Bel Air, Los Angeles, CA

Bel Air climbs from Sunset Boulevard into the Santa Monica Mountains across from UCLA, and in Los Angeles it is shorthand for estates tucked behind hedges on winding hillside roads. Alphonzo Bell laid it out in 1923 with large lots and Italian street names, and the white East and West Gates on Sunset still mark the way in. Homes in Bel Air cover almost every era of Southern California residential design. Lots are large and often gated, and streets follow canyons and ridges rather than a grid, so views shift from mountains to city to ocean within a few turns. The Hotel Bel-Air on Stone Canyon Road has been a local landmark since 1946, with guests crossing a footbridge over Swan Lake to reach twelve acres of gardens. Its restaurant, developed with Wolfgang Puck, is open to the public. Outdoor time usually means trails at the neighborhood's edges. The Getty View Trailhead on Sepulveda leads up toward the ridge, and Franklin Canyon Park, with its small lake and more than five miles of paths, is a short drive east. Daily life in Bel Air is quiet, private and built around the car. The few shops sit in small pockets along upper Roscomare Road, near Sepulveda and Moraga, and at Beverly Glen Circle just past Mulholland. On Roscomare, Joanie & Leigh's Cakes still bakes layer cakes, and Moraga Vineyards grows wine grapes on a hillside off Sepulveda. The tradeoff is how little is walkable. The Roscomare strip has lost both its small grocery and its ice cream shop, so even milk means a drive down the hill. What you get in return is stillness, the sound of sprinklers and birds on streets where a passing car is an event.