Sawtelle, Los Angeles, California

Sawtelle (pronEng|sɔːˈtɛl) is an area within West Los Angeles, California, that may refer to (1) a district within the City of Los Angeles, (2) an unincorporated area of the County of Los Angeles, or (3) just the Veterans Administration Hospital and former veterans home.

District within the city of Los Angeles

Sawtelle, a 1.82-square-mile district within the city of Los Angeles, was at one time an independent municipality, which was consolidated with Los Angeles in 1922. The consolidated area is bounded by Sepulveda Boulevard on the east, Pico Boulevard on the south, the Santa Monica city line on the west and Wilshire Boulevard or unincorporated Los Angeles County on the north. [http://navigatela.lacity.org/common/mapgallery/pdf/annex34x44.pdf]

It includes portions of Zip Codes 90049 and 90025 and all of Zip Code 90073.

Within this district lies a Japanese American community along Sawtelle Boulevard, between Santa Monica and Olympic Boulevards. It includes Japanese-oriented markets and restaurants, several plant nurseries, karaoke bars and shops. [http://www.sawtelleblvd.com/]

History of the city of Sawtelle

Sawtelle existed as a separate city for many years up to 1922. According to "Police Seizure of City Hall Starts Sawtelle on Exit Path" by reporter George Garrigues in the "Los Angeles Times" (Westside section) of January 10, 1963, the following events took place:

In 1918, the voters of Sawtelle decided by a margin of three votes to merge their city with Los Angeles. The vote was 519-516. But the Board of Trustees, equivalent to a city council, refused to accept the decision and "ordered a challenge in the courts."

The city of Los Angeles, however, did not wait for a court decision but instead "rounded up a squad of policemen and 'swooped' down upon the Sawtelle City Hall, as one account put it at the time."

Sawtelle city officials were locked out of the City Hall and L.A. people took over all the municipal and school activities.

In the meantime, the ousted Sawtelle trustees continued their case in the courts, and on September 15, 1921, the California Supreme Court decided the consolidation had indeed been illegal because the voters "had not been told on their ballots that they would have to pay a proportionate share of all Los Angeles debts for bonds."

"Thirty-two days later the city of Los Angeles moved out of Sawtelle as quickly as it had moved in. Nine policemen packed up the records and left; eight firemen abandoned the fire engine and reported for work elsewhere." The city of Sawtelle was back in operation.

In 1922 another election was held, and once again Sawtelle voters decided to join Los Angeles. This time the merger was permanent. Sawtelle was the fourth city to be merged with Los Angeles, after Wilmington and San Pedro in 1909 and Hollywood in 1910.

Since the early 1950s, members of the street youth gang Sotel 13 appeared at Stoner Park in Sawtelle. The gang members, who appeared at the park around 3 P.M. every weekday, had very few members in 2002 due to gentrification of West Los Angeles. Many West Los Angeles gang members moved to the city of Inglewood [http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=362&IssueNum=22] .

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] .

Unincorporated county area

Composition

Sawtelle, an unincorporated area in the County of Los Angeles, composed of seven parcels, includes the Veterans Administration and other federal buildings.

It is bounded by an irregular line starting at Levering and Veteran Avenues on the northeast, south on Veteran Avenue to the northern boundary of Westwood Park, west or south on Sepulveda Boulevard or the San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405) to Ohio Avenue, west or north on Ohio Avenue or Purdue Avenue to the rear line of properties facing Rochester Avenue, west to Federal Avenue, north along Federal or Bringham Avenue or the western limit of the former Veterans Home grounds to Chayote Street, east on Chayote to Woodburn Drive, south on the western limit of the hospital grounds to Waterford Street, east on Waterford to Sepulveda Boulevard, north to the northern limit of the Los Angeles National Cemetery, and east on a line to Levering and Veteran Avenues. "(Thomas Guide to Los Angeles County, 2002.)"

It is completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles. It is bordered by the Los Angeles communities of West Los Angeles to the south, Brentwood to the northwest, and Westwood on the east.

This territory consists of six parcels owned either by the U.S. government or the state of California. A private utility company owns a seventh. [http://planning.co.la.ca.us/drp_Sawtelle_Zoning_Study.pdf] It is under the zoning and governmental control of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors within the Third Supervisorial District.

Wilshire Federal Building

A major stand-alone federal office building in the area is the 19-story Wilshire Federal Building (completed 1969) at 11000 Wilshire Blvd, Westwood, Los Angeles. [ [http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=5167 Wilshire Federal Building - SkyscraperPage.com ] ] .

Veterans Administration

The grounds of the former Veterans Home, which was established in 1888, along with a cemetery and hospital for former soldiers and sailors, is also referred to as "Sawtelle." Major Washington Sewall Sawtelle was a soldier in the Mexican-American War and afterwards as a scout for Gen. John C. Fremont. This area includes the Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital building (VA Wadsworth Medical Center) south of Wilshire Boulevard, which was opened in 1977. The Los Angeles National Cemetery on both sides of Sepulveda Boulevard. contains the remains of some 85,000 veterans and family members from the Mexican War to the present.

Education

Sawtelle is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District [http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/communities/la-re-guide17dec17,1,364714.story] .

These elementary schools serve the Sawtelle area:
* [http://www.lausd.net/brockton_ave_el/ Brockton Avenue School]
* Nora Sterry Elementary School
* [http://www.westwoodcharter.org/ Westwood Elementary School]

These middle schools serve the Sawtelle area:
* Emerson Middle School
* Webster Middle School

The area is within the University High School attendance district.

Public transportation

The community of Sawtelle grew up after the veterans home was established. It was at first served by a Santa Monica horse car line, which was later electrified. In the early 20th century, the hospital was a stop on L.A.'s Balloon Route, which carried tourists from downtown to the ocean and back. [http://wadsworthchapel.org/HSR/HSRTEXT.PDF]

The area is now served by buses of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus and the green coaches of the Culver CityBus system. [http://www.mta.net/default.asp]

In fiction and popular culture

In Neal Stephenson's science fiction novel, "Snow Crash", he coined the name "Fedland" for the Veterans Administration area, because in the novel it is one of the few bits of land still under the direct control of the United States government (the rest has been taken over by corporations). Fact|date=January 2008

References

External links

* [http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/travel/01surfacing.html?fta=y&pagewanted=print Brown, Janelle, "West Los Angeles: Boulevard of the Rising Sun," "New York Times", October 1, 2006.]
* [http://www.sawtelleblvd.com Sawtelle Blvd.]
* [http://www.ulwaf.com/LA-1900s/PicturePages/Sawtelle.html Los Angeles in the 1900s, Sawtelle and the Veterans Hospital]
* [http://navigatela.lacity.org/common/mapgallery/pdf/annex34x44.pdf Los Angeles City map of annexations and consolidations]
* [http://sawtelle.topbuzz.com/ Sawtelle: The Cultivation of a Japanese American Community Art Book]
* [http://www.cem.va.gov/nchp/losangeles.htm Los Angeles National Cemetery website]
* [http://www.interment.net/data/us/ca/losangeles/lanat/index.htm Interment.net website]
* [http://www.cem.va.gov/nchp/losangeles.htm Los Angeles National Cemetery]
* [http://www.losangeles.va.gov VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System]