The Palisades Riviera

Estates and Homes in the Riviera and California Riviera Tracts

Basking on mesas above the famed Riviera Country Club is a neighborhood of homes with gracious lot sizes, setbacks, wide streets, underground utilities (for the most part), and a climate (and vibration) that has attracted the wealthy and famous for over 70 years.

Its development in the l920s and '30s was inextricably tied to that of the Riviera Country Club. What is known today as "The Palisades Riviera" or "The Riviera" was developed in two phases, the Riviera and the California Riviera, by different developers, but who obviously shared a vision.

Members of the Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) contacted Alphonso Bell, the owner of some 22,000 acres in the area, and arranged the purchase of a 640-acre site consisting of 200 acres in Santa Monica Canyon, and another 440 acres on mesas surrounding the canyon. A syndicate was formed, and it was agreed to subdivide and sell the mesa, and donate the canyon acreage plus ten acres on the mesa to the LAAC for a golf course and clubhouse.

According to Our First Century (The Los Angeles Athletic Club 1880-1980) by Betty Lou Young and The Riviera Country Club (A Definitive History) by Geoff Shackelford, "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."

Lovingly restored 1935 Italian Villa - Grand-scale 4-bedroom home with breathtaking entry foyer, wood-paneled den with secret bar, charming breakfast room, large formal dining room with signed mural (dated 1935). The home has ocean and canyon views, maids quarters, laundry, original deco tiles, and elegant wrought-iron work.

Somewhat after the LAAC transaction, Alphonso Bell's first sales agent in Bel-Air, Frank Meline, took over the subdivision and sale of a second tract to the South and West. It was called the California Riviera. To this day there are two different sets of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) for these tracts. One way to distinguish the Riviera Tract from the California Riviera Tract is the cobble-stone gutters in the (northerly) Riviera tract. In a 1932 aerial photo included in local historian Randy Young's Street Names of Pacific Palisades, the Riviera tract could also be recognized by its distinctive rows of lemon trees. The area emcompassing both tracts is known today as the Palisades Riviera (map), or just "the Riviera."

The estate sites were to be developed with a feeling of charm and elegance. The minimum/standard lot width was 100 feet with setbacks of 30 feet or more and side yard buffers of a minimum of 10 feet (including fireplaces).

The character of the Palisades Riviera includes wide streets, generous set-backs, proximity to shopping and schools, yet isolated from the hustle-bustle of city life. A relaxing walk through clean, safe, tree-lined streets can afford breath-taking ocean and mountain views.

Most areas in the Palisades Riviera have underground utilities.

Homes in the Palisades Riviera are:

• Eight Minutes to the charming village of Pacific Palisades, chic Montana Avenue, and Brentwood, for excellent restaurants and shopping.
• Ten minutes to Santa Monica Hospitals.
• Ten minutes to some of the most beautiful beaches in California.
• Fifteen minutes to the UCLA Medical Center.

STREET NAMES IN THE PALISADES RIVIERA

Alphonso Bell's fond memories of travels along the Mediterranean coast inspired the street names in the Palisades Riviera. According to Street Names of Pacific Palisades by local historian Randy Young, the following meanings have been attributed to the streets in the Palisades Riviera:

ALTA MURA - Alta 'High,' Muro 'Wall,' or possibly Alta Mira 'Lookout Point' (Spanish).

AMALFI - Town along the Mediterranean south of Naples. The name also refers to the dramatic strip of shoreline known as the Amalfi Coast. Amalfi is one of the most beautiful and popular resorts in Italy, situated on the rocky coast at the mouth of a deep gorge running into the Gulf of Salerno.

CAPRI - Picturesque island in the Gulf of Naples. The town of Capri and the Blue Grotto are favorites of tourists.

CASALE - Probably names for the ancient town of Casale Monferato, in the eastern Piedmont district, near Florence. From the 14th to 18th Century it was the residence of the Dukes of Monferato.

CORSICA - Large French island in the Mediterranean, famous as the birthplace of Napoleon.

D'ESTE - One of the oldest reigning houses of Italy. Tourists are familiar with the magnificent Villa d'Este and its famous water garden at Tivoli, built in the sixteenth century by Cardinal Ippolito of d'Este.

FERMO - An ancient town in central Italy, near the Adriatic coast, south of Ancona. Remains of cyclopean walls date back to the 1st century A.D.

LUCCA - A famous Italian walled city west of Florence-source of most of the pasta and olive oil imported into the United States.

MINORCA - Island in the Spanish Mediterranean, the Balearic Group. 'Menorca' is the Spanish spelling.

NAPOLI - Italian port city across the bay from Mount Vesuvius. The Anglicized version is 'Naples.'

PAVIA - A city on the banks of the Ticino River in northern Italy, near Milan - once an important Roman town.

RAVOLI - A town (correctly spelled 'Rivoli') in the Italian Piedmont, near Turin. Beyond Rivoli, the road winds up through the Alps and over the Montgenevre Pass into France.

RIVIERA - The Riviera is a narrow strip of land on the southern Mediterranean coast of France and Italy, specifically extending from Cannes in France to La Spezia in Italy.

ROMANY - A collective name for gypsies, also referring to their language.

SAN ONOFRE - 'St. Humphrey' (Spanish). Derived from a 4th century hermit, who lived as a hermit in the desert of Upper Egypt for seventy years. He became the patron saint of weavers, probably because, according to The Book of Saints, "he was dressed only in his own abundant hair and a loin-cloth of leaves." Nancy and Ronald Reagan lived on San Onofre Street for many years during his governorship and the early months of his presidency.

SAN REMO - 'St. Remis' (Spanish) or 'St. Remus' (Italian). A seaport and popular winter resort in northwestern Italy on the Italian "Riviera del Fiori."

SORRENTO - Celebrated in song and story, Sorrento is the best known of the resort towns along the Amalfi Drive, near Naples.

SPEZIA - The Italian seaport of La Spezia is on the fringe of the Italian Riviera and is the chief naval harbor for Italy.

SPOLETO - A quiet town in the Umbrian Hills, near Rome, famous for its medieval streets and buildings and for its summertime festival of the arts.

TOULON - Mediterranean city on the French Riviera-a major French seaport and naval station.

UMEO - Derivation obscure. Umea is a town in northwest Sweden near the Gulf of Bothnia.