[1] The future site of Sawtelle has been an important location in the Los Angeles Basin for centuries, due to its abundant spring water.

The institution grew steadily, and the continuous expansion of the veterans' home prompted the construction of multiple railroad lines to the complex.

[6][7] With the growth of the Pacific Branch, the residents of the established city of Santa Monica quickly began objecting to the veterans' large economic and political influence, as well as their drunkenness.

Despite this animosity by Santa Monica, other parties remained interested in the area, with its large population of veterans drawing federal pensions.

[8]: 198–200 In 1896, the Pacific Land Company purchased a 225-acre (0.91 km2) tract, just south of the veterans' home, and hired S. H. Taft to develop a new town.

[11] In 1905, residential lots and larger tracts in the new Westgate Subdivision, which joined “the beautiful Soldier’s Home”, and which were owned and promoted by Jones and Baker’s Santa Monica Land and Water Company, were for sale.

The annexation was opposed by the city Board of Trustees, and was quickly contested in court by residents who claimed that they were not properly informed about Los Angeles' municipal debt.

[8]: 223–226  The California Supreme Court declared the annexation invalid in September 1921, ending a conflict described by the Los Angeles Times as “one of the longest and most bitter fights in the history of municipal governments in the State.

[16] Despite their initial success, the Sawtelle city officials who resisted the annexation were replaced in the next municipal election by a slate of pro-annexation candidates.

[17] Sawtelle's history is in part defined by its Japanese American community, which formed as a response to exclusionary policies in other areas of Los Angeles.

[18] These are remnants of a larger Japanese American presence in the area before the population was disrupted by World War II, when many were displaced by Japanese-American internment.

This unincorporated area consists of six parcels near the intersection of the San Diego Freeway and Santa Monica Boulevard, owned either by the US government or the state of California.

[25] By limiting car traffic and prompting drivers to slow down, the pilot program was implemented to reclaim neighborhood roads for pedestrians, joggers, children and people with disabilities.

Sawtelle is home to two independent arthouse movie theaters that are important cultural institutions to greater Los Angeles's film community.

It showcases domestic and foreign independent films and holds regular screenings of The Rocky Horror Show and other midnight movies.

Albums recorded at The Village include Steely Dan's Aja, Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage, and Bob Dylan's Planet Waves.

Many major motion picture and television soundtracks were also recorded here, including O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Toy Story 2, Walk the Line, The X Files, Wall-E, The Shawshank Redemption.

[28] Stoner Park is a natural hub of the Sawtelle neighborhood with its attendant tennis courts, children's playground, skate plaza, seasonal outdoor pool, recreation center and Japanese garden.

This area, containing former hospital and apartment buildings and the historical veteran's home, and now converted to research and office space, is mostly north of Wilshire Boulevard.

It was part of a controversial plan in the 1960s, in which the property was proposed to be exchanged for Hazard Park in Boyle Heights, which would become home to a new VA hospital.

The plan was shelved after seven years because of heavy public opposition.,[36][37] and instead, the present West Los Angeles Medical Center was built as the new hospital, in 1977.

Barbara Koh of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The racial percentages in Sawtelle in the 1990 Census were virtually unchanged from 1980".