Neighborhood Spotlight: Eagle Rock offers small-town vibe within the big city

Keeping watch over a small valley below the San Rafael Hills is a massive rock dome with a cleft that, when the sun is positioned just right, resembles the silhouette of a bird swooping down.

This dramatic natural formation inspired the name of the town that would grow to fill that isolated valley, which in the early 1900s was 10 rugged miles of axle-breaking country road away from the thronging crowds and bright lights of downtown Los Angeles.

Eagle Rock was a farming community at first, but the trolley soon snaked its way up from Los Angeles, with a line that ran along Eagle Rock Boulevard all the way to Colorado Boulevard, a dusty thoroughfare that became the Main Street of what was now a suburb of a restlessly growing city.

At the top of the ring of hills surrounding the valley floor, large Craftsman homes were built, and as the elevation descended into the flats, so did the size and cost of the new homes. Affordable bungalows sprouted in bunches within walking distance of Colorado Boulevard, where the carless could catch a streetcar into town.

It was a separate town, with its own mayor, and its own school and water systems, and it stayed that way until 1923. The town — struggling to provide enough services to its booming population — voted itself out of existence in order to become part of water-rich Los Angeles, but the geographic and psychic separation between Eagle Rock and the rest of the city left the neighborhood with a distinct character.

With its surfeit of pizza parlors and coffeehouses, laid-back atmosphere and relationship to Occidental College, it feels more akin to a well-to-do Midwestern college town than an outpost of one of the world’s most massive conurbations.

President Barack Obama, Ben Affleck and Terry Gilliam are just a few of the notables who attended school here, and the collegiate atmosphere has over the years drawn such writers as John Steinbeck and Dalton Trumbo to take up residence in one of the sturdy bungalows in the shadow of the eagle rock.

Neighborhood highlights

Main Street, USA: Colorado Boulevard has been Eagle Rock’s main drag for more than a century, and it’s as popular as ever. Restaurants, coffeehouses and art galleries can all be found in this vibrant, walkable remnant of a streetcar business district.

The Oxy cultural connection: With a robust year-round calendar of cultural events, Occidental College brings top-notch music, theater and academic programming.

Separate together: Part of Los Angeles but with its own unique vibe, Eagle Rock residents live a small-town life within 10 minutes of the 134, the 110 and the 2 freeways, putting all of eastern Los Angeles within easy commuting distance.

Neighborhood challenges

The price of admission: Eagle Rock’s popularity has made it one of the highest priced of the red-hot Northeast L.A. housing markets, with hillside homes regularly commanding well over $1 million.

Expert insight

Deidre Woollard, co-founder of real estate PR company Lion & Orb and a five-year Eagle Rock resident, said the area still has a close community feel.

“We may not know all of our neighbors by name, but there is a feeling of a small town inside the larger city,” she said. “Our street holds a yearly community yard sale that brings everyone together.”

Woollard cites Eagle Rock’s walkable appeal and local small businesses as a major draw.

“Within a short walk there are bars like Colorado Wine Company and restaurants like Cindy’s and Little Beast, and coffee shops such as Swork and Found Coffee,” she said.

Market snapshot

Portions of the 90041 and 90042 ZIP Codes overlap the Eagle Rock area. In July, the median price for single-family homes in the 90041 ZIP, based on 12 sales, was $725,000, according to CoreLogic. The median price in the 90042 ZIP was $695,000 based on 35 sales.

Report card

There are more than a dozen public and private schools within the boundaries of Eagle Rock. Among the public institutions is Delevan Drive Elementary, which scored 915 out of 1,000 in the 2013 Academic Performance Index. Eagle Rock Elementary scored 887; Santa Rosa Charter Academy had a score of 787; and Eagle Rock High scored 776.

[email protected]