Rancho Park, Los Angeles, California - Definition and Overview

Rancho Park is a small neighborhood in western Los Angeles, California. It is bordered by Palms on the south, West Los Angeles on the west and north, and Cheviot Hills and Beverlywood on the east. Major thoroughfares include Pico, Westwood, and Olympic Boulevards and Overland Avenue. The Santa Monica Freeway separates the district from Palms.

Apart from the heavily traveled stretch of Pico Boulevard (including the Westside Pavilion shopping mall) in its central portions, Rancho Park has a notably quiet, suburban feel. Its housing stock consists largely of Mediterranean-style bungalows and ranch houses on streets with faux 19th-century streetlights and large deciduous trees. While not as upscale as Cheviot Hills or Brentwood, it is generally a fairly affluent neighborhood.

Since 2002, the ongoing reconstruction of Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles has considerably disrupted the neighborhood's quiet: as Overland Avenue provides a direct route between Santa Monica Boulevard and the Santa Monica Freeway, it has become a favorite thoroughfare for trucks traveling from industrial areas to the construction site.