The Oaks vs. the Los Feliz Hills: Comparing Two Hillsides Below Griffith Park

The Oaks vs. the Los Feliz Hills comes down to era, architecture and setting. Both hillsides rise to Griffith Park. The Oaks was subdivided between 1922 and 1924 and built in two waves, prewar Period Revival and postwar Modern. The heart of the Los Feliz Hills was subdivided in 1921 and built lot by lot below the Griffith Observatory. Its homes lean toward American Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Mediterranean and Tudor Revival styles.

At Rooster Homes, we walk buyers through this comparison street by street. Every fact below comes from City records and public sources, linked the first time we use them.

Los Feliz Hills is the name this site uses for the hillside above Los Feliz Boulevard. It is a market name, not an official one. The City's SurveyLA report on Hollywood calls the heart of it the Los Feliz Heights Residential Historic District.

The survey draws that district this way:

• Nottingham Avenue on the west
• Vermont Avenue on the east
• Los Feliz Boulevard on the south
• The edge of Griffith Park on the north

The district sits on a south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood. Streets with addresses in the survey's property list include:

• Glendower Avenue and Glendower Place
• Cromwell Avenue and Bonvue Avenue
• Chislehurst Drive and Edgemont Street
• Glencairn Road and Cockerham Drive
• Catalina Street and Nottingham Avenue

Streets east of Vermont Avenue, such as Dundee Drive and Aberdeen Avenue, fall outside the survey's district lines. No City district name covers them. They still hold several landmark houses, covered below.

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 neighborhood takes its name from its streets. The City's survey points to Valley Oak, Live Oak and Canyon Oak. Fern Dell, part of Griffith Park, sits at its eastern edge.

For search alerts, keep the zip code in mind. The Los Angeles Conservancy lists a Valley Oak Drive landmark at 90068, the zip for The Oaks. Both neighborhoods share Griffith Park as a northern edge. The Oaks stops at Foothill Drive on the south. The Los Feliz Heights district stops at Los Feliz Boulevard.

According to the City's survey, The Oaks was subdivided into several tracts between 1922 and 1924. Building began in the 1920s. A second wave followed in the 1950s and 1960s.

Those two waves give The Oaks its mix. The survey describes prewar Period Revival homes alongside postwar Modern homes. The homes occupy sloping sites with city and canyon views.

The upper streets have an identity of their own. The survey identifies an Upper Oaks Period Revival Residential Historic District of 76 properties, with 67 contributors. Its period of significance runs from 1926 to 1948. Local architect Arthur W. Hawes developed house plans for the Canyon Drive Park tract. The district is eligible according to the survey. It is not a formal designation.

The heart of the Los Feliz Hills was subdivided in 1921. The survey names three tracts (3733, 5337 and 4441) and three land developers: C.F. Cook, F.E. Woodley and William F. Thompson.

The hillside was developed lot by lot, with each owner hiring an architect to design a house for that specific site. Early advertising sold the hillside setting and the panoramic city views. It also promised easy access to Hollywood or downtown.

The survey counts 317 properties in the district. Of those, 232 are contributors, about 73 percent. The period of significance runs from 1920 to 1949.

The boulevard at the foot of the hill changed in the same years. The survey records that Los Feliz Boulevard was widened in 1927. The widening created a major route between Hollywood and Glendale.

One landmark in The Oaks is the Samuel-Novarro House at 5609 Valley Oak Drive. Lloyd Wright designed it in 1928. The Los Angeles Conservancy notes that it is a City Historic-Cultural Monument.

The Upper Oaks streets add a group of Period Revival homes from 1926 to 1948. Postwar Modern homes from the second building wave share the same hillside.

The Oaks also has one gated pocket. Briarcliff Manor, the McCray-Thorkildsen Estate at 5750 Valley Oak Drive, was built in 1911. The survey notes that it now sits within a gated residential community.

The survey describes American Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Mediterranean and Tudor Revival homes in the district. It also names architects whose work appears there. It does not tie them to specific houses.

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

Glendower Avenue carries a cluster of City landmarks. Per the City's Historic-Cultural Monument list:

• Ennis-Brown House, 2607 Glendower Avenue: HCM #149, adopted in 1976
• Wirin House, 2622 Glendower Avenue: HCM #812, adopted in 2005
• Hlaffer-Courcier Residence, 2574 Glendower Avenue: HCM #1069, adopted in 2014

The City's SurveyLA individual resources report calls the Hlaffer-Courcier Residence an excellent example of Storybook design. It dates the house to 1924. The same report lists the Skolnik House at 2567 Glendower Avenue, a 1951 design by R.M. Schindler.

The Ennis House, listed by the City as the Ennis-Brown House, is a Frank Lloyd Wright design. The Los Angeles Conservancy explains that it was built from more than 27,000 concrete blocks. Each block was made by hand using decomposed granite taken from the site. The Conservancy dates the house to 1924 through 1926.

Cromwell Avenue has two more monuments. The Blackburn Residence at 4791 Cromwell Avenue is HCM #913, adopted in 2008. The Welfer Residence at 4784 West Cromwell Avenue is HCM #1117.

