On the western ridge of Mandeville Canyon sits approximately 450 homes belonging to the Brentwood Hills Homeowners Association. The community begins in the 1900 block of Westridge Road, and continues up to the top and end of the street – Cross-streets Banyan, Bayliss, Arbutus and Cordelia are also part of the turf.
The HOA was created in the 1960s at the same time Brentwood Hills was being developed by Art Linkletter and his consortium, according to BHHA President Eric Edmunds. Brentwood News caught up with Edmunds to learn more about this community of premium hiking trails, abundant wildlife, and sweeping panoramic views.
What makes your area unique?
Much of our community lies 1,000 feet and more above sea level, and many of our homes command panoramic views of the City, Santa Monica Bay, Catalina Island and Palos Verdes. Brentwood Hills lies on the cusp of urbanized civilization and wilderness. We are a fairly modern community with wide streets, sewers, and underground utilities. But at the top/end of Westridge Road lies a trailhead into the 18,000-acre “Big Wild” stretching across the Santa Monica Mountains and down into the Valley. The trailhead has become extremely popular, and hundreds if not thousands of people come from all over the City to hike, run, picnic, mountain-bike, and walk their dogs on the fire road and side-trails.
BHHA in general, and myself in particular, were instrumental in the establishment of that public wilderness park in the 1990’s, and stopping a gated private enclave of 17 mansions that was slated to go in there. Once you get a quarter-mile or so up the fire road, all signs of urban life disappear: no houses, streets, cars, etc. Only mountains, wilderness, and chaparral as far as the eye can see.
Brentwood Hills residents share the land with mountain lions, coyotes, lots of deer, red-tailed hawks, falcons, raccoons, owls, and snakes, all of whom were here before us. A month ago I was taking out the trashcans, and there was a rattler coiled up and ready to strike underneath. Pumas regularly move through the area, occasionally leaving behind deer carcasses in the street. Pets allowed to move around outside usually have short lives here.
Describe the types of homes and residents.
Upper end 1960s and 1970s tract-home construction, however, with the run-up in house prices, a lot of those tract homes are getting torn down and replaced with modern McMansions. Our streets are incessantly beset with demolition, remodeling and construction traffic, and noise. Most of our residents (like me) moved here many years ago and have no wish to leave. There isn’t much turnover up here.
What is an advantage of living in your area that you can’t get elsewhere in Los Angeles?
See No. 1.
What is the biggest issue facing the area today?
The biggest issue facing the area today: development. Developers everywhere are attracted to Brentwood Hills with visions of grading and bulldozing the chaparral and creating private gated communities of mansions. As an example, look at neighboring “Brentwood Country Estates,” the gated enclave of enormous mansions whose residents include Schwarzenegger, where chaparral and ESHA (Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area) once were. That one slipped through the City approval process before my time. Since then, we have been mostly successful in holding back the tide, but it is a continuous and ongoing battle to fight developers and preserve the rustic character of this area.
An important repercussion of development is traffic, both within our area and in the larger Brentwood area. Sunset Boulevard is the sole entry and egress point for our community and for all of Mandeville Canyon. Traffic on that street has gotten so bad that it now routinely takes one-two hours just to travel east the two miles from Mandeville Canyon Road to the 405 after 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon. Check it out sometime. Partly for that reason, Brentwood Hills HOA recently joined a lawsuit against the City to overturn its approval of the massive expansion of the Archer School for Girls, located at the jammed chokepoint intersection of Sunset and Barrington.
What kind of policies would you like to see put in place as soon as possible?
Policies we’d like to see: limit new development across the City, especially construction traffic for new developments, and preserve the environment.
What environmental impacts affect the area?
See No. 1. Also, a constant concern for us is wildfires. We are on the front lines for every big fire moving through the mountains. Brentwood Hills was stricken by fire in 1978, and smaller blazes break out periodically, which the Fire Department heroically knocks down. We’ve had arsonists. Many people don’t know it’s illegal to smoke outdoors up here. Many of our residents (including me) have been trained by the police and fire departments as certified emergency first-responders.
What are some violations that can land a resident in hot water with the HOA?
Technically, none. We are a voluntary HOA and do not enforce rules, like in a condo complex or a Davis-Stirling development. But some things that get my constituents hot under the collar include people who let their workmen smoke outdoors, failing to pick up after your dog while hiking on the fire road, scofflaws speeding on Westridge and Mandeville Canyon Roads, and the near-universal propensity of cyclists who blow through stop signs, usually without even slowing down. One aggressive cyclist recently punched out a lady in her car.
What membership benefits do residents have? (Monthly meetings? Events? Etc.)
We have monthly Board meetings, open to any member of the HOA, and an annual homeowners meeting/party with catered food, drinks, speeches by electeds, and Q&A’s with the LAPD and LAFD. Our dues are modest. We distribute newsletters several times a year, with articles on current issues and topics of interest to the community. Our web-page attracts traffic and enquiries.
If you had one wish that you would want the City to fix, what would it be?
Traffic, and the new development that exacerbates it.
What was the biggest news story to come out of your area in the past few years?
Not much of lurid newsworthiness comes out of Brentwood Hills; we’re a pretty quiet community. Our opposition to the Archer School expansion, and my testimony on that subject at City Hall downtown, attracted publicity in the L.A. Times and local TV stations. Last year, all of Mandeville Canyon had a practice emergency evacuation, as in case of wildfire, orchestrated by LAPD and LAFD. It didn’t go as smoothly as it should have, and Brentwood News covered that.
