Century City, Los Angeles, California

Century City is a 176 acre (712,000 m²) commercial and residential district on the West Side of the City of Los Angeles. It is bounded by Westwood on the west, Rancho Park on the southwest, Cheviot Hills and Beverlywood on the southeast, and the city of Beverly Hills on the northeast. Its major thoroughfares are Santa Monica, Olympic, and Pico Boulevards (its northern boundary, central artery, and southern boundary, respectively), as well as Avenue of the Stars and Century Park East and West.

Century City is an important business center, and many law firms and executives—particularly those with ties to the film, television, and music industries—have offices there. Its Westfield-owned shopping mall is one of the major retail centers in Los Angeles. Westfield acquired the center in the 2002 breakup of then Dutch-owned Urban Shopping Centers.

kyscrapers and other important landmarks

The high-rise buildings along Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood appear to blend in with those of Century City when seen at a distance, although they are separated by over three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km).

Its gleaming high-rises stand in stark contrast to the small apartment buildings and single-family detached homes in the lower-density neighborhoods surrounding it, and were some of the first skyscrapers built in Los Angeles after the lifting of earthquake-related height restrictions in the early 1960s.

For many years it was home to the ABC Entertainment Center, which housed network operations for the ABC Television Network and the Shubert Theatre. They were demolished in 2004.

Some of the most recognized buildings in Century City include:
* Fox Plaza, 20th Century Fox headquarters most well known for being Nakatomi Plaza in the movie "Die Hard".
* Constellation Place, (or the "MGM Tower") headquarters of the historic Hollywood studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
* Watt Plaza
* AIG SunAmerica Center
* Century Plaza Hotel
* Century Plaza Towers, commonly referred to as the "Twin Towers".
* Century City News

History

Once a backlot of 20th Century Fox, which still has its headquarters just to the southwest, the Fox studio commissioned a master-plan development from Welton Becket Associates, which was unveiled at a major press event on the "western" backlot in 1957. In 1961, after Fox suffered a string of expensive flops, culminating in the box-office disaster Cleopatra, the film studio sold about 180 acres to developer William Zeckendorf and Aluminum Co. of America, also known as Alcoa. The new owners conceived Century City as "a city within a city".Citation | last = Vincent | first = Roger | title = Next Century Associates buys the 1960s-era landmark built on a former studio back lot. | newspaper = Los Angeles Times | year = 2008 | date = June 3, 2008 | url = http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-century3-2008jun03,1,3628636.story] In 1963 the first building, Century City Gateway West, was complete, followed the next year by Minoru Yamasaki's Century Plaza Hotel.

It originally was planned to be served by the Beverly Hills Freeway (Santa Monica Boulevard to the north) and a rapid transit corridor. However, neither of these transportation improvements came to pass, and so Century City is a source of traffic irritation for the residents of Cheviot Hills to the south, since there is no direct freeway access to the center. It is likely that any westward extension of the Los Angeles MTA's Metro Purple Line subway will include a stop at Century City.

Emergency services

Fire service

Los Angeles Fire Department [http://lafd.org/fs92.htm Station 92] is the assigned fire station for the district. [" [http://lafd.org/fs92.htm Fire Station 92] ," "Los Angeles Fire Department"]

Police service

Los Angeles Police Department operates the West Los Angeles Community Police Station at 1663 Butler Avenue, 90025, serving the neighborhood [http://www.lapdonline.org/west_la_community_police_station] .

Education

The neighborhood is within the Los Angeles Unified School District [ [http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/communities/2004/la-re-guide11jan11,0,5063585.story?page=2&coll=la-realestate-communities-2004 Upscale living in Tinseltown's back lot] January 11 2004, Los Angeles Times] . Public schools serving it are [http://www.westwoodcharter.org/ Westwood Charter Elementary School] , [http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Emerson_MS Emerson Middle School] and Webster Middle School.

Before fall 2007, students in grades 9 through 12 were assigned to Hamilton High School, but in that term LAUSD reassigned Century City's 9th graders to University High School, and grades 10 through 12 were to be phased into the University High attendance area [http://www.laschools.org/employee/mpd/fs-mpd/download/07-08_webmaps/Proj04.pdf] .

Notes

External links

* [http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/communities/2004/la-re-guide11jan11,0,5063585.story?coll=la-realestate-communities-2004 "Los Angeles Times", Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "Century City: Upscale living in Tinseltown's back lot" (11 Jan 2004)]

* [http://businessimagegroup.com/Hotels_CenturyPlaza.html History of the Century Plaza Hotel]