 lots (though many have now been combined under single properties) on Bel Air Road (which passes through the wrought-iron East Gate entrance) and the five roads which branch from it: Saint Pierre, Saint Cloud, Bellagio (to Stone Canyon), Copa De Oro, and Nimes Roads.[1]
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 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).[2]
History
On the undeveloped hillsides of original Bel Air, 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.[1] He decreed that Bel Air would be “a haven of rest for the businessman who toils in big, noisy, congested Los Angeles.”[3] “A comprehensive plan of restrictions for the protection of its residents” controlled who could buy and build and live behind Bel Air’s gates.[1] 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.[3] A design committee existed to preserve the “architectural harmony” of the community, with restrictions including low masses, horizontal lines, pitched roofs, and unobtrusive and harmonious colors.[1]
Demographics
East Gate Old Bel Air has always been home to many of the wealthiest people in the United States (from the highest paid business executive throughout the 1930s Louis Mayer, who lived on Saint Cloud Road,[4] to the highest paid CEO in 2009 Ray Irani[5], who lives on Saint Pierre Road[6]).
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.[7] (Notable among them is Jerry Perenchio, who lives on Saint Cloud Road, and 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[8]).
| Name | Road |
|---|---|
| King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (former)[9] | East Gate at Sunset Blvd. |
| Beny Alagem[10] | Bel Air |
| John Anderson[11] | Bellagio |
| Stephen Bollenbach[12] | Saint Cloud |
| Sonny Bono and Cher (former) | Saint Cloud |
| Bruce Cabot (former)[13] | Saint Pierre |
| Nicolas Cage (former)[14] | Copa De Oro |
| B. Gerald Cantor (former)[15] | Saint Cloud |
| Johnny Carson (former) and Joanna Carson[16] | Saint Cloud |
| Marion Davies (former)[17] | Saint Pierre |
| Robert Day[18][19] | Bel Air |
| Michael Eisner[8] | Bel Air |
| Georgia Frontiere[14] | Bellagio |
| Zsa Zsa Gabor | Bel Air |
| Judy Garland (former) | Bel Air |
| Brad Grey | Copa De Oro |
| Salma Hayek | Nimes |
| Rick Hilton | Copa De Oro |
| Alfred Hitchcock (former)[20] | Saint Cloud |
| Alan Horn[21] | Saint Cloud |
| Howard Hughes (former)[22] | Bellagio |
| Ray Irani[6] | Saint Pierre |
| Mick Jagger (former)[17] | Saint Pierre |
| Jonas Brothers (former)[23] | Saint Pierre |
| Tom Jones (former) | Copa De Oro |
| Jordan Kerner (former)[23] | Saint Pierre |
| Otto Klemperer (former)[24] (former) | Bel Air |
| Carole Lombard (former)[20] | Saint Cloud |
| Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony (former)[25] | Saint Pierre |
| Dean Martin (former) | Copa De Oro |
| Louis Mayer (former)[4] | Saint Cloud |
| Bob Newhart | Bel Air |
| Jerry Perenchio[8] | Saint Cloud |
| Elvis Presley (former)[22] | Bellagio |
| Prince Rainier of Monaco (former)[22] | Bellagio |
| Ronald Reagan (former) and Nancy Reagan[8] | Saint Cloud |
| Terry Semel[26] | Bellagio |
| Mark Spitznagel[27] | Saint Pierre |
| Elizabeth Taylor[28] | Nimes |
| Cheryl Tiegs[29] | Nimes |
| Sir Peter Ustinov (former) | Bellagio |
| Johnny Weissmuller (former)[17] | Saint Pierre |
References
- ^ a b c d Houses of Los Angeles, Volume II, Sam Watters, 2007. p.12,13
- ^ Bel Air Association website
- ^ a b Hotel Bel-Air website
- ^ a b "Biography for Louis B. Mayer," IMDb
- ^ "The Top Ten Highest Paid CEOs," The Wall Street Journal, Apr. 1, 2010
- ^ a b The Huffington Post FundRace 2008 Contributions map
- ^ The Huffington Post FundRace 2008 Contributions map
- ^ a b c d "Reagans Settle In at 668 Saint Cloud," The New York Times, Jan. 23, 1989
- ^ "A regal residence in Bel-Air," Los Angeles Times, Nov. 29, 2009
- ^ Wikimapia
- ^ BlockShopper website
- ^ "The Sky’s the Limit", Los Angeles Magazine, Jan., 1998. p.52
- ^ Big Time Listings website, Nov. 1, 2008
- ^ a b Big Time Listings website, Feb. 29, 2008
- ^ "Be The Reagans' Neighbor," Forbes, Dec., 2000
- ^ King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson, Laurence Leamer, 2005. p.240
- ^ a b c Paul Revere Williams Project website
- ^ "The World's Billionaires," Forbes, Mar., 2010
- ^ "Sunlight Foundation's Party Time
- ^ a b Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, Patrick McGilligan, 2004. p.245
- ^ The Huffington Post FundRace 2008 Contributions map
- ^ a b c Legendary Estates
- ^ a b Real Estalker website, Oct. 21, 2008
- ^ A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler's Emigres and Exiles in Southern California, Dorothy Lamb Crawford, 2009. p.45
- ^ Real Estalker website, Nov. 21, 2008
- ^ The Huffington Post FundRace 2008 Contributions map
- ^ "J-Lo and Marc Anthony Sell In Los Angeles to Financier," The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 8, 2010
- ^ Movie Star Homes , Judy Artunian, Mike Oldham 2004.
- ^ The Huffington Post FundRace 2008 Contributions map
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