Highland Park - Hottest Real Estate Neighborhood

Home to Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, which famously hosted President Obama in Maron’s garage studio in 2015, and some of the best Mexican food in the city, Highland Park lays claim to a rich California history as well as a rapidly developing contemporary art and food scene. Highland Park’s distinctions are many, and while residents and entrepreneurs new and old continue to develop the neighborhood for an ever-brighter future, the local community and elected officials have taken great care to preserve its past with organizations such as the Highland Park Historical Trust.

Bordered by the Arroya Seco river, with Pasadena to the east, Highland Park was an epicenter for the Arts and Crafts movement in the 1900s, accounting for the preponderance of Craftsman style homes still remaining in the area. The concentration of these historic architectural sites is part of the Highland Park-Garvanza neighborhood, Los Angeles’s largest historic district Historical Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ). Highland Park-Garvanza architecture is notable for styles that range from Craftsman, to Queen Anne, to Mission Revival, to Tudor Revival. The Lummis House, built by the famous pioneering journalist Charles Lummis of the Los Angeles Times in its early days, is in nearby Mt. Washington. His one-of-a-kind Rustic American Craftsman stone house came to be a de facto headquarters to the thinkers, artists and bohemians of the early 20th century, and the historic site is now on the National Register of Historical Places.

In 2013, Highland Park was named the hottest real estate neighborhood by Redfin (taking the crown from adjacent Eagle Rock, with nearby Mt. Washington holding the title for 2016). NPR chose the bustling boulevards of York and Figueroa—which seem to play host to a much hyped about opening for a new buzz-worthy restaurant, coffee shop, or yoga studio almost every week—as a case study for the controversial but money-infusing phenomena of gentrification. The concerted involvement of local business owners and residents alike, evident in events such as the monthly NELA (Northeast LA) Art Walk, ensures that Highland Park stays relevant for years to come.