Have you ever been curious about who used to live in your house or who your neighbors were in 1920 and 1930? The Los Feliz Improvement Association is very pleased to include the 1920 and the 1930 U.S. Census information about Los Feliz homes in its website. This data was compiled for the LFIA History Committee by Donald A. Seligman in 2004.

The detailed United States census data is kept confidential for 70 years, and it was only in 2002 that the 1930 data was finally released into the public domain. This material is rich in detail and organized by each individual property. It gives a remarkable picture of the times 70 years ago and earlier and includes a wealth of specific information about the individuals living in the United States at the time of each census.

The 1920 census included all individuals living at each address, their relationship to the head of household, their race, age and marital status, the U.S. state of their birth as well as the state or country of their parents’ birth, the year of immigration to the United States if they were born outside the USA, their citizenship status, and their profession. The 1930 census includes all of this and in addition it offers an estimate of each property’s value or the monthly rent if rented at the time, the age at which each individual married, whether they were in school, and other languages they spoke if born outside the United States.

This survey includes the current Los Angeles districts of Los Feliz. The boundaries selected are Wilton Avenue on the west, Griffith Park on the north, Riverside Drive on the east, and Franklin Avenue on the south. These roughly conform to the membership of the Los Feliz Improvement Association. This survey only includes single family residences and duplexes that existed by 1930. Thus, multiple family complexes with more than 2 units and all commercial properties are excluded.

This area saw very little development until about 1915. In 1900, there were only 23 properties within these boundaries. Only 3 of these were north of Los Feliz Blvd, only 6 were west of Edgemont Street. By 1920, 194 residences or duplexes had been constructed, but most of these were located east of Vermont and south of Los Feliz, areas that were later re-zoned for multiple family construction. Thus, only 48 of the 194 former single family and duplex structures in the 1920 census still remain, and these are included in this survey.

Major development within these districts occurred after 1920, and the bulk of this material is from the 1930 census. However, these 1400 homes still only represent about 35% of the current single family or duplex housing in the area today.

A few trends in the census are of note in comparison to the current times. I was surprised most of the homes in Los Feliz in 1930 were valued at over $15,000, a time when the average family home in Los Angeles was valued at between $3,000 and $8,000. Furthermore, compared to today, very few women worked outside the home, and most of these were public school teachers. Finally, it was remarkable to see how many household included multi-generational family occupants or employed live-in servants.

Don Seligman

A paper version of this information is also available at the Los Feliz Public Library. Due to it’s size the data page may take a moment to open.

Click here for a closer look at the sample page seen at the top of this page.

Go to the data page.

The data is organized by address, and the index below is linked directly to the street names on the data page which will open in a separate page. The index lists the range of house numbers included.

Please let us know what you think of this presentation, please send us an email to censusdata@lfia.org

 

Aberdeen Avenue (2444 to 2666)
Alexandria Avenue (1905 to 2031)
Alta Oak Drive (2327 to 2328)
Ambrose Avenue (4300 to 5171)
Ames Street (2064)
Amesbury Road (3428 to 3750)
Avocado Street(4417 to 4543)
Ben Lomand Drive (2219 to 2317)
Berendo Street (1901 to 2250)
Bonvue Avenue (4700 to 4885)
Bryn Mawr Road (4767 to 4768)
Carnavon Way (3842 to 3969)
Catalina Street (1900 to 2559)
Cazaux Drive (5728 to 5746)
Cedarhurst Drive (2106 to 2147)
Cheswick Lane (2220 to 2252)
Chiselhurst Drive (2221 to 2510)
Clarissa Avenue (4301 to 4439)
Commonwealth Avenue (1915 to 2649)
Cromwell Avenue (4016 to 4978)
De Mille Drive (1965 to 2061)
Dracena Drive (1901 to 2074)
Dundee Drive (4100 to 4616)
Dundee Place (2667 to 2673)
Edgemont Street/Glen (1918 to 2425)
Effingham Place (3706 to 3756)
Ettrick Street (3111 to 3155)
Farmouth Drive (4048)
Finley Avenue (4334 to 5000)
Franklin Avenue (4617 to 5675)
Gainsborough Avenue (4415 to 4630)
Glencairn Road (4811 to 4885)
Glendower Avenue (2405 to 2814)
Glendower Place (2471 to 2483)
Glendower Road (2742 to 2751)
Gramercy Place (Morgan Place) (1901 to 2001)
Griffith Park Boulevard (3455 to 3609)
Greenwood Place (4602 to 4620)
Hazelkirk Drive (4215 to 4227)
Hill Oak Drive (3622)
Hillhurst Avenue (2240 to 2330)
Hobart Boulevard (1901 to 2045)
Holboro Road (3532 to 3673)
Holly Knoll Drive (4020 to 4243)
Holly Oak Drive (5604)
Hoover Street (1928 to 1939)
Inverness Avenue (2400 to 2446)
Kenmore Street (1939 to 2030)
Laughlin Park Drive (3 to 7; 1943 to 2035)
Ley Drive (3356)
Linwood Drive (5000 to 5230)
East Live Oak Drive (2106 to 2328)
West Live Oak Drive (2166 to 2342)
Los Feliz Boulevard (4726 to 5470)
Los Nietos Drive (4202 to 4250)
Lowry Road (3201 to 3735)
Lyric Avenue (2526)
Monon Street (3622 to 3727)
Mariposa Avenue (1905 to 1960)
Maxwell Street (3006 to 3020)
Morgan Hill Drive (2001, 5653)
Mountain Oak Drive (2200)
Myra Avenue (1900 to 1961)
Nella Vista Avenue (2216 to 2343)
New Dale Drive (4215 to 4251)
New Hampshire Avenue (1900 to 2248)
Normandie Avenue (1900 to 2004)
Nottingham Avenue (2230 to 2618)
Observatory Avenue (2217 to 2338)
Oxford Avenue (1900 to 2044)
Palmerston Place (1917 to 1979)
Parva Avenue (4307)
Ponet Drive (2174 to 2224)
Prestwick Drive (3710 to 3734)
Price Street (4149 to 4452)
Red Oak Drive (5406 to 5530)
Richland Avenue (2302 to 2337)
Rodney Drive (1900 to 2131)
Rosalia Road (1900 to 1950)
Rowena Avenue (3331 to 3476)
St. Andrews Place (1907 to 1951)
St. George Street (2317 to 3090)
Serrano Avenue (1900 to 2034)
Shannon Road (3648 to 3867)
Spreading Oak Drive (5701 to 5753)
Surry Street (3028 to 3060)
Talmadge Street (1908 to 2235)
Tica Drive (3309 to 3342)
Tracey Street (3906 to 4216)
Tyron Road (5630 to 5647)
Tuxedo Terrace (5767 to 5868)
Valley Oak Drive (5609)
Vermont Avenue (2075 to 2655)
Waverly Drive (3112 to 3445)
Wayne Avenue (2300 to 2323)
Welch Place (4600 to 4623)
Western Avenue (1910 to 2014)
Wild Oak Drive (2408)
Woking Way (4046 to 4087)
Wood Terrace (3300 to 3325)

Copyright © 2004 by Donald A. Seligman. All rights reserved, including rights of reproductions and use in any form or by any means, including the making of copies by any photo process, or by any electronic or mechanical device, printed or written or oral, or recording for sound or visual reproduction, or for any use in any knowledge or retrieval system or device, unless permission in writing is obtained from the copyright proprietors.