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B−History
History · Westmont

22% of Westmont’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 51% of U.S. towns · #149 of 847 in California. What drives it

Below: maps from 1896 on and the census since 1970.

0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

About Westmont’s history

How historic is Westmont?

B−

More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Westmont’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Westmont is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #149 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Westmont’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194021.8% of homes (±3.3) · typical CA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical CA town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 51%
NewerOlder
California towns of 2,500+ (847)Ahead of 83%

Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Westmont’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (31% of California towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.3 points).

Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Westmont’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Westmont are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18967 editions of the USGS map, 1896 to 1981. Watch Westmont change.Old housesHalf of Westmont’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Westmont’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Westmont’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Westmont on the map, 1896 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Westmont. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Westmont on the 1896 USGS mapWestmont on the 1924 USGS mapWestmont on the 1948 USGS mapWestmont on the 1950 USGS mapWestmont on the 1964 USGS mapWestmont on the 1972 USGS mapWestmont on the 1981 USGS map1896Redondo sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Westmont.

The story

How Westmont came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Westmont.

Read it all →

In 2009, Westmont was the subject of a feature story by Hector Tobar in the Los Angeles Times who wrote that the community was "officially (but rarely) called Westmont" but that it had "no "'mont,' not even a hill. It got its name, it seems, from being west of Vermont Avenue." Tobar noted that Westmont's unemployment rate was at the time "a staggering 23.6%, the highest in Los Angeles County."

Five years later, the strip of Vermont Avenue which is shared between Westmont and Vermont Vista was called "death alley" by the newspaper because during the past seven years sixty people had been killed by violence on that two-mile stretch. It remained at the highest rate of killings of any neighborhood in Los Angeles County.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Westmont, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Woodcrest School 1151 109th Street Westmont Los Angeles County 022024Woodcrest School 1151 109th Street Westmont Los Angel…Woodcrest School 1151 109th Street Westmont Los Angeles County 012024Woodcrest School 1151 109th Street Westmont Los Angel…Woodcrest Library LA County Library branch2024Woodcrest Library LA County Library branchRocketship slide in Westmont, Los Angeles, California, United States2024Rocketship slide in Westmont, Los Angeles, California…Black address sign with lighted numbers2022Black address sign with lighted numbers
People over time

Westmont, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,000198020002020Peak: 33,913

Between 27,916 and 33,913 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Westmont’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Los Angeles284 historic placesAWest AthensIts storyDInglewood3 historic placesB

Questions about Westmont’s history

How does Westmont rank for history?

Westmont is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #149 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Westmont?

22% of Westmont’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1956.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.