Los Angeles Attractions
Brentwood
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Brentwood, CA 90049
Brentwood is a tony suburban enclave at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains on the Westside of Los Angeles. The district is surrounded by several other similar enclaves, such as Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades and Bel-Air, and includes flat, sidewalk-lined neighborhoods, sprawling gated communities and rustic canyon areas.
San Vicente Boulevard, the district's main commercial area, houses medical offices and businesses as well as trendy boutiques, family-friendly burger joints and old-world stationers and bookstores, including Embrey Papers and Dutton's. This coral-tree-lined street, also dubbed "Little Italy" for its many pasta-serving restaurants, hosts a variety of street fairs and athletic events throughout the year.
Historically, Brentwood was part of the Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica, a Spanish land grant that was sold off in pieces after the Mexican War ended in 1848. The district began as an agricultural community. Where multimillion-dollar mansions and estates now stand, there were once avocado and soybean fields.
The suburb is convenient to many areas of the city by way of the 405 and 10 freeways and Sunset Boulevard, and attracts high-profile business executives and celebrities such as Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, Cindy Crawford and Jim Carrey, as well as politicians including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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