Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California
Encyclopedia
Playa Vista is a neighborhood located located on 1087 acres (4 km²) in the northern section of Westchester
Westchester, Los Angeles, California
Westchester is a suburban neighborhood in western Los Angeles, California, United States. It is home to Los Angeles International Airport , Loyola Marymount University , and Otis College of Art and Design.-Geography:...

 in the western area of Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, north of LAX. It is part of the Westside
West Los Angeles (region)
The Los Angeles Westside is an urban region in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. It has no official definition, but, according to the Los Angeles Times, it comprises , encompassing 18 districts in the city of Los Angeles and two unincorporated neighborhoods, plus the cities of...

 and has its own ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

: 90094.

Location

The boundaries of the currently developed portion are approximately Lincoln Boulevard and the Ballona Wetlands
Ballona Wetlands
The Ballona Wetlands are located in Southern California, USA south of Marina del Rey and east of Playa del Rey. The wetlands once included the areas now taken up by Marina del Rey, Venice, and Playa Vista, extending north to about present-day Washington Blvd...

 on the west, Ballona Creek
Ballona Creek
Ballona Creek is an waterway in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, whose watershed drains the Los Angeles basin, from the Santa Monica Mountains on the north, the Harbor Freeway on the east, and the Baldwin Hills on the south...

 on the north, Dawn Creek Drive on the east, and the Del Rey Hills bluffs (Westchester Bluffs) on the south. Playa Vista is bordered by the unincorporated enclave of Marina Del Rey
Marina del Rey, California
-Demographics:-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Marina del Rey had a population of 8,866. The population density was 6,094.6 people per square mile...

 to the northwest, by the community of Playa del Rey to the southwest, by Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University is a comprehensive co-educational private Roman Catholic university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions located in Los Angeles, California, United States...

 and the upland part of Westchester
Westchester, Los Angeles, California
Westchester is a suburban neighborhood in western Los Angeles, California, United States. It is home to Los Angeles International Airport , Loyola Marymount University , and Otis College of Art and Design.-Geography:...

 to the southwest, south, east and southeast, and by the Del Rey
Del Rey, Los Angeles, California
Del Rey is a small district in the Westside of Los Angeles.-Geography and Transportation:Del Rey takes its name from the nearby Del Rey salt marshes, and sits on low ground on the banks of Ballona Creek...

 district to the northwest.

City

  • The Los Angeles Police Department
    Los Angeles Police Department
    The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...

     operates the Pacific Community Police Station at 12312 Culver Boulevard, 90066, serving the neighborhood.
  • The Los Angeles Public Library
    Los Angeles Public Library
    The Los Angeles Public Library system serves the residents of Los Angeles, California, United States. With over 6 million volumes, LAPL is one of the largest publicly funded library systems in the world. The system is overseen by a Board of Library Commissioners with five members appointed by the...

     operates the new Playa Vista Branch Library with a community meeting room.

Parks

  • Parks: Neighborhood parks, sports fields, and regional hiking parks, are in and adjacent to Playa Vista.
  • Playa Vista Dog Park
  • Playa Vista Sports Park
  • Fountain Park At Playa Vista
  • Central Park
  • Ballona Creek bicycle path
    Ballona Creek bicycle path
    The Ballona Creek bicycle path is a six-mile stretch of Class 1 bicycle path in Los Angeles that parallels Ballona Creek for its entire length. It starts where Jefferson Boulevard veers south to spawn National Boulevard in Culver City, passes through Del Rey and Playa Vista, and ending joining The...


Chess Park
Crescent Park
Long wood Dog Park
Spyglass Park

Other

  • In the 'Campus' area, the Los Angeles Clippers
    Los Angeles Clippers
    The Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...

    , a professional basketball team, have built a new training facility for its players. Some Clippers players live in or near Playa Vista.

Tongva Native Americans

The Tongva Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 once inhabited the location now occupied by Playa Vista. There was a Tongvan sacred burial site located here: "about 1,000 Native American remains [...] had been exhumed during construction," grave sites that were deemed sacred by the Tongva people. The remains were discovered after construction had begun. In 2008, the remains "were laid to rest and covered with white seashells during a sacred burial ceremony near the Westchester bluffs." In addition, "Playa Vista plans to complete a museum dubbed the Discovery Center to educate people about the Ballona wetlands and the Gabrieliño-Tongva tribe. It is expected to be completed at the end of next year."

Howard Hughes - Spruce Goose

In the 1940s
1940s
File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events which happened during World War II : From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching "Omaha" Beach on "D-Day"; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurred during the war as Nazi Germany...

, the aviator Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

 bought the site and constructed a private airfield
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 runway
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...

, named Hughes Airport, and an aircraft factory with large hangar
Hangar
A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...

s for his Hughes Aircraft Company production. The famous Spruce Goose
Hughes H-4 Hercules
The Hughes H-4 Hercules is a prototype heavy transport aircraft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft company. The aircraft made its only flight on November 2, 1947 and the project was never advanced beyond the single example produced...

 (Hughes H-4 Hercules plane), with the largest wingspan and height of any aircraft in history, was built in and stored in a climate-controlled hangar here until after Hughes' death in 1976. The hangar will be preserved as a structure eligible for landmark listing in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.

Prior efforts

During the late 1990s, DreamWorks
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...

 failed in its attempt to build a studio in Playa Vista. Later, movies such as Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...

, Men in Black
Men in Black (film)
Men in Black is a 1997 science fiction comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith and Vincent D'Onofrio. The film was based on the Men in Black comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, originally published by Marvel Comics. The film featured the creature effects...

