The Oaks vs. Laughlin Park: Comparing Two Los Feliz Hillside Neighborhoods

The Oaks vs. Laughlin Park comes down to a gate or an open hillside. Laughlin Park is a gated neighborhood of private streets, built primarily in the 1920s and 1930s. The Oaks is an open hillside just below Griffith Park, built in two waves. Both sit in Los Feliz, a few minutes apart.

The choice usually comes down to privacy behind a gate versus views and a mix of architecture on the open hillside. Laughlin Park offers private streets and 1920s estates on a gentle slope. The Oaks offers sloping sites with city and canyon views, with Griffith Park at its northern edge.

At Rooster Homes, this is the same research we walk through with buyers touring both. Every fact below comes from the City of Los Angeles' own historic survey and the neighborhoods' own records, linked the first time we use them.

Laughlin Park sits south of Griffith Park, between Los Feliz Boulevard and Franklin Avenue. That comes from the City's SurveyLA report on Hollywood historic districts, the survey we cite throughout this article.

Its streets are private. You enter through one of five ornate gates on these three streets:

• Laughlin Park Drive
• Cummings Drive
• De Mille Drive

Addresses on Laughlin Park Drive carry the 90027 zip code. The survey also notes that Laughlin Park sits next to the Oxford-Serrano-Hobart Residential Historic District.

The Oaks sits immediately below Griffith Park. The Oaks Neighborhood Association draws its edges this way:

• Fern Dell Drive on the east
• Foothill Drive to the south
• Both sides of Canyon Drive to the west
• Griffith Park to the north

The name comes from its streets. Valley Oak, Live Oak and Canyon Oak all carry the word, according to the City survey. Fern Dell, part of Griffith Park, sits at the neighborhood's eastern edge.

Homes in The Oaks use the 90068 mailing zip. The Los Angeles Conservancy lists 5609 Valley Oak Drive with that zip. A buyer comparing the two neighborhoods will see two different zip codes on listings, even though both sit in Los Feliz.

Laughlin Park was developed by Homer Laughlin and Wilbur Cummings. They envisioned about 40 villas on large lots in a garden setting.

Fremont Ackerman surveyed and platted the land. Nathan F. Barratt designed the grounds. The neighborhood was primarily developed in the 1920s and 1930s, with infill into the 1960s.

That plan still shapes what a buyer sees today. The lots were laid out for villas in a garden, and the curving streets follow a gentle foothill slope. When you tour, look at how each house sits on its lot and how the garden frames it. That garden setting was part of the original idea.

The Oaks was subdivided into several tracts between 1922 and 1924. Building came in two waves. The first was in the 1920s. The second came in the 1950s and 1960s.

That second wave is why The Oaks mixes prewar Period Revival homes with postwar Modern ones on the same streets. A Period Revival house from the 1920s can sit a few doors from a Modern house built thirty years later.

For a buyer, the two waves mean The Oaks rewards a street-by-street look. The era of the home you want tells you which streets to start on.

The City survey lists four architectural styles in Laughlin Park:

• Craftsman
• Spanish Colonial Revival
• Mediterranean Revival
• Mid-Century Modern

The survey also names master architects who designed homes there:

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

The survey names these architects without tying them to specific houses. If a listing credits one of them, ask for the records that support it.

Laughlin Park has a quieter public record than The Oaks. When the City surveyed Hollywood's neighborhoods, it could not complete its evaluation of Laughlin Park. The homes sit behind the gates and cannot be seen from the public right-of-way. Laughlin Park is not a designated historic district. For a buyer, that is a good reason to tour it in person with access arranged ahead of time.

The Oaks mixes prewar Period Revival and postwar Modern styles. Two places show that range well.

The first is the Samuel-Novarro House at 5609 Valley Oak Drive. Lloyd Wright designed it in 1928. It is a City Historic-Cultural Monument, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy page on the house. Lloyd Wright also appears on the survey's list of architects who worked in Laughlin Park. One architect ties the two neighborhoods together.

The second is a group the survey calls the Upper Oaks Period Revival Residential Historic District. It covers 76 properties, and 67 of them are contributors. Its period of significance runs from 1926 to 1948. Local architect Arthur W. Hawes developed house plans for the Canyon Drive Park tract within it. The survey found the group eligible. That is not the same as a formal designation.

This article explains how the City's survey works. It is not legal advice. Before you plan changes to a home in either neighborhood, talk with your attorney and the City about what applies to that property.

Laughlin Park sits on a gentle foothill slope. Its streets are private, with concrete sidewalks and a curving street pattern behind the gates.

