Westwood Village is a Mediterranean-inspired urban village that was developed in the 1920s through an unusual partnership between UCLA, local governments, and the Janss Company.

The university, formerly the Los Angeles State Normal School until joining the UC system in 1919, outgrew its facilities in the early 20s and began to seek a new site for major expansion. In 1925, the Regents settled upon a 375-acre location available in the Westwood area, which was largely owned by the Janss realty & development company.

A deal was put together in which bond issues were passed by the cities of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Venice, allowing them to acquire the land parcel for $1.3 million and deed it to the university. The Janss Company saw an opportunity to design and market a model community to accompany the fast-growing university -- a "town for the gown". Harlan Bartholomew, then City Planner of St. Louis, created a town plan with a principal axis culminating at the entrance to the University, carefully designed streetscapes, and architectural standards passed to guarantee a "Mediterranean" feel.

Although Westwood Village today isn't the thriving urban idyll envisioned by its developers, it is a pleasant and well-maintained area with a number of architectural gems. It is still known as one of the only pedestrian-friendly areas in Los Angeles.

Westwood boasts several of the city's most famous movie theaters, including the deco Bruin and Fox Village buildings. The Fox features a remarkable central spire that combines Art Deco and Baroque influences into a presciently rocket-like form, and the Bruin is often chosen for the premiere showings of Hollywood "independent" films.

I wandered around the UCLA campus, seeing among other things the impressive, Italianite central buildings, Royce Hall and Powell Library, and the Armand Hammer art museum.

Finally, I came across a piece of David Geffen money, in the form of the Geffen Playhouse at one edge of the campus. In one of those strange entwinings of style that abound in L.A., this charming mission-style villa was built, originally, as a Masonic Lodge.