Brentwood is a district in western Los Angeles, California, United States; located at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the east, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, the Santa Monica city limits on the southwest, the border of Topanga State Park on the west and Mulholland Drive along the ridgeline of the mountains on the north.

Nearby neighborhoods and cities include Pacific Palisades on the west, Santa Monica on the south, West Los Angeles and Sawtelle on the southeast, Westwood on the east, Bel-Air on the northeast and Encino on the north. Mail to the Brentwood district is addressed, Los Angeles, CA 90049 to avoid confusion with the Bay Area municipality of Brentwood in Northern California.

Brentwood, like nearby Santa Monica, has a temperate climate influenced by marine breezes off the Pacific Ocean. Residents frequently wake to a "marine layer," a cover of clouds brought in at night which burns off by mid-morning. The topography is generally split into two characters, broadly divided by Sunset Boulevard: the area north of Sunset is defined by ridges and canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains; south of Sunset the area is relatively flat. The southern district features underground springs which bubble up into a small creek along "the Gully" near the Brentwood Country Club, and in the "Indian Springs" portion of the University High School campus, formerly the site of a Native American Tongva village.

San Vicente Boulevard is considered the "Main Street" of Brentwood and is divided by a wide median on which stand many large and attractively sculpted coral trees. This green belt replaced a derelict Pacific Electric trolley track, its trees evolving into a City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. Brentwood boosters have adopted a coral tree silhouette as a de facto community logo. Intersecting Bundy Drive is lined with extremely tall Washingtonia robusta palms. As of 2000, there were just over 22,000 housing units in Brentwood. Most Brentwood residents reside in single-family homes, though some multi-family homes can also be found. Large, modern apartment complexes and condominiums are found along some of district's thoroughfares, many home to young professionals and students attending University of California Los Angeles, California State University Los Angeles, and University of Southern California.

Back to Westside Lifestyle