Laughlin Park vs. the Los Feliz Hills: Gated Enclave or Open Hillside

Laughlin Park and the Los Feliz Hills sit on opposite sides of Los Feliz Boulevard. Laughlin Park is a gated enclave of private streets below the boulevard, planned as villas on large lots in a garden setting. The Los Feliz Hills climb from the boulevard toward Griffith Park on public, curving streets, with homes that owners built one lot at a time. Choose Laughlin Park for gates and a single planned garden estate. Choose the Los Feliz Hills for an open hillside below the Griffith Observatory and a long list of named landmark houses.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216). This guide compares the two using the City of Los Angeles' own historic surveys and monument list. On this site, luxury in Los Feliz starts at about $2 million.

One note on names. "Los Feliz Hills" is the name this site uses for the hillside above Los Feliz Boulevard. It is not an official name. The City's SurveyLA calls the heart of it the Los Feliz Heights Residential Historic District, and you will see both names below.

According to the City's SurveyLA Hollywood historic districts report, Laughlin Park is located south of Griffith Park, between Los Feliz Boulevard and Franklin Avenue. Its addresses on Laughlin Park Drive use zip 90027. The survey also places it next to the Oxford-Serrano-Hobart Residential Historic District.

The same report draws the Los Feliz Heights district from Nottingham Avenue on the west to Vermont Avenue on the east. It runs north from Los Feliz Boulevard to the edge of Griffith Park. The survey describes it as a south-facing slope of Mt. Hollywood that sits in the shadow of the Griffith Observatory.

That makes Los Feliz Boulevard the shared line. Laughlin Park is on its south side. The City's hillside district starts on its north side and keeps climbing.

The boulevard itself has a story. The survey records that it was widened in 1927, creating a major route between Hollywood and Glendale. The cedar trees along Los Feliz Boulevard between Riverside Drive and Western Avenue are City Historic-Cultural Monument #67, adopted in 1970, per the City monument list.

One more edge worth knowing. Streets east of Vermont Avenue such as Dundee Drive and Aberdeen Avenue are outside the City's Los Feliz Heights district. Several homes there have their own individual listings, covered below.

Laughlin Park's streets are private. You enter through one of five ornate gates on Laughlin Park Drive, Cummings Drive and De Mille Drive. Inside, the survey describes a gentle foothill slope with concrete sidewalks and a curving street pattern.

The gates also shaped how the City recorded the neighborhood. SurveyLA could not complete its evaluation because Laughlin Park is a gated community and not visible from the public right-of-way. Its status code is QQQ, which means the evaluation stayed incomplete. Laughlin Park is not a designated historic district.

For a buyer, gated streets change the first steps of a search. Driving by a home before a showing works differently here. Plan access ahead of time so a tour can cover the streets as well as the house.

The Los Feliz Hills are reached on public streets. The survey describes a curving street pattern that follows the natural contours of the Hollywood foothills. It lists concrete sidewalks without parkways, mature cedar and carob trees, and period street lights.

The district also contains several public stairways. The City lists the Los Feliz Heights Steps as Historic-Cultural Monument #657, adopted in 1998. The monument list names Cromwell Avenue, Bonvue Avenue and Glencairn Road among their locations.

Because these streets are open, the City's survey team could see and record the homes on them. The district counts 317 properties. Of these, 232 are contributors, or about 73 percent. Its period of significance runs from 1920 to 1949.

Glendower Avenue and Cromwell Avenue both appear in the district's property list. Bonvue Avenue, Chislehurst Drive and Glencairn Road appear there too. The list also takes in addresses on Los Feliz Boulevard itself.

Laughlin Park was planned as one estate. The survey says Homer Laughlin and Wilbur Cummings developed it. They pictured about 40 villas on large lots in a garden setting. Fremont Ackerman surveyed and platted the land, and Nathan F. Barratt designed the grounds. Building came primarily in the 1920s and 1930s, with infill homes into the 1960s.

The Los Feliz Improvement Association adds more detail. It reports that Homer Laughlin bought the land from the Lick Estate in 1890, and that the subdivision plan was filed with the City in early 1913. It also reports 40 planned lots and 77 today.

The Los Feliz Hills filled in lot by lot. The City records that the hillside was subdivided in 1921 as Tracts 3733, 5337 and 4441. The land developers were C.F. Cook, F.E. Woodley and William F. Thompson. Owners then hired their own architects to design a house for each specific site.

Early advertising sold the setting. Per the survey, ads touted the bucolic hillside and panoramic city views. They also promised easy access to Hollywood or downtown.

The two paths still show. Laughlin Park reads as one planned garden. The Los Feliz Hills read as hundreds of houses on one slope, each designed for its own lot.

The survey lists Laughlin Park's styles as Craftsman, Spanish Colonial Revival, Mediterranean Revival and Mid-Century Modern. It names these master architects who designed homes there:

• Roland Coate
• Carleton Winslow
• Lloyd Wright
• Julia Morgan
• Gordon Kaufman

The Los Feliz Heights district entry lists American Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Mediterranean and Tudor Revival styles. The architects it names are:

• Paul R. Williams
• Milton J. Black
• Gordon Kaufmann
• Wallace Neff
• Morgan, Walls & Clements

Notice that one name appears in both lists, spelled two ways in the same report. Neither list ties a name to a specific house. If a listing credits one of these architects, ask for the records behind it.

