NEIGHBORLY ADVICE: PARK ESTATES
Park Estates in Long Beach has gained a reputation as a serene, inland neighborhood in the 60 years since it was developed. Bounded by Bellflower Boulevard on the east, Clark Avenue on the west, Atherton Street on the north and Pacific Coast Highway on the south, the community is protected by walls and landscaping much like a castle from the Middle Ages. Without the right coordinates punched into a GPS, it might take a while to find one of its three entrances.
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Beginnings
Along with many other neighborhoods in Long Beach, Park Estates was the brainchild of Lloyd S. Whaley.
Raised on a farm in Nebraska, Whaley graduated from Iowa State College before moving to north Long Beach in 1935. He found a job as a laborer and quickly befriended local contractors. In a short time, he was designing and selling spec homes near what is today Jordan High School. He founded the Home Investment Co. and purchased land in west Long Beach.
Whaley developed the Wrigley Terrace and Wrigley Heights neighborhoods during World War II. After the war ended, he purchased a large section of the old Rancho Los Alamitos. Locals called the site “Alkali Flats” because of the strong alkaline content of its marshy soil. Whaley concentrated his home building on the small hills that sloped down from Pacific Coast Highway near Bellflower Boulevard. He chose a Spanish name for those hills: Los Altos.
Whaley hired L. Deming Tilton to design a master-planned community on a large site connected by Clark Avenue, the San Gabriel River, Pacific Coast Highway and Spring Street. In 1948, he began developing Park Estates. Prices ranged from $20,000 to $30,000, a hefty price tag compared with his other new homes, which sold for under $10,000.
When Whaley set up the homeowners’ dues, he made sure that his own 3-acre mansion and his attorney’s home were exempt. Those two are still exempt from having to pay dues today, according to past homeowners association board member Mike Whalen, a seven-year resident.
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Insider’s view
A Long Beach resident for 18 years, architect Rick D’Amato always had his sights set on Park Estates. “I would drive down the tree-lined streets and walk the open houses hoping that someday I would be able to afford a home in the area,” said D’Amato, a senior principal at LPA Inc. Five years ago, his dream came true, when he spied an underpriced home for sale.
“It was listed by a Realtor who didn’t know the area,” he said. “The price had already been lowered when I saw it for the first time, and despite the amount of work it needed, it was still affordable.”
The home, which D’Amato described as a “muted Federal style in pistachio green,” was in his book the definition of a fixer-upper. It was ripe for an eco-friendly remodel that D’Amato continues to work on.
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Housing stock
The community offers homes on large lots in a mix of architectural styles, including traditional and midcentury modern with several built by notable architects.
Seventeen homes ranging from $810,000 (a short sale) to $3 million sold in Park Estates last year -- none after September, according Lynda Montgomery of Main Street Realtors of Long Beach.
About a dozen homes and condominiums are currently listed for sale. Among them is a five-bedroom, four-bathroom, 3,716-square-foot house priced at $1,296,000. The two-story, remodeled home has cathedral ceilings, three fireplaces and an upgraded kitchen. A four-bedroom, three-bathroom house is listed at $1.85 million. Built in 1953 and remodeled, the 3,077-square-foot home sits on a third of an acre.
In the Long Beach 90815 ZIP Code, which includes Park Estates, there were 49 single-family sales in the first quarter of this year at a median price of $500,000, according to MDA DataQuick. The median was the same as that in the first quarter of 2008.
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Report card
Children may attend Minnie Gant Elementary, which scored 927 on the 2008 Growth Academic Performance Index Report. From there, they can move on to Rogers Middle School, which scored 869, and Wilson High School, 740. There are several private schools in the area as well.
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Sources: www.rancholosalamitos.com
/aboutus/historical_narrative
_lavendar.pdf; Long Beach Press Telegram; “The Lloyd S. Whaley Story and the Growth of Long Beach,” a video by John Cleveland; www.cde.ca.gov; www.lbds.info/civica/filebank
/blobdload.asp?BlobID=2556; www.longbeachrealestate home.com/park-estates-homes -for-sale-long-beach-real- estate.
