Century City

The Best City within the City of Los Angeles is not downtown. It’s Century City. The obvious fact is that it is a truly planned and well-designed community. The land area was sold from 20th Century Fox studio and developed by Alcoa. Built to the most modern Earthquake standards it became the City built with a plan.
This is the urban lifestyle. The fact that anyone can go to the mountains or to the beach is great for all people living in LA. But walking to work and being one of the few fortunate people to live there is a savings of years of hours of driving. It makes sense to the people who live there with the skyline of a beautiful city. Think of this; compare trying to live near downtown LA. We have one of the most unique things of all, a great City providing a community of workplace with valuable properties surrounding it.
I have friends who live there. The dwellings are fantastic, valuable for resale and slow turnover. Neighbors do know each other, they have lived there for a long time.

Century City is not really a city. It is a mainly commercial area developed just west of Beverly Hills. It used to be one of 20th Century Fox’s backlots. In 1961, the studio sold the parcel, which is only 180 acres, to a developer who eventually built a number of high rises, including office space, a shopping mall, the Century City Plaza Hotel and the ABC Entertainment Center. These were some of LA’s first “skyscrapers.”

The ABC Entertainment Center contained ABC’s television network operations. It also boasted the Schubert Theater, which, despite its unfriendly seating, was the place to see many performances from the late 1970’s until its demolition in 2002. The space is now occupied by a new glass building where the famous Creative Artists Agency calls home.

The shopping mall in Century City opened to the public in 1964. At the time, it was small and the only major retailer was the Broadway. It has been renovated several times, each time bringing more space and more choices, including a Bullock’s and a market (the “Marketplace”) instead of a food court. The AMC movie complex added in 1987 contained 14 theaters, making it one of the largest in the country. This was probably the high point for the mall. As department stores went under in the 1990’s, Broadway and Bullock’s were both casualties. Bought by the Westfield Group in 2002, the mall was redone once again, and has acquired more trendy and expensive shops. The current name is the Westfield Century City, and it is still a very popular place to shop for residents of surrounding areas.

The people who live in Century City live in condominiums or apartments. There are no single homes.

According to the LA Department of City Planning estimates in 2008, there are just under 6000 people living in Century City, less than 700 of them being school age.

While Century City is part of the LA Unified School District, there are no schools within the area. High School students used to go to Hamilton High School to the south; they now go to University High School to the West. Century City is immediately adjacent to Beverly Hills and residents facing east can Beverly Hills High School out the window. However, BHHS generally does not allow Century City residents to attend.

During the day there are almost 50,000 people working in Century City. The office space is consider prime and is used by a wide range of businesses.

The hotel, still called the Century Plaza Hotel, it is now a Hyatt Regency, although it changed hands in 2008. The new owners were prevented from demolishing it since it is now on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of the most endangered historic places in America. After a million dollar renovation of the guest rooms, as well as areas for business meetings and parties, the hotel markets itself as a luxury destination with an award-winning restaurant and popular bar. Because of its location, the Century Plaza Hotel is a good base to explore all of Los Angeles.

I wouldn't really consider Century City as a place to live or hang out. I know that there are residential spots within Century City; but, if you really wanted to live in this area, I would say Westwood is the better bet. Century City isn't by the beach, it isn't by any parks, it isn't really by anything except for traffic and big buildings. Century City is also, unfortunately, right in the midst of where a lot of big streets all come together: Santa Monica Blvd, Pico, Olympic, Beverly Glen. So, this area is always really congested -- especially at Wilshire.
As far as I know, Century City has always been the home of business offices associated with entertainment. It used to be the backyard of Fox Studios and now CAA has their mothership right in the heart of it (hilariously referred to as The Death Star). There are a lot of "skyscrapers" here and they are filled with mostly law firms, entertainment law firms, entertainment management companies, etc.
The one shining star about Century City is the mall. It's probably my favorite mall in Los Angeles. It doesn't have the best shops by any stretch of the imagination, but it's outdoor and it just has a good energy to it. The movie theatre in the mall is pretty spectacular, too, though it's always crowded. It is really nice to go mill about outdoors, catch a movie and then a drink at Houston's while you're waiting for the traffic to die down. But, honestly, that mall is the only reason I ever go to the Century.