Ven-Mar Neighborhood Association

Gregory Ain Mar Vista Tract to be Historic Preservation Zone?

Sep 13, 2001

In response to the requests of a majority of homeowners in the quaint residential area of Mar Vista known as the Gregory Ain Tract, City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter is pushing for it to receive a special historical designation. The Gregory Ain Mar Vista Tract neighborhood is in the Palms-Mar Vista-Del Rey Community Plan area.

The small area - one block each of both sides of Meier and Moore Streets and the east side of Beethoven Street between Marco Place and Palms Boulevard - was designed by Gregory Ain and landscape architect Garrett Eckbo and constructed in 1948. It represents a unique experiment - a bucolic housing development meant to provide an affordable alternative to the type of postwar housing then spreading across the country.

The neighborhood has been described as " a rare American example of successful Modernist community planning, set within the fabric of a park-like landscape (that) has survived over a half-century of social and economic change and has never lost its coherence. Dogs and kids still scamper over the parkways, and neighbors still welcome each other to block parties and backward brunches."

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter submitted a council motion asking for an ordinance that would declare the area part of a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ), meaning it will be subject to increased zoning restrictions to preserve the neighborhood's distinct character.