The Los Feliz Hills also carry a run of individually named landmarks. From the City monument list, the City's SurveyLA individual resources report, the LA Conservancy and the Los Feliz Improvement Association:

• Ennis-Brown House at 2607 Glendower Avenue, Historic-Cultural Monument #149 since 1976. The Conservancy describes Frank Lloyd Wright's design as more than 27,000 concrete blocks, all made by hand from granite taken from the site.
• Wirin House at 2622 Glendower Avenue, Monument #812 since 2005. The Improvement Association credits Richard Neutra.
• Hlaffer-Courcier Residence at 2574 Glendower Avenue, Monument #1069 since 2014. SurveyLA records it as a 1924 example of Storybook design.
• Skolnik House at 2567 N. Glendower Avenue. SurveyLA dates it to 1951 as the work of master architect R.M. Schindler.
• Blackburn Residence at 4791 Cromwell Avenue, Monument #913 since 2008. The Improvement Association credits Paul R. Williams.

Just east of Vermont Avenue, outside the district line, sit the Lovell House at 4616 Dundee Drive (Monument #123) and the Aberdeen House at 2640-2656 N. Aberdeen Avenue (Monument #1171).

In short, Laughlin Park's design story is the whole planned setting. The Los Feliz Hills tell theirs one address at a time.

In Laughlin Park, the setting is the garden plan. The survey describes a gentle foothill slope with curving streets and concrete sidewalks. You arrive through a gate onto a private street.

In the Los Feliz Hills, the park is the northern edge. The district runs up to Griffith Park, which is City Historic-Cultural Monument #942. The survey notes that some lots enjoy expansive city views.

The Griffith Observatory sits above it all. According to Griffith Observatory, Griffith J. Griffith donated 3,015 acres to the City on December 16, 1896. The Observatory opened on May 14, 1935, designed by John C. Austin and Frederick M. Ashley. It is Monument #168.

Both settings are hillside Los Feliz. The difference is how you arrive and what you pass on the way. One is a gate and a planned garden. The other is a public climb past recorded landmark homes toward the park.

Start with the features that matter most to you. Here is how each lines up, based on the City's records.

• Gated entry and private streets: Laughlin Park, with five gates on three streets.
• A planned garden estate on larger lots: Laughlin Park, laid out for about 40 villas.
• Craftsman or Mid-Century Modern in a gated setting: Laughlin Park, where both appear on the survey's list.
• Tudor Revival or American Colonial: the Los Feliz Hills, where both appear on the district's list.
• A named landmark house: the Los Feliz Hills, with several City monuments on Glendower and Cromwell alone.
• Closeness to Griffith Park and the Observatory: the Los Feliz Hills, which run up to the park's edge.
• Spanish Colonial or Mediterranean styles: both. Each survey list includes them.

To go deeper, read our guides to buying a home in Laughlin Park and buying a home in the Los Feliz Hills. For two more pairings, see The Oaks vs. Laughlin Park and Laughlin Park vs. Franklin Hills.

1. Set your must-haves. Decide how much weight to give gates, architecture, views and closeness to the park.
2. Place the address. Confirm whether a home is south of Los Feliz Boulevard in Laughlin Park or north of it. For the hillside, check whether it falls between Nottingham and Vermont.
3. Look the house up by address. Search the City's monument list and the SurveyLA individual resources report. A named monument has its own City record.
4. Ask for private street documents in Laughlin Park. Request anything that governs the gates and streets early in your review.
5. Match the architect to the record. Ask for plans or permits when a listing names a designer.
6. Tour both in one day. Drive a gated street in Laughlin Park. Then cross Los Feliz Boulevard and climb Glendower Avenue toward the Observatory.

This article explains how the process works. It is not legal advice. For your own situation, talk with your attorney as well.

• Use the right name for the right map. "Los Feliz Hills" is a market name. When you read City records, search for Los Feliz Heights.
• Check historic status house by house. Laughlin Park is not a designated district, and its survey stayed incomplete. In the Los Feliz Hills, about 73 percent of district properties are contributors, which leaves many that are not.
• Confirm which side of Vermont a home is on. Streets like Dundee and Aberdeen sit outside the City's district line. Their homes are recorded one by one.
• Verify architect credits with records. Both survey lists name architects without tying them to houses.
• Plan gate access early. Arrange it before a Laughlin Park showing so the visit covers the streets as well as the home.

Here are three hypothetical examples to show how the comparison plays out. They are not clients.

A buyer who wants a gated Spanish Colonial Revival home. This search points to Laughlin Park first. The plan starts with homes on the gated streets, checks any architect credit against records, and reviews private street documents early.

A buyer drawn to a named landmark house. This search leans toward the Los Feliz Hills. The plan starts with the City's monument list and the survey's individual listings. It then spends time on Glendower and Cromwell, where several monuments sit close together.

A buyer relocating to Los Angeles who has seen neither. This search starts with a side-by-side tour. The buyer passes through a Laughlin Park gate, then crosses the boulevard and climbs toward Griffith Park the same afternoon. The search narrows from there.

Our guide to buying a luxury home in Los Feliz covers the steps that apply in either neighborhood.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216). Brandon is an Accredited Buyer's Representative (ABR). Our buyer work follows Our 5-Step Approach to Homeownership:

1. Meet
2. Understand
3. Explain the market
4. Walk the whole process
5. Connect

For a choice like this one, we start by learning what matters to you. Then we explain how each side of the boulevard is set up and walk both with you. The pace fits your timeline, including a relocation.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216). Our guiding line is simple: when we serve, you succeed. You can read how we work in our buying process. When you are ready to see both neighborhoods, contact Rooster Homes and let us know what works best for you. We will coordinate our schedule around yours.