East Gate Bel Air, Los Angeles


East Gate Bel Air is a small area within the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, California. It is made up of large, old estates developed mostly before World War II.

Location

As shown in the “Bel Air First Residential Allotment” map from 1923, the original Bel Air tract of East Gate Old Bel Air founded and opened by Alphonzo E. Bell, Sr. was composed of 128 lots on Bel Air Road and the five roads which branch from it: Saint Pierre, Saint Cloud, Bellagio, Copa De Oro, and Nîmes Roads. Though many of these 128 lots have since been combined into single properties, this original 1923 Bel Air allotment is what distinguishes East Gate Old Bel Air from the rest of present-day Bel Air, which was gradually added by Bell starting in 1931 with Stone Canyon, and by 1937 Bel Air extended westward all the way to Sepulveda Boulevard.
At its southernmost edge, East Gate Old Bel Air flanks the campus of UCLA. At its easternmost edge, it borders Holmby Hills. This combined contiguous area of East Gate Bel Air and Holmby Hills straddles North Beverly Glen Boulevard.
In general, the further one moves west from Saint Pierre Road to West Gate Lower Bel Air and north from Sunset Boulevard up the Santa Monica Mountains to Upper Bel Air, the smaller and the less flat the building lots and the more varied the styles and price ranges of the homes.

History

On the undeveloped hillsides of original Bel Air in 1922, Alphonzo Bell built water and sewage pipes, installed underground electric and telephone lines, and planted thousands of trees along winding streets traversing the hilly terrain. Bell refused to sell the original East Gate Old Bel Air allotments to anyone in the film business, though changed his mind on all of Bel Air with the arrival of the Great Depression. A design committee existed to preserve the “architectural harmony” of the community, with restrictions including low masses, horizontal lines, pitched roofs, and unobtrusive and harmonious colors, and deed restrictions required land purchasers to spend a minimum of $20,000 on home construction.

Notable residents

NameRoad
Beny AlagemBel Air
John Anderson Bellagio
Stephen Bollenbach Saint Cloud
Sonny Bono and Cher 364 Saint Cloud
Franklin Otis Booth, Jr. Bellagio
Bruce Cabot Saint Pierre
Nicolas Cage 363 Copa De Oro
B. Gerald Cantor Saint Cloud
Johnny Carson and Joanna Carson400 Saint Cloud
Marion Davies Saint Pierre
Mac Davis Nîmes
Michael EisnerBel Air
Georgia FrontiereBellagio
Zsa Zsa Gabor Bel Air
Judy Garland Bel Air
Brad GreyCopa De Oro
Salma HayekNîmes
Rick HiltonCopa De Oro
Darby Hinton, Daryn Hinton and Ed Hinton Bel Air
Alfred Hitchcock Saint Cloud
Alan HornSaint Cloud
Howard Hughes Bellagio
Ray IraniSaint Pierre
Mick Jagger Saint Pierre
Jonas Brothers Saint Pierre
Tom JonesCopa De Oro
Jordan Kerner Saint Pierre
Otto Klemperer Bel Air
Carole Lombard Saint Cloud
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony Saint Pierre
Dean Martin Copa De Oro
Louis Mayer Saint Cloud
Colleen Moore 345 Saint Pierre
Bob NewhartBel Air
Jerry PerenchioSaint Cloud
John Phillips Saint Pierre
Tyrone Power, Linda Christian, Romina Power and Taryn Power Copa De Oro
Elvis Presley Bellagio
Prince Rainier of Monaco Bellagio
Basil Rathbone
Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan Saint Cloud
Terry SemelBellagio
Mark SpitznagelSaint Pierre
Elizabeth Taylor Nîmes
Cheryl TiegsNîmes
Sir Peter Ustinov Bellagio
Johnny Weissmuller Saint Pierre
Brian Wilson Bellagio