Defining the Westside

Let's take a quick gander at our geography.  What exactly are the alleged 23 neighborhoods of the so-called Westside?  Who came up with this stuff?  Why bother?


My "definition" actually comes from part of a laborious project undertaken by the LA Times called Mapping LA.  In early 2009, the Times' Data Desk - comprised of reporters and web developers - gave birth to the first draft, which was limited to neighborhoods only within the city of Los Angeles and based on census tracts, but tweaked to reflect the character of each community.  Once released, readers were invited to contribute their thoughts or objections, and submit their own revised maps.  What resulted in June of that year was a map of 114 city neighborhoods.


The following summer, the Times expanded the project to include all of Los Angeles County - everything from cities to unincorporated areas - which ended up totaling in 272 neighborhoods.  The motive behind this operation was to facilitate consistency in reporting; when an article says that an event took place in Sawtelle, a reader can find out exactly what that means.  Plans are also in the works to subdivide cities like Santa Monica and Pasadena into actual neighborhoods.


The Westside rounds out (roughly) as follows: 

• Beverly Hills, Pico-Robertson, Beverlywood, Palms, Culver City and Ladera Heights to the east; 
• Playa and Marina del Rey to the south; 
• Venice, Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades to the west; 
• Brentwood, Bel Air and Beverly Crest to the north;
• Nestled in between: Westwood, Century City, Cheviot Hills, West Los Angeles, Rancho Park, Mar Vista, Del Rey, Sawtelle and the Veterans Administration.

Take a closer look at their interactive map here!