For many aspiring home owners, especially those first-time buyers on a budget, the road to home ownership leads to the hilltop condo acropolis that is Monterey Hills. Here, in a master-planned community that would make the builders of Irvine and Valencia proud, residents live in compounds with names like Vallejo Villas and Chadwick Terrace that are surrounded by greenbelts, winding footpaths and city and mountain views. It’s clean and tranquil, with the sounds of creaking of automatic parking garage gates and humming swimming pool filters breaking the silence. Writer Maria Hsin took a look at what condo shoppers can expect in Monterey Hills.
By Maria Hsin
When exiting Via Marisol from the northbound Arroyo Seco Parkway, you have two options: century-old Highland Park to your left or a much more contemporary community called Monterrey Hills to the right. Via Marisol slowly winds it’s way up from the freeway, eventually revealing green hillsides, tree-lined sidewalks and more than 1,700 condominiums, town homes and apartments.
About 40 years ago, the City of Los Angeles set aside a redevelopment project intended to cater to low- and middle-income people who were working in downtown L.A. Three hillsides between Montecito Heights and Hermon were leveled and a community of condominiums and townhomes sprang up – Monterey Hills.
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The vacant supermarket in the Monterey Plaza shopping center had many Hermon and Monterey Hills residents lobbying for a Trader Joe’s or a Fresh & Easy to replace the former Double Savers market. Instead, they got a Fresco Community Market, which plans a “soft opening” as soon as next week if it receives the necessary permits. Never heard of Fresco Community Market? That’s because the 24,000-square-foot store in Hermon will serve as the first outlet for what its Mount Washington owners hope will be a new chain of Los Angeles markets offering a mix of traditional supermarket staples, specialty items and a chic industrial design.
Customers will be able to shop for Latino foods, organic produce and meats, take a break at a full-service coffee bar or pick up some prepared foods under the same roof, said Gary Orona, vice president of operations for Fresco.”We are a full blown store in a smaller, easy-to-shop environment.”
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The LAPD said early this morning that the Monday afternoon home invasion robbery in the 700 block of Fremont Villas Street – in which a Monterey Hills woman and her child were tied up by the robbers – appears to be a random act . Some earlier news reports had said there have been similar home invasion robberies in the area. But, according to an LAPD statement issued this morning, “no other home invasion robberies have been reported in the area.”
The woman, who was able to free herself and call police from a neighbor’s house, and child were unharmed during the robbery. Police asked anyone with information about the crime to Hollenbeck Division robbery detectives at (323) 342-8900.
The name “Budd Wiener” is one that makes your inner fourth-grader giggle. It’s also the name of a tiny park that serves as the primary gathering space for Monterey Hills, a master-planned cluster of more than 1,700 condos and apartments that rest atop the hills between Hermon and El Sereno. A new Monterey Hills homeowner curious about Budd Wiener could not find much info about the man:
“I did a quick search and could find no info about Budd Wiener
(the man, not the park) online. I’m thinking of calling the Central Library’s reference desk. “I can’t wait to find out about the man behind the mystery!”
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