Remember in the classic film It’s A Wonderful Life when George Bailey sees how different the world would have been if he hadn’t been there to change things? Well, we’d like to take this opportunity to share a few scenarios you’ve likely never imagined, but would absolutely be true if it hadn’t been for your Homeowner’s Association:

• There would be a freeway running through the northern part of Hancock Park – In 1968 the HPHA fought the City and won, stopping the “Beverly Hills Freeway”.
• The surrounding neighborhood may have become a sea of enormous commercial buildings – The HPHA helped develop the 1969 Master Plan for Wilshire Blvd. creating the land use protections that are still in place.
• There would be no Highland Ave median – there would now be six lanes of traffic running down Highland from Melrose to Wilshire – In 1972 the HPHA was successful in saving the median by having it declared an Historic Monument.
• There would be no HPOZ to protect our beautiful historic homes – From 1998 to 2007 the neighborhood and HPHA worked with the City to have our neighborhood designated an HPOZ (Historic Preservation Overlay Zone). This stopped teardowns and preserved the beautiful street visible facades of our historic homes.
• There would be no neighborhood communication system, including email and Block Captain communications – Our email system is 800+ strong sending out important information, including helping hundreds of neighborhood pets find their way home.
• Cut-through traffic would render parts of the neighborhood unlivable – The traffic mitigation on Melrose and Beverly would not be in place, and cut through speeding traffic would be even worse than it is! There would be no Crossing Guard for Third Streets School and Yavneh Academy.
• Our neighborhood beautification projects would not be in place – Parkway trees would not be trimmed; stumps would not be removed and replacement trees would not be planted or maintained; Local School beautification of JB and 3rd Street would not have occurred and without our aggressive graffiti removal system, graffiti would be rampant.

Please do your part to support this important work to ensure Hancock Park remains a wonderful oasis in a crowded city! The HPHA board is comprised of volunteers, but we need our residents to pay their dues to support our efforts on your behalf.

You can now pay dues on line. Go to www.HancockPark.org and click on the DONATE button. Or use the dues envelope which will be included in our mailing! Don’t forget to include your email address!