Exploring L.A.'s canyon neighborhoods - Los Angeles, California canyon tourist spots

Sunset, March, 1995 by Matthew Jaffe

THEY CLIMB AND CLING AND cantilever. While the rest of Los Angeles sprawls across vast plains in a ceometric grid, the city's canyon neighborhoods hug hillsides, creeping up, not out. Stairways to cliffside homes ascend from side streets that squiggle and dip with the slopes. A single main route is the sole connection to the nearby yet seemingly distant city.

Not only do the Santa Monica Mountains create the distinct metropolitan regions of the San Fernando Valley and the Los Angeles Basin, but the range itself makes up an urban district of its own. Within the range's folds and gaps. neighborhoods unlike any others in the region--and quite distinct from one another--provide some of L.A.'s best living.

"Along with living at the beach, living in the canyons is one of the most recognizable ways of living in Los Angeles," says Jeffrey Chusid, adjunct associate professor of architecture at the University of Southern California. "The topography creates independent little worlds. When people say which canyon they live in, you know exactly what kind of lifestyle they have."

Even though they are some of the most geographically central neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Beachwood Canyon, Laurel Canyon, and Beverly Glen are easily overlooked by outsiders. Many people use Laurel Canyon and Beverly Glen boulevards as freeway alternatives between the Valley and the Westside, while Beachwood Canyon is a cul-de-sac.

If you don't know what to look for, you can easily miss the public places in these otherwise private canyons. Here's a quick guide to what makes L.A.'s canyon neighborhoods special: good restaurants, unique outdoor experiences, and hidden surprises.

BEACHWOOD CANYON: STILL IN VOGUE

The atmosphere of old Hollywood dominates Beachwood Canyon, just as the Hollywood sign dominates its hills. The sign originally read "Hollywoodland," to promote a development opened in Beachwood Canyon in 1923, and much of the community, including the stone gateway and guard tower, survives.

Humphrey Bogart once lived here; today Madonna gives the canyon its star power. She lives in the landmark Castillo del Lago, the house with the red-and-yellow striped tower to the left of and below the sign. The paint job is in marked contrast to the rest of the community, a melange of Hollywood stage-set architecture. You might say the neighborhood itself is a star, having been the site of many movies, most notably the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

One of the main community gathering points is the Village Coffee Shop (2695 N. Beachwood Drive; 213/467-5398), a rustic and sometimes crowded spot (closed Sundays) with good omelets and the best chocolate shake in the city, according to Robert John Pierson, a writer and director of the urban studies program at USC's school of public administration. Pierson guides occasional 3-hour walks ($10) in the neighborhood; for information, call the Neighborhood Place Project at 650-7011.

The cafe is part of Beachwood Canyon's small commercial district. Typical of L.A.'s canyon neighborhoods, a bulletin board and a food market help anchor the community. The Beachwood Market is notable for its distinctive glass front, designed by the late, great architect John Lautner. The commercial area also includes the Missouri Trader (2699 N. Beachwood; 465-4066), a small gift shop. Here you can bone up on neighborhood history by picking up a copy of The Story of Hollywoodland, by Greg Williams (Papavasilopoulos Press, 1992; $15.95).

Though Beachwood Canyon is the most urbanized of the three canyons, it maintains a natural feel. One of the best ways to see and get into the surrounding hills is on a trail ride at Sunset Ranch (3400 N. Beachwood; 469-5450), the descendant of the development's original stables. Horseback rides cost $15 an hour, and organized trips are available.

Beachwood Canyon may be better known for its bohemian ways than its spirituality, but for nearly 70 years the Monastery of the Angels (1977 Carmen Avenue; 466-2186) has operated in the lower reaches of the neighborhood. Twenty-five cloistered Dominican nuns live here, and they operate a small gift shop (closed Sundays) that sells the nuns' own hand-dipped chocolates and their renowned pumpkin bread. The monastery gift shop also sells paintings by Sister Mary Michael, whose works are surprisingly reminiscent of 1960s psychedelic light shows.

Beachwood Canyon is east of U.S. Highway 101. The gates are about 1 mile north of Franklin Street.

LAUREL CANYON: COYOTES AND CAIOTI

Laurel Canyon gained its greatest fame in the 1960s as a countercultural enclave. When Joni Mitchell sang about "the ladies of the canyon," she was referring to Laurel Canyon. Jim Morrison lived behind the 1919 Canyon Country Store, whose Sister Mary Michael-style painted sign indicates that the area hasn't completely lost its Haight-on-the-Hill ways.

Laurel Canyon's history encompasses much more than the 1960s, though. Legendary outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez roamed the canyon in the mid-1800s. According to Laurie Jacobson and Marc Wanamaker, co-authors of Hollywood Haunted, he killed two men at a spot that later became part of the canyon's original development, Bungalow Land. A bungalow built on the actual site of the murders is said to be haunted. Easier to verify is the fact that the nation's first trackless trolley served residents of Bungalow Land and guests at a 24-room canyon hotel until around 1918.