Jefferson Park United Friends of the Jefferson Park Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) received an award at the Los Angeles Conservancy Historic Neighborhoods Conference on Saturday, October 15 in recognition for community outreach promoting preservation in Jefferson Park. 


Photo credit: Jessica Hodgdon, L.A. Conservancy

Jefferson Park United Friends of the Jefferson Park Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) received an award at the Los Angeles Conservancy Historic Neighborhoods Conference on Saturday, October 15 in recognition for community outreach promoting preservation in Jefferson Park. Their outreach includes a welcome packet for each new homeowner with information about the Preservation Zone, restoration that can be completed and how to go about it and information about UNNC. UNNC has actively supported this effort and Board Members Marius Stelly and John Arnold were on hand to receive the award.

Some of the efforts untaken and specifically mentioned in the award were:

  • Creation of the Jefferson Park United Website and Door Hangers with funds from UNNC and West Adams Heritage Association: JP grassroots organizing took “an innovative approach to outreach by viewing the creation of a historic district as a way to further strengthening and enhancing the community. To create as inclusive and transparent a process as possible, neighborhood outreach and constant communication with stakeholders was key. The group created a website to serve the community at large…” including a section dedicated to the HPOZ. “With a limited budget [JPU] produced a bold bilingual [Spanish and English6] door hanger to announce the [OHR] public workshop…” resulting in “significant community involvement….”7 The JPU organizing effort resulted in an overwhelming (more than 100 attendees at the hearing) and virtually unanimous support for the HPOZ.
  • Welcome Packets: A distinct challenge in a large HPOZ is ensuring that new residents are well informed about the community. To date, we created and distributed 100 “Welcome Packets” to new homeowners; providing information about the benefits and responsibilities of living in an HPOZ.
  • Realtor Notification: We send an email reminding Realtors that their listing is in an HPOZ and it is required that they disclose such information to potential buyers. This ongoing project is extremely successful in raising awareness of the JPHPOZ among realtors.
  • Jefferson Park Poster: A third community wide notification of the JPHPOZ was a beautiful, celebratory, educational, museum quality poster featuring photographic portraits of 42 JPHPOZ houses. The poster, created by The Friends, was distributed in protective tubes to all residents of the JPHPOZ before Christmas 2015 with the support of UNNC and WAHA. It served to raise awareness of the HPOZ and increase neighborhood pride.
  • Street Signs: With the help of UNNC, Council President Herb Wesson, and a donor, we created 12, 30”x30” metal street signs with the City seal, identifying the area as a historic zone The signs, approved by the Department of Transportation, were installed in 2013 at the main entries to the HPOZ and serve as the fourth and ongoing communitywide notification. The signs also promote a sense of place and pride in the HPOZ. Friends is currently fundraising to create and place smaller individual signs for each street.


Jefferson Park Poster Supported by UNNC

Jefferson Park Door Hangers Funded by UNNC


Jefferson Park Welcome Packet

Map of Jefferson Park

City of Los Angeles Information on Jefferson Park HPOZ