Change in View Park hasn’t altered the neighborhood’s charm
To the editor: In about 1925, my parents bought a house on Angeles Vista Boulevard. It was the first house built by the Los Angeles Investment Company, the developers of View Park. The house had an electric dishwasher, automatic garage door opener and other innovations. A large aviary was built on an adjacent lot where my father raised exotic birds. (“Whether View Park is a national historic place or not, things are changing there,” editorial, July 16)
I rode a bike to Audubon Junior High School and took a street car to Manual Arts High, where I was fortunate to have diverse classmates.
When my father died in 1967, my mother sold the large house. Property values then were diminished by the earlier “white flight.”
I’m glad the area has retained much of its beautiful architecture and character. It was a wonderful place in which to grow up.
Dorothy Haley, Torrance
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To the editor: I grew up in View Park in the 1950s. Mine was a wonderful childhood spent in a real community. Neighbors knew each other and knew the shopkeepers by name in Leimert Park.
To this day I love driving through View Park and feeling proud of how lovingly the neighborhood has been maintained.
The first black family on my street was the pianist Art Tatum and his wife. The kids on the block would sit on the curb and listen to him practice. We were thrilled.
Laurie Kelson, Encino
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