Carthay, Los Angeles, California

Carthay is a large residential district in western Los Angeles, California. It is considered part of Los Angeles' West Side.

Geography

Carthay is bordered by Country Club Park on the east, Baldwin Hills on the south, Beverlywood on the west, and the Miracle Mile and the city of Beverly Hills on the north. The district is roughly bounded by Wilshire Boulevard on the north, La Cienega Boulevard on the west, the Santa Monica Freeway on the south, and La Brea Avenue on the east. Principal thoroughfares include Wilshire, La Cienega, San Vicente, Pico, and Venice Boulevards and La Brea and Fairfax Avenues. Major subdistricts include Picfair Village (whose name is a tribute to Mary Pickford's and Douglas Fairbanks' estate, Pickfair), South Carthay, Carthay Circle, Carthay Square, Wilshire Vista, and Little Ethiopia, a community of relatively recent Ethiopian and Indian immigrants.

The Neighborhood

Carthay takes its name from a now-demolished movie theater which stood on the corner of San Vicente and Crescent Heights boulevards. The neighborhood was mostly developed in the 1930s, capitalizing on the success of the Miracle Mile. Most houses are built in the Art Deco or Spanish Colonial styles popular at the time. Initially segregated and all-white, Carthay has since become fairly diverse, with many middle-class black and Latino families living within the district. Much of its white population is Jewish, with several yeshivas and synagogues found in the area.