Bradna Dr, View Park-Windsor Hills

Located just to north of Inglewood and adjacent to View Park with which it is often paired, Windsor Hills is an affluent African American neighborhood that in many ways resembles nearby Ladera Heights.

The homes in Windsor Hills are not quite as large and stately as those in View Park. There are a lot more large split-level Ranch homes here. These are not the tiny rundown looking Ranch homes that you find throughout much of Southern California, but the larger, 1970’s styles Ranches like the kind found on TV shows like The Brady Bunch. Many homes here however are more unusual than this, and it is not uncommon to find an odd boxy looking modernist type home with tall front windows or unusual terraced front lawns highlighted by bushes sculpted into geometric shapes.

The neighborhood is on a hillside so many of the homes also include a pretty good inland view of South LA (much better than the oil fields that make up much of the view of Ladera Heights). Up atop the neighborhood is one of the major arteries—Stocker--which is bordered by a green space where there is a trail many residents like to hike or jog along because of its greenery and views.

Past Stocker there is yet another slice of residential Windsor Hills where many of the older homes are located. You can even find some fairly old apartment buildings here. The streets up on this section have a bit of a Spanish theme with names like Don Miguel, Don Lorenzo, Don Valdez and my personal favorite as a lit geek, Don Quixote. Though the homes are not as large and the streets are much narrower here than below Stocker, there is something very attractive about this neighborhood. The tightly packed homes and yards make the neighborhood feel somewhat like a Florida vacation home area for some reason. Unfortunately, there are also some reminders that that this is not the safest of neighborhoods: many of the homes have bars across the windows and doors.

Following the green space next to Stocker you come to Norman O Houston Park which is a nice grassy park with a basketball court, well-maintained exercise stations and a sandbox with play area for the kiddies. Unfortunately, local gangs will also hold parties here as well.

On the far western corner of the neighborhood is Windsor Hills Elementary. It is an interesting story. It used to be well liked by the surrounding community, but starting in about 2007, the combination of budget cuts and an off putting principal have diminished parental support. Some parents have gone so far as to pull their children out of the school. Among the complaints is the fact that the students are left relatively unsupervised during recess and lunch and that overall discipline is lacking.

Unfortunately many of the upper levels schools—middle schools and high school are equally bad if not worse.

Overall, this is a good neighborhood to live, but it would be better if schools were better and the gangs not so prevalent.