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By
Mary Lou Crockett
Barley, beans, pigs, cattle and sheep were major commodities
in our chamber service area during the late 19th century.
By the early 20th century, railway and streetcar systems
connected the coast along Playa del Rey and the vast
land of Southern California to the east. Tourism
and recreation brought many people to Playa del Rey
and to what became known as Westchester, decades before
World War II.
The decade of the 1920's was one that defined Los Angeles
as a city where Hollywood movies and aviation were well
established. Air races had already taken place
on one of the Bennett ranches at Aviation Blvd.
and Imperial Highway in the early 1920's.
The Bennett brothers, Frank, Andrew and Tom, each owned
ranches within the land that is now Los Angeles International
Airport. Andrew Bennett, whose ranch home was
located near Lincoln and Sepulveda, leased the first
640 acres to the City of Los Angeles in 1928.
By 1928 the race was on to select "the site"
for the City of Los Angeles, to establish a municipal
airport. Eighteen sites were considered by the
Los Angeles City Council. The one selected (first
known as the "Inglewood Site," soon to be
called Mines Field) was named after the real estate
agent who handled the presentation to the City Council.
World attention focused on the city's new airport in
1928-30, when it played host to the National Air Races
and Aeronautical Exposition and a visit by the Graf
Zeppelin. Even Charles A. Lindbergh paid
a visit to Los Angeles during this period. Early
photos show thousands of automobiles parked on the vast
fields adjacent to the fast growing, world aviation
center.
The voters of Los Angeles had turned down a bond issue
to purchase the first 640 acres of the Bennett ranch
land. So the City Council passed an ordinance
authorizing an agreement to lease the land. On
September 26, 1928, the city entered into a 10 year
lease with an option to buy and the blueprint for community
development was set.
Fritz B. Burns was one of the visionaries that
developed Playa del Rey in the early part of this century.
Harry Culver provided the 100 acres on the Westchester
Bluff area which provided a new home for Loyola University.
By 1939 there were 17 houses built near Loyola.
These Spanish style homes were the first homes built
in Westchester. Mr. Burns had already subdivided
Playa del Rey and was promoting this beautiful place
by the sea.
Although the stock market crash of 1929 ushered in the
great depression, official dedication of Los Angeles
Municipal Airport took place on June 7, 1930 along with
a renegotiated 50 years' lease extension. During
this decade many parallel world events were taking place
that would frame the birth of Westchester as a "model
residential community."
In 1934, J.H. "Dutch" Kindelberger,
pioneer aircraft designer and production genius, brought
North American's east coast operation to a 20 acre site
at Mines Field on Aviation Blvd. and Imperial
highway. The ripe farmland of the Bennett brothers
was becoming the manufacturing home for Douglas Aircraft
Co., Northrop Corp., and related industries such as
Airesearch Manufacturing which was located just north
of Century and Sepulveda Blvds.
This unprecedented defense-related manufacturing, in
full force in several spots throughout the United States,
became the necessary foundation for home builders to
experiment with the constructing of communities for
"balanced living." This job related foundation
helped shape America's landscape. Westchester
was recently chosen by the National Building Museum
as one of three communities on exhibit as communities
developed as a result of World War II and the American
Dream.
Home builders such as Silas Nowell, Bert Farrar, Frank
Ayers, Fred W. Marlow and Fritz B. Burns
converged upon Westchester and built 3232 homes by 1943.
The 3,000 acre community had been master planned by
Security Bank. The bankers and the builders knew
how to get the financing and produce housing for the
defense workers.
By the early 1940's, Howard Hughes was building the
Spruce Goose and manufacturing war related aircraft
and components at the northern boundary of our chamber
service area at Jefferson and Sepulveda Blvds.
These 1,000 acres has provided hundreds of thousands
of jobs. In July of 1941, Los Angeles Municipal
Airport became known as Los Angeles Airport.
A combination of the best minds in the world designing
and building aircraft and a world war with high demand
for aircraft, attracted what became the "people"
who made up the fabric of the Westchester community.
The Physical and social planning for Westchester intertwined
with an emphasis on neighborhood consciousness and a
sense of belonging, became the underpinnings of a thriving
community that has endured the unprecedented growth
of an airport leading into the 21st century as a world
class aviation center.
On May 19, 1950, the City Council designated Los Angeles
Airport as Los Angeles International (LAX). Westchester's
Central Business District, located between Sepulveda
Blvd. and 92nd Street, was "master planned"
by Security Bank to keep up with the needed services
of the "people" who came to live in the homes
and work at the jobs. Ella L. Drollinger,
the mother of Howard B. Drollinger, was one of
the pioneer developers of the commercial real estate
in Westchester. Since then, the H.B. Drollinger
Co., under the direction of Howard Drollinger, has persevered
in meeting the commercial needs of the "people"
that live, work and play in our chamber service area.
The Westchester Business Community is well positioned
to move into the 21st Century, providing the necessary
services to the community. Even though the challenges
of the next century may seem formidable, when viewed
from the perspective of a century of development of
transportation, housing, jobs and technology, the future
seems bright.
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Westchester
History 