East Hollywood, Los Angeles

Cession to America

With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the California Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Los Feliz was filed in 1852.^[4]

In 1863, the executor of Antonio Féliz's estate, Antonio F. Coronel, sold the land to San Francisco real estate developer James Lick.^[5]

In 1882, Griffith J. Griffith acquired 4,071 acres (16.5 km2) of Rancho Los Feliz.^[6][7] While much of this land eventually became Los Feliz and Griffith Park, the southwest portion of the rancho was developed as the Lick Tract in what later became known as East Hollywood.^[8]

Around 1890, Joseph H. Spires purchased 36-acre tract encompassing a round, flattened hill and created an olive orchard which came to be known as Olive Hill.^[9]

Annexation and growth

In 1910, the towns of Hollywood and East Hollywood approved annexation by the City of Los Angeles.^[10] The 1910s saw the rapid development of East Hollywood, with the additions of Pacific Electric streetcars (1911),^[11] the California State Normal School (1914),^[12] Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (1914),^[13] and the Cahuenga Branch Library (1916).^[14] In 1919, the California State Normal School campus became the Southern Branch of the University of California, which added its general undergraduate program, the College of Letters and Science.^[15]

In 1924, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center opened.^[16]

In 1926, oil heiress Aline Barnsdall donated Barnsdall Art Park and the Hollyhock House — located on Olive Hill — to the city for use as a public library.^[17]

In 1929, Southern Branch of the University of California moved to Westwood and the Vermont Boulevard campus became Los Angeles Junior College.^[18]

In 1930, Cedars of Lebanon Hospital was formed when Kaspare Cohn Hospital moved from East Los Angeles to a new building on Fountain Avenue.^[19]

Second World War and post-war development

Following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, the neighborhood experienced a population exodus triggered by Executive Order 9066, which led to the internment of Japanese Americans.^[20][21]

Work was delayed by labor and material shortages caused by World War II, but construction of the Hollywood Freeway segment of U.S. Route 101 began in 1946 and was completed in 1954. The highway connected East Hollywood by car with the San Fernando Valley and Downtown Los Angeles.^[22]

In 1953, Kaiser Permanente opened a hospital on Sunset Boulevard.^[23]

Streetcar service of the neighborhood ended in 1954.^[24]

A Thai community formed in the area during the 1970s, with Thai language newspapers and numerous businesses.^[25] During the 1970s and 1980s, the neighborhood served as a "port of entry" for Armenian immigrants from Iran, Lebanon and the Soviet Union.^[26][27]

Recent history

In 1999, four Metro Red Line stations — Vermont/​Beverly, Vermont/​Santa Monica, Vermont/​Sunset and Hollywood/​Western — opened in the neighborhood.^[28]

In 1999 and 2000, respectively, portions of the neighborhood were officially designated Thai Town^[29] and Little Armenia.^[30]

Gentrification has rapidly changed the neighborhood in the 21st century, particularly in areas such as Melrose Hill and Virgil Village.^[31][32] There have been efforts to brand the neighborhood as "EaHo," in the style of West Hollywood's "WeHo" and North Hollywood's "NoHo."^[33]