El Sereno is not a city, but a neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, that sits atop the Monterey Hills which separate the Los Angeles basin from the San Gabriel Valley. It is a quiet neighborhood that only longtime Angelenos even know exists and is known for its beautiful, rolling hillsides. The combination of hills and distinct sub-communities gives El Sereno a unique identity unlike any other pocket of Los Angeles. Two of the most popular communities are Hillside Village & University Hills.

Hillside Village has become the most exclusive and most popular neighborhood of El Sereno by far. Interestingly, many people who live in Hillside Village only live a few blocks from their childhood home. They don’t venture very far, and for good reason!

Next, there is University Hills near the Cal State LA campus. University Hills is the second most popular sub-neighborhood in El Sereno because of its proximity to the school, rolling hills, obvious pride in ownership, and very private feel.

Even with its small town allure, El Sereno is home to Cal State LA, one of the most well known colleges in Los Angeles., and Wilson High School. El Sereno  is about a ten minute drive, via Huntington Dr. to Broadway, to Downtown LA. Alhambra & South Pasadena are is it’s closest neighboring cities. Pasadena is ten or minutes northeast.  It’s closest neighboring LA communities are Highland Park & Lincoln Heights.

The Native American village of Otsungna was situated in today’s El Sereno on the banks of a stream that was later named Arroyo Rosa de Castilla, which ran east of present-day Guardia and Farnsworth avenues. A trail connected Otsungna to the village of Yangna on the Los Angeles River, then on to the village of Sibagna, near the eventual site of the Mission San Gabriel. The route later became Mission Road.

During the turn of the 20th century, several railroads, like Huntington’s Pacific Electric Railway, brought people and businesses from Los Angeles & Pasadena into El Sereno. Those old railroads are where Huntington Drive is located today.

From 1900 to 1915, the area that later became EI Sereno lacked a unified identity. There was no coordinated plan for the community. Subdivisions were platted haphazardly by each property owner, resulting in four distinct neighborhoods, each with its own school as a focal point. Known as Rose Hill, Bairdstown, Farmdale and Sierra Vista, they were grouped together under the name “Bairdstown.” A true sense of community until after annexation by Los Angeles in 1915.

Before the 110 Freeway was built in the 1940s, Huntington Drive was the only way to get to the San Gabriel Valley from Downtown L.A.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

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