Palisades Riviera

Basking on mesas above the famed Riviera Country Club, is a neighborhood of homes with gracious lot sizes, deep setbacks, wide streets, and underground utilities (for the most part). Some of the homes command outstanding views of ocean, coastal canyons and the Riviera golf course. Its mild coastal climate and beach proximity has attracted the wealthy and famous for over 80 years.

The Riviera and the California Riviera tracts were developed by different developers who obviously shared a vision. A few excellent, in-depth historical and pictorial narratives have been written about the provenance of the Palisades Riviera, and its Los Angeles Athletic Club heritage. Betty Lou Young and Thomas R. Young researched and collaborated on Our First Century (The Los Angeles Athletic Club 1880-1980), the now out-of-print Rustic Canyon, and Santa Monica Canyon, A Walk Through History. Geoff Shackelford's The Riviera Country Club (A Definitive History) should be in anyone's library who is a member or who has enjoyed the 1926-era Mediterranean style country club and golf course (the setting for Tracy-Hepburn classic, Pat and Mike). "The resulting Riviera tract was to be an exclusive community of gentlemen's estates -- a zone of gracious home life and refinement, insulated against the ugliness of the commercial world and drawing inspiration from the old world homes and estates of Europe."

Initially, the Mediterranean Villa-style of architecture predominated. In the late 1930's and early 1940's, famed architects such as Paul Williams, FAIA, and Gerard Colcord designed classic east coast Traditional and Colonial homes for clients (such as Marion Davies). Post WW II, two-story Traditional architecture gave way to one-story Ranch-style homes such as a secluded property on upper San Remo once owned by Gregory Peck, the romantic shingle-shake farmhouse-style design of Robert Byrd on Spoleto Drive, and the 1950's era GE-built mid-century modern designed for Ronald and Nancy Reagan on San Onofre Drive. The Reagans lived there from the 1950's until he was elected President.

In the late 1980's the face of the Riviera began a change dramatically, and continues to do so. Many single-level ranches and mid-century contemporary-style homes have been razed. Taking advantage of the generous-sized lots, the average size of a new home is about 8,000-10,000 Square Feet. Currently (mid-2009), these gracious Mediterraneans, East Hampton-style 3-level homes have screening rooms, wine cellars and swimming pools. Both the California Riviera and Riviera tracts have strict guidelines on setbacks sideyards, height, etc. Any exterior remodeling and new construction must have the approval of the architectural review committee.

Sullivan Canyon:
Adjacent to and just east of the Palisades Riviera in Brentwood 90049, designer Cliff May developed an equestrian community known as Sullivan Canyon. His signature one-story ranch-style homes with walls of glass, rustic fireplaces and hand-hewn beams dominate the area to this day. In 2002, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw graciously donated $12Mil to purchase land that had been used for decades as riding and training rings, to prevent it's sale to residential developers.

Rustic Canyon and The Uplifters Club:
In the late 1920's a diverse group of professional men (writers, actors, film producers, bankers, judges, attorneys and business men), mostly members of LAAC, bought and subsequently added to a large tract of land now known as Rustic Canyon. The Uplifters (cup-lifters) was a fraternal society (stag club), that often enjoyed rowdy prohibition-era carousing. They put on plays and skits, moved cabins onto the site, eventually built elegant homes, and played polo. Occasionally they invited their wives and children. Notwithstanding their high-jinx, they were positive thinkers, renowned for their philanthropy. The Club ran out of money in the early 1940's and was forced to sell the property. It was sold, and sub-divided.

Many of the original homes built by members remain. Several log cabins on Haldeman Rd. (named for founding member and grandfather of H.R.Bob Haldeman) are sold the instant they go on the market, as did recently the once home of Frank Baum (author writer of the Wizard of Oz).

The original clubhouse burned to the ground in the early 1920's. It was rebuilt in 1923. In remarkably good (original) condition, it is now owned and operated by Los Angeles County Dept.of Parks and Recreation as Rustic Canyon Park.

To this day, polo is still played at Will Rogers State Park on Saturday afternoons, during the summer.

Home sales have reached the $14.5Mil price-point, and on large lots, could well-exceed that in the future, notwithstanding the current recession. Please feel free to visit the Search Listings page of this Website to get an overview of current active listings in many local areas.