El Sereno · Los Angeles 90032 · APN 5214-002-013
5,604 square feet of vacant hillside above Ascot Reservoir. Downtown to the west, ninety-three acres of open space to the east, and nothing left to build in between. Sold directly by the owner.
The view
Every hillside lot in Los Angeles is sold on its view. Two questions are worth asking instead: how many other parcels have this one, and what happens to it once you have built. On both counts the answer here is set by the shape of the ground rather than by anyone's promise.
Looking west, a second hill cuts the skyline for most of the surrounding area. This parcel sits on the crest, in the narrow position where the majority of the downtown towers stay in frame. To the north is parkland with no lots at all. Behind, the ground falls away toward the reservoir, so nothing back there holds a view. South, the far side of the valley blocks the sightline entirely.
Downtown reads clearly to the west across the valley floor. The land between the parcel and that horizon is the El Sereno flats — already developed, at grade, and well below the elevation of this site.
A substantial new apartment complex has recently gone up at the base of the hill. The most obvious redevelopment opportunity in the sightline is therefore spent, and buildings of that size do not come down.
The eastern side faces Ascot Reservoir and Ascot Hills Park — roughly ninety-three acres of city open space with dirt trails, wildflowers in spring, and no development rights attached. An active reservoir is not a site anyone builds over.
Skyline to the west or open hills to the east. On a lot with public open space on one side and a protected sightline on the other, orientation becomes a design choice rather than a compromise.
The still photographs below were taken from the parcel itself, standing at eye level — not from a drone. What you see is what you would see from the ground floor of anything built here. The video was shot in the adjoining parkland, and is labelled as such.
The parcel
Dimensions scaled from the County Assessor parcel map and rounded. Area figure is the City's calculated value. A boundary survey is the only authority on where the lines actually fall.
Before you offer
Land in the Los Angeles hills carries questions that a photograph can't answer. Here is everything the owner knows, including the parts that are unresolved. Verify all of it independently.
The parcel is zoned [Q]R1-1D-HCR — single-family residential, hillside, with a Q condition attached. The General Plan land use designation is Open Space.
LAMC Sec. 12.08 B provides that where a lot carries an Open Space designation, the uses otherwise allowed in R1 require prior approval under Sec. 12.24.1. Sec. 12.24.1 B then lists the uses that section does not apply to, and the second item on that list is a use consisting of one single-family dwelling, including accessory uses.
Read together, a single house on this lot appears not to require a Land Use Determination from the City Planning Commission. Note that the separate exception route in Sec. 12.24.1 H is not available here — the Director is directed to disapprove an exception request where the property was vacant or undeveloped land. The case therefore rests on the single-family exclusion in Subsection B.
That is the owner's reading of the published code, not a determination by the City. The Q condition attached to the zoning has not yet been reviewed and may carry its own requirements. Take it to Los Angeles City Planning before relying on it.
Otero Drive appears on the recorded subdivision map but was never improved or accepted by the City. Houses on the lots below reach their properties by way of a long-established dirt road.
A buyer should expect the City to test access before issuing a permit. LAMC Sec. 12.21 C.10(i) sets street dedication and roadway width requirements for new one-family construction on hillside lots, including a minimum improved roadway width for the vehicular access route. Order a preliminary title report to establish what access rights are actually recorded, and take the street condition to the Bureau of Engineering.
Kewanee Street is paved up to the parcel. There is a locked gate near its start, at the corner where the reservoir open space begins. The street is not a private street and people live along it, but the gate carries no signage and the owner has not established who controls it.
The likeliest explanations are a historic street vacation or a utility gate serving Ascot Reservoir. This is disclosed as unresolved rather than glossed over.
R1 requires a minimum lot area of 5,000 square feet. At 5,604 square feet, this parcel is over that line — a threshold many small hillside lots in Los Angeles fail.
R1 also calls for a minimum lot width of 50 feet, and front, side and rear yards of 20% of lot depth (capped at 20 feet), 5 feet, and 15 feet respectively. Because the parcel is triangular, its width varies along its length and narrows to a point at the south end. How the City measures width here, and what building envelope survives the setbacks, are questions for a designer or land-use consultant to answer against a real survey.
The lot is inside a designated Hillside Area and the Northeast Los Angeles Hillside Construction Regulation District (ZI-2467). For hillside lots, maximum residential floor area is set by the slope of the land under the R1 Hillside Area development standards at LAMC Sec. 12.21 C.10, rather than by a flat ratio, and grading volumes and haul routes are separately constrained. Fire department access standards apply to any hillside build.
The current assessment reflects a 2023 base year under Proposition 13. On sale, the base year value resets to the purchase price, so a buyer's tax bill will not resemble the seller's. Budget from the offer price, not from the current roll.
This is raw land with no improvements. Overhead power lines run near the site. Confirm the cost and feasibility of service connections with LADWP before relying on them.
Sources — Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor (APN 5214-002-013) · City of Los Angeles ZIMAS, Address/Legal and Planning & Zoning records · owner's own site photography, 2026.
All information is provided in good faith and believed accurate, but is not warranted. Buyer to independently verify zoning, buildability, access, boundaries, utilities and all other material facts. Seller is not a licensed real estate agent and this is not an offer of agency.
For sale by owner
$79,000
Owner financing considered. Terms are open to discussion — tell me what structure works for you.
Serious enquiries and site visits welcome. The lot is easiest to see in the hour before sunset.
Email about this lotted.acu@protonmail.com