Daily Breeze Article about Hollyglen



Daily Breeze Article about Hollyglen

By Cerise A. Valenzuela of the Daily Breeze

November 18, 2001, Pages B1 and B3

[Reprinted with permission.]

Quiet. Affordable. Safe. Freeway close.

For residents of Hawthorne's tight-knit Hollyglen,

it's always a beautiful day in their neighborly 'hood

nestled between El Segundo Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue, in the shadow of the San Diego Freeway, is the South Bay's best-kept secret. That's how residents of Hollyglen refer to their neighborhood.

"Shhhhh, don't tell too much," Bob Wilson said as he stood in his driveway. "Everyone will want to move here."

Wilson and his wife, Ruth, are newcomers. They moved to Hollyglen about a year ago, but they're already protective of the Hawthorne haven. "It's $100,000 cheaper here than it is across the street in Manhattan Beach," he says.

"Here" is where tree-lined streets are often closed for block parties and potlucks are set months in advance. Neighbors here not only know each other, but like each other. They walk each other's children to the three nearby schools and a park with tennis courts and a wading pool. There's even a welcoming committee.

"We call it Mayberry," said Lori Hughes, 42, a resident of 10 years. "We don't have any neighbors we don't like."

Neighbors, Hughes included, have been known to give iced tea to the letter carrier and freshly baked cookies to the United Parcel Service delivery man. One neighbor on West 138th Place repairs surfboards in his garage. Another near Isis Avenue buys a truckload of pumpkins each year and invites families and friends over to carve jack-o-lanterns.

When one neighbor is sick, another mows his lawn, and Friday begins the annual race to be the first with a decorated home for the holidays.

Gillian McLean bought her home in Hollyglen after renting for several years. It's a good sign, she said, when neighbors are comfortable taking late-night strolls or early-morning jogs with their dogs. And she's grown equally comfortable with friendly neighbors.

"I've lived here so long now I don't know what other people's neighborhoods are like," she says. "But I know if I need a ladder I can borrow it from my neighbor, if their dogs are out we help catch them and we keep an eye out for each other. Is that unusual?"

Hollyglen's rare charms include low traffic, too.

With only three entrances to the area, traffic is usually slow and if you're just passing through or in an unfamiliar car, Neighborhood Watch has you pegged in minutes. Porch lights go on and eyes peer through sheer curtains. On 138th Place, Jack is on your trail within seconds. He's the self-appointed neighborhood cat who lurks in the bushes and bolts from tree to tree, hiding while he studies visitors as if he's filling out a report.

"It's very quiet. When we first moved here we couldn't sleep," said Lori's husband, Dave Hughes. "You don't find too many neighborhoods like this anymore."

Houses sold for $13,000 to $15,000 when the tract opened in 1955. Buyers got in for a few hundred dollars down and less than $100 a month. Hollyglen was the early answer for families that wanted to be 15 minutes from Westchester. Now listings and fliers handed out at open houses tout the neighborhood as "freeway-close" and "Manhattan Beach-adjacent".

Homes start in the high $290,000 to $350,000 and remodeled houses with room additions go for $375,000. Hollyglen homes sell quickly, sometimes within two days. But the sales average is about a week, said real estate broker Kathy Jenkins, who drives a Hum-V with painted on the side.

Residents are a blend of original owners and young families. Many, like Jenkins who was raised in Hollyglen, are returning to buy their first homes. She bought her home 12 years ago. About 20 percent of the area's residents are migrating from Manhattan Beach and downsizing, she said. Residents had originally flocked to the area in the mid-'50s because they couldn't afford housing in Inglewood.

So what's the attraction now?

"I think it's very popular because it's a hidden secret. No one really knows it's here. We're only four miles from the beach and it's a family-oriented community where everybody looks after everyone else," Jenkins said. "I consider it the Beverly Hills of Hawthorne."

"I have a 14-year-old daughter," she said. "It was great when she was playing soccer. She could walk to school, soccer games and softball games by herself. I feel it's a very safe neighborhood."

Robin Hartman and her husband, Terry, moved from nearby Moneta Gardens to Hollyglen because it promised safety.

"We lived in an apartment complex," she said. "I went in the garage. When I turned around there were three men coming in the garage toward me, and my husband was standing in the doorway with a shotgun in his hands. That was the last straw."

Hartman said her husband grew up in the neighborhood and that much of the same charm he described remains there today.

"There are a lot of giving people and caring people who live here. We've been here 16 years now," said the 45-year-old.

"You just can't beat Hollyglen. There's no other place like it," she said.

Matthew Domeno is part of what makes the neighborhood unique. Each year, just before Halloween, he and his brother Tim buy a truckload of pumpkins, spill them out in the yard, and let the neighborhood kids carve characters. Fliers sent door-to-door tell residents when to expect the party.

The tradition started small six years ago, with just a few friends and children, said Matthew Domeno.

"It's just something that we like to do. Parties cost money, but the opportunities to get all my friends together is worth it to me. People here like each other and that really makes living here worth it."

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