Westmont, CA

Across just 1.85 square miles, Westmont counted 33,913 residents in the 2020 census. Closely spaced homes and apartments fill its tight street grid. The community is unincorporated, and there is no separate city hall. Los Angeles County sets land-use rules and supplies many local services, including the Woodcrest branch of the county library on West 106th Street. County planning pairs Westmont with West Athens, the adjoining unincorporated community directly to the south. A Westmont address sits within two overlapping geographies: the Census-designated place used for population data and a larger West Athens-Westmont area used for planning, zoning, parks, and transit-oriented policy.

Across that combined planning area, residential land covers most blocks. Much of its tract housing dates from the late 1920s through the 1950s, including Spanish Colonial Revival, Minimal Traditional, and Minimal Ranch forms. Small multifamily buildings are common north of Interstate 105, often on the same neighborhood-scale blocks as detached houses. Commerce is concentrated along Western, Normandie, and Vermont avenues, where smaller shops, service businesses, automotive repair, and storefront churches interrupt long residential stretches. Woodcrest Library supplies public computers, internet access, homework support, and programs near the center of Westmont. Farther south, Interstate 105 and the Metro C Line cut across the broader planning area. The Vermont/Athens station sits in the freeway median, linking local bus service with the regional rail network.

The larger district includes the public Los Angeles Southwest College campus. Odessa Cox and other residents began pressing for a local community college in 1947, and classes opened at Western Avenue and Imperial Highway on September 11, 1967, with 600 students. The current campus includes a library and Little Theater, career and technical education facilities, a science building, athletics, and high-school programs. The campus is also central to Connect Southwest LA. Effective June 20, 2024, the plan sets detailed rules for future housing, mixed-use development, streets, and public space around the college and Vermont/Athens station. The college-town concept remains at the planning stage. Woodcrest Library serves Westmont at neighborhood scale; the college and C Line station serve the wider paired district at its southern end.