Arlington Heights, Los Angeles

Arlington Heights is a neighborhood in Central Los Angeles, California.

In July 1904, the Los Angeles Evening Express reported the sale of a sixty acre tract known as Arlington Heights for the price of $75,000. The parcel fronted Pico Street and Washington Streets with the Sixteenth Street car line running through the tract. It noted that the property was to be sub divided and the streets "finely improved". By 1906, sub divided lots were listed with selling prices from $995 to $2900. In 1910, the Arlington Heights Improvement Association announced that they spent $16,000 to purchase 10 lots (between Washington and Eighteenth Street) to put up a school that would cost an additional $25,000.

In February 1988, Mount Vernon Junior High was considering an expansion that would have torn down 29 homes in the neighborhood. At that time, the Los Angeles Times described Arlington Heights as an "Inner City Oasis". The school district was considering one of two options: demolition of existing homes or adding new stories to existing buildings. The following month, the Times reported that the expansion plan had been shelved and homes would not be taken. Homeowners said that they still planned to seek historic status for their homes to prevent future condemnation should the district change position.

In the 1990s, there was a movement to rename Mount Vernon Junior High after Wyatt Earp of O. K. Corral fame. The school is located on the site of the gunfighter’s last home at 4004 W. 17th Street. At the time, then councilman Nate Holden said “I like the sound of ‘Wyatt Earp Junior High.’”
Holden's proposal ran into opposition and was later dropped. In 2006, the school was renamed after attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and 17th Street was rechristened as Johnnie Cochran Vista. Cochran had attended Mount Vernon and had been a member of the debating team.

Per Council File: 02 2353, adopted on October 30, 2002, the City of Los Angeles defined Arlington Heights as the area bounded by the west side of Arlington Avenue, the east side of Crenshaw Boulevard, the north side of Washington Boulevard and the south side of Pico Boulevard. At that time, The Los Angeles Department of Transportation was instructed to install neighborhood signs at the following locations: Arlington and Pico Boulevard (southwest corner), Arlington Avenue and Washington Boulevard (northeast corner), Crenshaw and Washington Boulevards (northeast corner), Crenshaw and Venice Boulevards (southeast corner), Crenshaw and Pico Boulevards (southeast corner), Arlington Avenue and Venice Boulevard (northwest corner).

The following statistics apply only to the area defined by the Los Angeles Times Mapping L. A. project:

The 2000 U. S. census counted 22,096 residents in the 1.03 square mile neighborhood—an average of 21,423 people per square mile, among the highest population densities in the county. In 2008, the city estimated that the population had increased to 23,330. The median age for residents was 31, about average for both the city and the county. when compared to the city at large. The ethnic breakdown in 2000 was: Latinos, 56.6%; blacks, 24.5%; Asians, 12.9%; whites, 4.7%; and others, 1.2%. Mexico (34,9%) and El Salvador (20.2%) were the most common places of birth for the 49.8% of the residents who were born abroad, a figure that was considered high in comparison with foreign born in the city as a whole. Since 2015, it has operated as a more traditional nightclub with an array of live DJ sets and performances by house music and rap artists.

Washington Irving Pocket Park 4103 West Washington Boulevard. It is a 13 acre park adjacent to the library.