, and Independence Day
Independence Day (film)
Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...

were filmed on the site.

New project

Phase One of Playa Vista began in 2001 as "a mix of affordable and luxury housing, office and commercial space and open spaces and recreational amenities, all set next to a restored wetlands and wildlife preserve." In October, Steve Soboroff
Steve Soboroff
Steve Soboroff is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Weingart Foundation and past Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Playa Vista...

 was named president of Playa Vista.

It was one of "six communities in the nation selected by President Bill Clinton
Presidency of Bill Clinton
The United States Presidency of Bill Clinton, also known as the Clinton Administration, was the executive branch of the federal government of the United States from January 20, 1993 to January 20, 2001. Clinton was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second full term...

 in 1998 as a National Pilot Project of the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing
Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing
Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing is a "public/private sector initiative." The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development is responsible for its management. Its activities are coordinated by HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research...

 (PATH)." As such it is, "one of the most technologically advanced communities ever planned" and is "fully connected via telecommunications and broadband capabilities."

Environment

It was also constructed as, "a model for green development [using] energy saving systems, non-toxic and recycled materials, product selections and design techniques that promote conservation [thus] minimizing the impacts of development on the environment." However, some environmentalists and residents in the nearby communities of Mar Vista
Mar Vista, Los Angeles, California
Mar Vista is a district on the West Side of Los Angeles, California.-Geography and transportation:Mar Vista is near the center of LA's West Side. The city of Santa Monica lies to the northwest, West Los Angeles to the north, Palms to the northeast, Culver City to the east, Del Rey to the southwest,...

, Westchester, and Venice
Venice, Los Angeles, California
Venice is a beachfront district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is known for its canals, beaches and circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, artists, and vendors...

 oppose the development arguing that it will increase traffic congestion
Traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction...

 throughout the Los Angeles Westside. Beginning in 1994, developers and some environmentalists worked together to restore the Ballona Wetlands
Ballona Wetlands
The Ballona Wetlands are located in Southern California, USA south of Marina del Rey and east of Playa del Rey. The wetlands once included the areas now taken up by Marina del Rey, Venice, and Playa Vista, extending north to about present-day Washington Blvd...

. Other environmentalists, however, oppose development in the wetlands.

Methane

A controversy surrounding Methane
Methane
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...

 at Playa Vista developed around 2000. On April 17, 2000 Exploration Technologies Inc. (ETI), "found methane seeps much larger than any previously reported, one about 1,000 feet long, and a second slightly smaller, in the area east of Lincoln Boulevard and south of Jefferson Boulevard." The City Council then asked Playa Vista to conduct more studies with ETI as a peer reviewer. This study found that ETI's original hypothesis was incorrect, and stated that a fault zone did not exist under Lincoln. The study further showed that gas seepage from the SoCal gas storage facility was not occurring. The report concluded that "no significant fault is possible under the entire Playa Vista development project site."
name=howmuch/> In 2002, the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) required the installation of gas mitigation systems at Playa Vista, consisting of a membrane shield under the buildings, vents, and a series of alarms.

According to officials at the L.A. Department of Building and Safety, "Methane is an old story in Los Angeles and the standards the city requires at Playa Vista are the strictest in the country. Hence, Playa residents we spoke to cited areas where the gas has not been mitigated - such as Venice
Venice, Los Angeles, California
Venice is a beachfront district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is known for its canals, beaches and circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, artists, and vendors...

, Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...

, and nearly all of the Westside - as more dangerous." Many also argue that "much of the methane is natural - not the kind that comes from the gas company."

The Los Angeles City Council has consistently voted in favor of the developers of the project. The development has a government-mandated blend of high- and low-income housing (less than 10%). According to the Los Angeles Times, "[o]ver the last decade, government agencies and courts have ruled repeatedly in Playa Vista's favor [...] Engineers, builders and consultants for the project have joined the city of Los Angeles in saying the safety measures are the most elaborate the city has ever required."

Economy

Commercial activity within Playa Vista:
  • Electronic Arts
    Electronic Arts
    Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...

     - developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games.
  • Belkin
    Belkin
    Belkin International, Inc., is a Californian manufacturer of computer hardware that specializes in connectivity devices, headquartered in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California...

    , since February 2010, has its corporate headquarters in Playa Vista.


Area Businesses:
  • TBWA\Chiat\Day, the Los Angeles office of TBWA Worldwide
    TBWA
    TBWA Worldwide is an international advertising agency whose headquarters are in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The Agency is a unit of Omnicom Group, the world's largest advertising agency holding company. It was founded in 1970 in Paris, France, by William G...

    , rents a 103,000 square foot building in Playa Vista.

  • Deutsch Inc.
    Deutsch Inc.
    Deutsch Inc. is a notable American advertising agency.Founded in 1969 as David Deutsch Associates, Inc., in 1989 the founder's son Donny Deutsch took over the agency and led it through a period of growth and creative accolades, including:...

     - Los Angeles office of Deutsch Inc., a global creative ad agency.
  • The Argonaut, a small area newspaper.
  • Gehry Partners, LLP, the architectural firm of Frank Gehry.


Other related activitiy:
  • The Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT)
    Institute for Creative Technologies
    The Institute for Creative Technologies is a research institute of the University of Southern California located in Playa Vista, California. ICT was established in 1999 with funding from the US Army...

    , a research institute of the University of Southern California (USC)
    University of Southern California
    The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

    is located in Playa Vista. Established in 1999, the ICT combines the assets of a major research university with the creative resources of Hollywood and the game industry to advance the state-of-the-art in training and simulation.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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