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
Name | Road |
Beny Alagem | Bel 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 Carson | 400 Saint Cloud |
Marion Davies | Saint Pierre |
Mac Davis | Nîmes |
Michael Eisner | Bel Air |
Georgia Frontiere | Bellagio |
Zsa Zsa Gabor | Bel Air |
Judy Garland | Bel Air |
Brad Grey | Copa De Oro |
Salma Hayek | Nîmes |
Rick Hilton | Copa De Oro |
Darby Hinton, Daryn Hinton and Ed Hinton | Bel Air |
Alfred Hitchcock | Saint Cloud |
Alan Horn | Saint Cloud |
Howard Hughes | Bellagio |
Ray Irani | Saint Pierre |
Mick Jagger | Saint Pierre |
Jonas Brothers | Saint Pierre |
Tom Jones | Copa 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 Newhart | Bel Air |
Jerry Perenchio | Saint 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 Semel | Bellagio |
Mark Spitznagel | Saint Pierre |
Elizabeth Taylor | Nîmes |
Cheryl Tiegs | Nîmes |
Sir Peter Ustinov | Bellagio |
Johnny Weissmuller | Saint Pierre |
Brian Wilson | Bellagio |