Streets within the zone's northern part are a one-block portion of Cahuenga Boulevard, Iris Drive, and some of Whitley Avenue; it consists almost exclusively of multi-family apartment buildings.

[5] Hobart J. Whitley bought the hillside area in 1901 and 1903, and hired architect Arthur Barnes to build houses in a Mediterranean style he thought would suit Southern California's climate.

On June 30, 1907, a fire kindled by a resident at the foot of the hill swept over the land, which was covered by a heavy growth of wild mustard and barley, and destroyed "many rare and valuable trees and shrubs" Whitley had planted.

Mr. Whitley intends erecting a handsome home at some future date, and toward this end, he has cultivated and beautified the grounds, laying them out in winding roads and planting a great variety of rare trees and shrubs, some of which were imported from the Hawaiian Islands and Mexico.

[4] The hill's narrow, winding streets, paved in 1926, connected by flights of pedestrian stairs and supported by retaining walls, still serve the community .

Moore traced property titles in the area, gathered old photographs and articles, and read through the papers of Hobart J. Whitley, which were housed in the special collections library at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In April 1983, the Whitley Heights Civic Association was incensed at a developer's plans to build an apartment complex on Las Palmas Avenue, which stirred up a community surge on behalf of fencing off streets around the neighborhood as protection against what one resident called "animal people" who walked up the hill to burglarize homes.

Construction was permanently halted in 1992 when a group called Citizens Against Gated Enclaves successfully sued to prevent the closure of public roadways in Whitley Heights.

[10] Construction of the Hollywood Freeway through the district resulted in the destruction of 49 houses, including those where actors Rudolph Valentino and Charlie Chaplin had lived.