Proud Community Maintains Its Independence : Ladera Heights: Residents resist annexation attempts while enjoying suburban-like quietness and freeway convenience.

Ten years ago John Furby didn’t think he could afford a home in Ladera Heights when he and his wife, Jacqueline, began looking for a larger house.

So the couple, then living in Inglewood, considered Baldwin Hills and searched in places as far-flung as Chatsworth and Fullerton, but Furby always found himself returning to Ladera Heights, with its well-manicured neighborhoods of pretty homes in an ideal location.

Situated to the north of Inglewood and east of Culver City, Ladera Heights is an unincorporated slice of Los Angeles County. The community’s 3,500 homes are nestled on a gently sloping, 967-acre expanse just north of the San Diego (405) Freeway.

Encouraged by a realtor who thought a deal might be worked out, the Furbys eventually offered $185,000 for a three-bedroom, California ranch-style house in Upper Ladera. The offer was accepted.

Two years ago, feeling cramped for space as their household now included their daughter’s son, the Furbys again thought about moving. But they decided that “the economics of it just didn’t work for us. To remodel seemed a much more economical way to do it,” said John Furby. Since early in 1992 they have invested more than $200,000 in nearly doubling their home’s original 2,100 square feet while gaining a second story, a long-desired dining room and a Spanish Mediterranean look to the outside.

The Furbys are more than satisfied with their choices. “We’re really happy with what has been happening to our house and that we made the decision to stay,” said Jacqueline Furby, an administrator for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

John Furby, who works in the real estate section of the Los Angeles County Department of Transportation, enjoys “living in the suburbs yet being in the city. Because it is hilly we don’t get a lot of traffic up here,” he said. “It’s very quiet. We always get a pretty good breeze from the ocean because of the location. It’s just a nice area.”

Close to two decades ago the affluent, biracial community--almost evenly split between blacks and whites--had one of the highest median household income levels in Southern California. Today its residents still feel the status that comes with owning a home in Ladera. Prominent among its population of professionals and executives are County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke, Rep. Julian Dixon and Laker star Byron Scott.

Ladera Heights is divided into two areas. Located to the east of La Cienega, the smaller, older homes of Old Ladera were built during the 1940s. In the 1950s and ‘60s the land located to the west of La Cienega was developed by the Los Angeles Investment Co. and became known as New Ladera. Spacious lots with large California ranch-style homes, often custom-built, fill the hills and flats of Upper and Lower Ladera.

An 1,800-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home in New Ladera sells for $357,000, said Molly Lowe of Prudential California Realty. At the top of the price range, a 4,400-square-foot home for $850,000 offers six bedrooms, four baths, a family room, living room and dining room.

The low end of the price range--for a 1940s two-bedroom, one-bath house in Old Ladera--begins at $230,000; a home with four bedrooms and three baths is listed at $400,000.

And Lewis Homes of California is developing 67 new homes in Upper Ladera. These one- and two-story homes have 2,500 to 3,548 square feet and start at $479,000.

In 1974 Ronni Cooper decided that a 2,800-square-foot, custom California ranch-style home for $65,000 in Ladera Heights was too much of an opportunity to pass up. Although warned of the “white flight” that had been tearing apart the predominantly white enclave since 1969 as a result of mandated school busing, she remained undeterred.

“Part of the reason I bought this house was because I could get such a fabulous house for not very much money,” Cooper recalled. “I figured my kids aren’t going to school yet. I’d move in three years. What difference would it make?”

But Cooper, the owner of a medical personnel agency, never left. Since then she has watched the era of enforced school busing end, savings and loans and real estate offices proliferate throughout the once red-lined region and property values escalate.

Today she prizes the conveniences that Ladera’s location affords. “Freeway access is less than five minutes. You can get anywhere in a real hurry,” she said. “Plus there is excellent shopping all around. . . . That’s one of the reasons I love it. It’s a substantial, comfortable community.”

If Janice Garber’s husband, Dale, hadn’t had a penchant for exploring unknown neighborhoods on early Sunday morning drives, the couple, then living in a Playa del Rey townhome, might never have found Ladera Heights. Five years ago a surprise encounter ultimately led to the purchase of a 2,900-square-foot home with a pool.

The house not only accommodated 6-foot-4 Dale Garber’s need for high ceilings but also provided a terrific floor plan. The neighborhood’s proximity to Los Angeles International Airport was another plus for Dale Garber, who travels on business frequently. They paid $415,000.

What has been most noticeable to Janice Garber since their arrival is the tremendous amount of renovation and expansion going on around them. The Garbers themselves gutted their kitchen and laundry room, remodeled the guest room and half-bath, replastered the pool and relandscaped the yard. “People are digging in their heels and saying ‘We’re not leaving this area. We’re going to stay here,’ ” she said.

Indeed, pride of ownership is a well-entrenched fact of life in Ladera. “The biggest complaint the civic association gets is not about major things, about traffic,” observed Ronni Cooper, president of the Ladera Heights Civic Assn. “They’re about people’s yards and keeping up: ‘This one didn’t pull their weeds, and this one’s house needs painting.’ Because people are proud of where they live.”

This is not to suggest, however, that Ladera Heights has lacked for weightier concerns. For example, on more than one occasion since the mid-1960s, the feisty, outspoken community has battled for its independence as surrounding neighbors--Culver City, Inglewood and Los Angeles--each attempted to bring it under their sphere of influence. The designation, a precursor to annexation, was flatly rejected by residents who liked the quality of service they received from the county and, unmindful of charges of being “elitist,” didn’t want to belong to anyone.

More recently, the possible closure of the Marina sheriff’s substation as a result of budget cuts is a reason for great worry. The threat to the protection that has always kept the crime rate low and provided excellent response time has the community up in arms, Cooper said.

If this occurs it would also threaten the existence of the new sheriff’s substation in Ladera Center, said Don Hellwig, treasurer of the civic association. “We were very instrumental in working with the sheriffs to get that substation put in,” Hellwig said. “They would base their officers out of there--halfway between the ocean and Baldwin Hills. We were a mid-point. The more times they drove through Ladera the better.”

“If they should close the Marina sheriff’s substation, we’re going to have to figure out a way to get a private patrol,” Cooper said. “Westec is here, and we’ll figure out a way to pay for them to stay and increase their time. Because we need it.”

At a Glance

Population

1992 estimate: 6,655

1980-90 change: +0.6%

Median age: 44.5 years

Annual income

Per capita: 42,062

Median household: 70,049

Household distribution

Less than $30,000: 8.6%

$30,000 - $60,000: 26.1%

$60,000 - $100,000: 27.7%

$150,000 - $150,000: 17.2%

$150,000 +: 20.4%