[1] Almost all of today's Cheviot Hills was within the Spanish land grant known as Rancho Rincon de los Bueyes.

[6][7][8][9] From the 1920s to 1953, the streetcar line known as the Santa Monica Air Line of the Pacific Electric system ran along the southern edge of Cheviot Hills and provided passenger service between Cheviot Hills, downtown Los Angeles, and downtown Santa Monica.

[10][11] Much of the neighborhood east of Motor Avenue and south of Forrester Drive was built on the site of the former California Country Club, and the residences date to the early 1950s.

[9][12] The neighborhood features several homes by prominent architects, such as the Strauss-Lewis House by Raphael Soriano and the Harry Culver Estate, designed by Wallace Neff.

[20][21] The neighborhood was originally developed by W.R. McConnell, Fred W. Forrester, and John P. Haynes[22] and consists of sixteen blocks along the northern side of Cheviot Hills bound by the Hillcrest Country Club, Cheviot Hills Park, and Rancho Park Golf Course to the north, west, and east and Lorenzo, Forrester, and Club Drive to the south.

[21] Many of the lots are large, often covering several parcels, and homes were designed by prominent architects including John L. DeLario, Roland E. Coartes, Wallace Neff, and Eugene R.

The neighborhood was originally developed by Sanford Adler,[25] the owner of the Flamingo Las Vegas and El Rancho Hotel and Casino,[26][27] and included homes built by architects such as A. Quincy Jones.

Examples dating to the 1920s and 1930s include the Laurel and Hardy films The Finishing Touch, Big Business, and Bacon Grabbers, among others.

[30] In 1968, John Martin moved his two-year old publishing company Black Sparrow Press into a small cottage behind a friend’s house on Kilrenney Avenue in Cheviot Hills.

[31] From those modest accommodations, Martin published some of Black Sparrow’s most well-known titles, including early Charles Bukowski books such as the poetry collection The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills and the author’s debut novel, Post Office.

[33] The neighborhood was considered "not especially diverse" ethnically, with a high percentage of white people in comparison to the rest of Los Angeles.

[38] Sixty percent of Cheviot Hills residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, a high figure for both the city and the county.