The Oaks sits on the slope just below Griffith Park. The survey notes that its homes occupy sloping sites with city and canyon views. Its streets are public, with one gated pocket. Briarcliff Manor, also known as the McCray-Thorkildsen Estate, stands at 5750 Valley Oak Drive. It was built in 1911 and now sits within a gated residential community.

Griffith Park frames The Oaks on two sides. The park forms its northern edge, and Fern Dell sits at its eastern edge. Laughlin Park sits south of the park, between Los Feliz Boulevard and Franklin Avenue.

If you are also weighing a third hillside, our comparison of The Oaks and Franklin Hills is a good next read. For the hillside above Los Feliz Boulevard, see how Laughlin Park compares with the Los Feliz Hills. Los Feliz Hills is this site's name for that hillside. The City's survey calls its heart the Los Feliz Heights Residential Historic District.

Laughlin Park fits a search where privacy behind a gate comes first. It also fits a search for 1920s and 1930s homes on larger lots with a gentle slope and a garden setting. See buying a home in Laughlin Park for how we approach that search.

The Oaks fits a search where views and a hillside setting close to Griffith Park matter most. It also fits a buyer who wants to choose between Period Revival and Modern design in one neighborhood. See buying a home in The Oaks for the details.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216). We help buyers compare these two neighborhoods on the ground, one street at a time. Our guide to buying a luxury home in Los Feliz explains how we set up those tours.

Here is the order we use when a buyer is choosing between these two neighborhoods.

1. Rank gate against view. Decide whether private, gated streets or a hillside view comes first. That one answer narrows the search fast.
2. Pick the era you want. Laughlin Park was built primarily in the 1920s and 1930s. The Oaks offers both 1920s Period Revival and 1950s to 1960s Modern homes.
3. Check the address against the edges. Confirm a listing sits inside the boundaries described above. In The Oaks that means both sides of Canyon Drive to Fern Dell Drive.
4. Read the City survey pages. The SurveyLA report covers both neighborhoods. It tells you the styles, the eras and any historic status the City found.
5. Arrange access to Laughlin Park. Its streets sit behind five gates. Plan the visit ahead so you can see the homes and streets up close.
6. Tour one home in each on the same afternoon. The two neighborhoods are a few minutes apart. Seeing them back to back makes the difference in slope and setting clear.
7. Walk the lot, not just the house. Stand where you would spend your mornings. Note the slope, the view and the garden.

Our full buying process follows Rooster's 5-Step Approach to Homeownership. The steps are Meet and Understand. Then we Explain the market, Walk the whole process and Connect. The pace adjusts to your timeline.

The steps below keep a comparison accurate.

• Tour Laughlin Park in person. The City could not see these homes from a public street. Photos and street views tell you less here than in The Oaks.
• Remember The Oaks has a gate too. Briarcliff Manor on Valley Oak Drive sits within a gated residential community. Ask which part of The Oaks a listing is in.
• Read historic status precisely. Laughlin Park is not a designated historic district. The Upper Oaks group was found eligible by the survey, which is different from a formal designation. The Samuel-Novarro House is a City Historic-Cultural Monument.
• Ask for records behind an architect credit. The survey names master architects in Laughlin Park without tying them to specific houses.
• Match the zip to the neighborhood. Laughlin Park Drive uses 90027. The Oaks uses 90068. A search filtered by one zip will miss the other.

Here are three hypothetical examples. None describes a real client.

A buyer who wants a 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival home behind a gate. Laughlin Park is the first stop. The survey lists Spanish Colonial Revival among its styles, and its streets are private. We would arrange access and tour several streets inside the gates.

A buyer who wants a postwar Modern home with a canyon view. The Oaks is the first stop. Its second building wave in the 1950s and 1960s brought Modern homes to sloping sites with city and canyon views.

A buyer relocating from out of state who cannot tour often. We would line up one home in each neighborhood for a single afternoon. The buyer sees the gate and the gentle slope in Laughlin Park, then the hillside and the views in The Oaks. One visit settles the question before any offer.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216). Brandon has been licensed since 2015, and Brandon holds the ABR (Accredited Buyer's Representative) designation. Our buyer work is education-first, with no pressure.

We will line up homes in both neighborhoods and walk them with you. You will see how each one sits on its street and its slope. Our step-by-step buying process shows how we move from the first tour to the keys.

Talk with Rooster Homes about touring The Oaks and Laughlin Park, and let us know what works best for you. We will coordinate our schedule around yours.