Mt. Olympus, Los Angeles
Neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mt. Olympus is a neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills area of the city of Los Angeles, California.[1] Considered a subdistrict of Laurel Canyon, the 300-acre (120 ha) neighborhood is known for its upscale housing and wide streets.[2] Mt. Olympus can be reached by taking Laurel Canyon Blvd. to Mt. Olympus Drive.[3]
Developed in the 1960s, around the same time as nearby Trousdale Estates, the entrance gate has decorative "Greek columns", walls and fountains at some intersections with quasi-Greco architecture, streets (Apollo Drive, Achilles Drive, Electra Drive, Hercules Drive, Jupiter Drive, Oceanus Drive, Venus Drive, Vulcan Drive, and Zeus Drive) named for figures of Greco-Roman mythology, e.g., Apollo, Achilles, Electra, Hercules, Jupiter, Oceanus, Venus, Vulcan, and Zeus.[4] A 2013 edition of the Rough Guide to Los Angeles described the development's design as an "exercise in 1970s vulgarity that is to Neoclassical architecture what a toga party is to ancient drama, with faux palazzos, pseudo-Roman statuary, goofy marble urns, and snarling stone lions added pell-mell to charmless stucco boxes".[5] One architectural history of California described it as "reminiscent of Las Vegas casinos," with slightly smaller lots and a tackier look compared to Trousdale.[6]
There are approximately three houses per acre in Mt. Olympus.[7] The neighborhood is subject to periodic mudslides.[3] The street trees are Japanese pines or Italian cypresses.[6] The Mount Olympus neighborhood is bounded by Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Nichols Canyon Road.[8]
History
The name Mt. Olympus predates the housing development, as there is a reference to the Mt. Olympus "three miles west of Cahuenga Pass and at the head of Laurel Cañon" in 1888.[9] An 1894 newspaper article datelined "Little Mount Olympus, Los Angeles County" mentions establishing a spring in Laurel Canyon in 1875, possibly Laurel Spring.[10]
The land that became Mt. Olympus was known as "goatland" before it was developed, meaning it was a steeply sloped area hosting mostly scrub and sage.[11] The groundbreaking for Mt. Olympus took place in June 1963, followed by a cocktail reception at Grauman's Chinese.[8] The developers were Russ Vincent and Al Hess, who simultaneously marketed tracts called Hollywood Oasis, Dor-Mar Estates, and Willow Hills North.[11] Prior to his real estate career, Russ Vincent had been a Hollywood actor.[11]
Early reports had it that scraping flat building sites out of the hill would require moving 12,000,000 yd3 (9,200,000 m3) of earth.[11]
In popular culture
The community was featured in the film Hollywood Homicide (2003).[12]