East of Vermont Avenue, outside the district lines, Dundee Drive holds more landmarks. The Lovell House at 4616 Dundee Drive is HCM #123, adopted in 1974. The survey also lists a 1928 Spanish Colonial Revival house by Paul R. Williams at 4100 West Dundee Drive.

Both neighborhoods touch Griffith Park. The park forms the northern edge of The Oaks and of the Los Feliz Heights district. The City adopted Griffith Park as Historic-Cultural Monument #942 in 2009.

According to Griffith Observatory, the park began with a donation of 3,015 acres. The date was December 16, 1896.

In the Los Feliz Hills, the Observatory is the landmark overhead. The survey says the district sits in its shadow. The Observatory opened on May 14, 1935. Architects John C. Austin and Frederick M. Ashley designed it. The City lists it as HCM #168 at 2500 East Observatory Road.

In The Oaks, Fern Dell is the landmark next door. It sits at the eastern edge of the neighborhood, and the City lists the Fern Dell area as HCM #112. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County notes that its greenery was planted in the early 1910s. The Civilian Conservation Corps built its trails and bridges in the 1930s.

Inside the park, Dante's View at 2801 North Vermont Canyon is also a City monument. It became HCM #1091 in 2015.

In the Los Feliz Hills, the survey describes a curving street pattern that follows the natural contours of the Hollywood foothills. It notes concrete sidewalks without parkways and mature cedar and carob trees. Period street lights are part of the setting. Some lots enjoy expansive city views.

The district also holds several public stairways. The City lists the Los Feliz Heights Steps as HCM #657, adopted in 1998. The listing names streets including Cromwell Avenue, Bonvue Avenue and Glencairn Road. The City's Hollywood survey report dates the steps to 1924.

Los Feliz Boulevard at the foot of the hill has its own monument. The Cedar Trees along the boulevard between Riverside Drive and Western Avenue became HCM #67 in 1970. On Vermont Avenue north of Los Feliz Boulevard, the Moreton Bay fig trees are HCM #940.

In The Oaks, the street names carry the story. Valley Oak, Live Oak and Canyon Oak run across a sloping hillside. Canyon Drive forms the western edge. Briarcliff Manor is the one gated pocket, and the rest of the neighborhood is on public streets.

• A 1920s house designed for its own lot: the Los Feliz Hills, where owners hired their own architects lot by lot.
• Period Revival or postwar Modern on a park-edge slope: The Oaks, with its two building waves.
• The Observatory on the hill above: the Los Feliz Hills, on the slope below it.
• Fern Dell next door: The Oaks, with Fern Dell at its eastern edge.
• A City landmark house: both. Valley Oak Drive and Glendower Avenue each hold one.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216). We help buyers compare these hillsides using the City's own records. Our guide to buying a home in The Oaks and our guide to buying a home in the Los Feliz Hills go deeper on each one.

Still weighing other neighborhoods? We also compare The Oaks and gated Laughlin Park and The Oaks and Franklin Hills.

1. Name the era and style you want. Period Revival and postwar Modern point toward The Oaks. Colonial, Spanish, Mediterranean and Tudor Revival homes of the 1920s point toward the Los Feliz Hills.
2. Map the edges. Use the neighborhood association's lines for The Oaks. Use the survey's Nottingham-to-Vermont lines for the Los Feliz Heights district.
3. Set alerts by street as well as zip. The Oaks uses 90068. For the Los Feliz Hills, list the streets you want by name.
4. Look up any house you love. Check the City's Historic-Cultural Monument list and the SurveyLA reports linked above.
5. Tour both on the same afternoon. Start on the Oak streets near Fern Dell, then drive to Glendower Avenue below the Observatory.
6. Bring it together with a plan. Our buying process walks through each step from preparation to closing.

This article explains how the process works. It is not legal advice. For questions about a landmark property, talk with your attorney as well.

• Search by boundary lines. A zip code alone can pull in homes outside the neighborhood you want. Use the street edges above.
• Use the City's name in City records. Search for Los Feliz Heights when you look up the hillside in SurveyLA.
• Read a survey finding for what it is. The Upper Oaks district is eligible according to the survey. Confirm the current status of any district or house with the City.
• Study the lot as closely as the house. Both neighborhoods sit on slopes. Walk the site and see how the house meets the hill.
• Judge each house on its own design. In a lot-by-lot neighborhood, each home was drawn for its own site. Tour each one as its own design.

Here are three hypothetical examples, meant to show how the choice plays out. They are not stories about real clients.

A buyer who wants a 1920s Spanish Colonial home with a city view. This search points to the Los Feliz Hills. We would start on Glendower Avenue and Cromwell Avenue, then check each house against the City's records.

A buyer who wants a postwar Modern home near Fern Dell. This search points to The Oaks. We would tour the Oak streets first, then compare one Period Revival home on the upper streets for contrast.

A buyer relocating from out of state who likes both. We would narrow the search from a distance using the edges and landmark lists above. Then we would plan one visit that covers both hillsides in a single afternoon.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216). Our buyer approach has five steps:

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

We keep it education-first and set the pace around relocation timelines.

Our guide to buying a luxury home in Los Feliz covers how we prepare. Our buying process shows each step.

When you are ready to tour, contact Rooster Homes and let us know what works best for you. We will coordinate our schedule around yours.