Los Angeles City Council District 5
# Los Angeles City Council District 5

Los Angeles City Council District 5 is one of the 15 districts of the Los Angeles City Council. District 5 represents Los Angeles communities in the Westside, central-eastern Santa Monica Mountains, and central-southern San Fernando Valley. Katy Young Yaroslavsky is the current council member.

## Geography

### Present day district

The district covers all or a portion of the following communities and neighborhoods:

**Westside**

Bel Air, Beverly Crest, Beverly Grove, Beverlywood, California Country Club, Carthay Circle, Century City, Cheviot Hills, Comstock Hills, western Fairfax District, Holmby Hills, Melrose, Palms, Pico-Robertson, Roscomare, Westwood, UCLA, and Westside Village.

**Valley**

Encino and Oak Forest Canyon.

For all the neighborhoods within the 5th District, see the official City of Los Angeles map of District 5.

### Historical locations

The 5th District was mapped at its origin in 1925 in the West Adams District of Los Angeles, but over the years its boundaries have been shifted west and north in keeping with the city's population changes.

A new city charter effective in 1925 replaced the former "at large" voting system for a nine-member council with a district system with a 15-member council. Each district was to be approximately equal in population, based upon the voting in the previous gubernatorial election; thus redistricting was done every four years. (At present, redistricting is done every ten years, based upon the preceding U.S. census results.) The numbering system established in 1925 for City Council districts began with No. 1 in the north of the city, the San Fernando Valley, and ended with No. 15 in the south, the Harbor area.

The 5th District originally encompassed the West Adams area, bounded on the north by Washington Boulevard, on the south by Exposition Boulevard, on the west by Robertson Boulevard and on the east approximately by Vermont Avenue.

The district has followed the increase in the population in Los Angeles from the west-of-Vermont area westward and northward toward the San Fernando Valley. Rough boundaries or descriptions of the 5th District have been as follows:

1926: West Adams and Jefferson Street area, with district headquarters at 2646 South Normandie Avenue.

1928: "The east boundary of the Fifth District remains as Vermont avenue and the south boundary remains as Exposition Boulevard. The north boundary runs from Vermont avenue west on Washington street to Western avenue and then the line turns north on Western avenue to Eighth street and west on Eighth street to West Boulevard, which constitutes the western boundary."

1932–33. "Bounded on the east by Vermont avenue, on the north by Wilshire Boulevard, on the west by La Brea avenue and on the south by Exposition Boulevard."

1937: ". . . on the east by Western to Pico, by Hobart to Washington, and by Vermont to Exposition and on the west by Crenshaw and Rimpau."

1940: On the north by Wilshire Boulevard, on the east by Western or Vermont, on the south by Exposition Boulevard, on the west by Arlington, Crenshaw and minor streets.

1949: ". . . part of the general Wilshire area."

1957: Part of the Wilshire Boulevard area, extending to Westwood and West Los Angeles.

1965. From Fairfax Avenue to the San Diego Freeway and from Bel-Air and Beverly Hills south to Washington Boulevard.

## Population

According to the official website, the district has approximately 260,000 residents. The population is 74% White non-Hispanic, 10% Asian, 8% Latino, 4% mixed race, and 3% Black. The district is composed of approximately 46% homeowners and 54% renters.

## Officeholders

District 5 has been represented by eleven council members.

| Name | Term of office |
| - | - |
| Robert Stewart Sparks | 1925–1927 |
| Virgil A. Martin | 1927–1931 |
| Roy Donley | 1931–1933 |
| Byron B. Brainard | 1933–1939 |
| Arthur E. Briggs | 1939–1941 |
| Ira J. McDonald | 1941–1945 |
| George P. Cronk | 1945–1953 |
| Rosalind Wiener Wyman | 1953–1965 |
| Edmund D. Edelman | 1965–1975 |
| Zev Yaroslavsky | 1975–1995 |
| Mike Feuer | 1995–2001 |
| Jack Weiss | 2001–2009 |
| Paul Koretz | 2009–2022 |
| Katy Young Yaroslavsky | 2022-Present |

### Council member ephemera

* Robert Stewart Sparks's nickname was "Cupid," and he gave romantic advice.
* Roy Donley was acquitted on a charge of accepting a bribe.
* Byron B. Brainard died of strangulation on a piece of meat.
* Arthur E. Briggs was a law school dean.
* Rosalind Wiener Wyman, at age 22, was the youngest council member ever seated, and the second woman elected to the city council.
* Zev Yaroslavsky and Edmund D. Edelman were later elected Los Angeles County Supervisors.
