Hancock Park is a neighborhood in the Wilshire area of Los Angeles, California. Developed in the 1920s, the neighborhood features architecturally distinctive residences, many of which were constructed in the early 20th century. Hancock Park is covered by a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ).
History
Hancock Park was developed in the 1920s by the Hancock family with profits earned from oil drilling in the former Rancho La Brea. The area owes its name to developer-philanthropist George Allan Hancock, who subdivided the property in the 1920s. Hancock, born and raised in a home at what is now the La Brea tar pits, inherited , which his father, Major Henry Hancock had acquired from the Rancho La Brea property owned by the family of Jose Jorge Rocha.
in 1948 Nat King Cole and his family purchased a $65,000 Tudor mansion in Hancock Park, becoming the first African American family to do so. But this started a series of protests, where the Hancock Park Property Owners Association tried, but failed, to prevent him from buying the house. The association then tried to buy the house from him. What followed was months of abuse, in which his dog was poisoned and racial insults burnt into his lawn. In an unpublished covenant for the property it showed that the home was for whites only and not for "any person whose blood is not entirely that of the Caucasian race", with the exception that "persons not of the Caucasian race" who could reside in "the capacity of servants". An attorney for property owners in the area said, “We don’t want undesirable people coming here”. Cole replied, “Neither do I, and if I see anybody undesirable coming into this neighborhood, I’ll be the first to complain”.
Hancock Park activists were instrumental in the passage of a 1986 Congressional ban on tunneling through the neighborhood. The ban, sponsored by Congressman Henry Waxman, prevented the Red Line Subway from being routed along Wilshire Boulevard through the neighborhood.
Geography
Hancock Park has about 1,200 homes within the boundaries of Wilshire Boulevard on the south, Melrose Avenue on the north, both sides of Highland Avenue on the west and both sides of Rossmore Avenue on the east.
In 2009, The Mapping L.A. project of the Los Angeles Times redefined the area as Wilshire Boulevard on the south, Melrose Avenue on the north, but widened the neighborhood and extended it a half mile west to La Brea Avenue, and one block east to Arden Boulevard. The Hancock Park Homeowners Association, which was established in 1948, has tried to get the Times to correct its boundaries.
Neighboring communities are Hollywood to the northeast, Melrose to the northwest, Citrus Square and La Brea–Hancock to the west, Brookside to the southwest, Fremont Place to the southeast, and Larchmont and Windsor Square to the east.
The neighborhood surrounds the grounds of the Wilshire Country Club.
Historic Preservation Overlay Zone
The Hancock Park HPOZ was adopted by City Council in 2008. The area is "generally bounded by Melrose Avenue on the north, Highland Avenue on the west, Rossmore Avenue on the east, and the rear property lines of the commercial properties along Wilshire Boulevard on the south". HPOZ signage is posted in the neighborhood.
It is largely within the Wilshire Community Plan area, though a small portion in the northwest (north of Rosewood Avenue and west of June Street) is in the Hollywood Community Plan area.
Demographics
The following data applies to the boundaries set by Mapping L.A.:
2000
The 2000 U.S. census counted 9,804 residents in the 1.59-square-mile neighborhood—an average of 6,459 people per square mile, including the expanse of the Wilshire Country Club. That figure gave Hancock Park one of the lowest densities in Los Angeles. In 2008, the city estimated that the population had increased to 10,671. The median age for residents was 37, considered old when compared with the city as a whole; the percentages of residents aged 35 and above were among the county's highest.
Hancock Park was moderately diverse ethnically. The population was 70.7% non-Hispanic White, 13.1% Asian, 8.5% Hispanic or Latino, 3.8% Black, and 3.9% were of other or mixed race. Korea and the Philippines were the most common places of birth for the 26.3% of the residents who were born abroad, a figure that was considered low compared to rest of the city.