Los Angeles's 4th City Council district
Government
 • Councilmember. Nithya Raman
. D–Silver Lake
Population
 (2020)
 • Total272,039
Demographics
 • White60.9%
 • Asian16%
 • Hispanic14.5%
 • Black4.4%
 • Other0.2%
Websitecouncildistrict4.lacity.gov
Registered voters (2017) 167,235

Los Angeles's 4th City Council district is one of the fifteen districts in the Los Angeles City Council. It is currently represented by Democrat Nithya Raman since 2020 after she defeated David Ryu in that year's election. The district is situated in Central Los Angeles, the southern San Fernando Valley, and eastern Santa Monica Mountains.

The district was created in 1925 after a new city charter was passed, which replaced the former at-large voting system for a nine-member council with a district system with a 15-member council. The council district includes many of the city's tourist destinations, such as the Hollywood Boulevard district, the La Brea Tar Pits and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Farmers Market and The Grove, Griffith Park with the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood Bowl, and district adjacent Universal Studios.

Geography

The district is at the center of Los Angeles, with the unusually shaped district reaching into Koreatown and Mid-Wilshire on the south; through the Miracle Mile, Fairfax District, and Hollywood Hills into Sherman Oaks on the west; through much of Hollywood and over Cahuenga Pass into North Hollywood on the north; and through Los Feliz and Griffith Park into much of Silver Lake on the east.[1]

It is encompassed in California's 30th and 32nd congressional districts as well as California's 24th, 26th, and 27th State Senate districts and California's 44th, 46th, 51st, and 52nd State Assembly districts.

Historical boundaries

The district was preceded by the Fourth Ward, which was established in 1878 and added three seats to the Los Angeles Common Council, alongside the fifth ward. It included parts of Los Angeles to the west of the Los Angeles River, including the new neighborhood of Boyle Heights.[2][3] The district was obsolete when the at-large district was first established in 1889.

In 1889, the ward was re-established as a single-member ward, as part of the passing of the 1888 charter. It elected one member through a plurality vote before the ward became obsolete when the at-large district was re-established again in 1909.[4]

In 1925, the district was created and was originally bounded on the north by Santa Monica Boulevard, east by Vermont or Hoover Avenue, south by Washington Boulevard and west by Western Avenue.[5][6] It was described later the same year as simply "Wilshire and Pico Heights."[7] In 1928, with "the exception that seven precincts are added to it in the territory bounded by Vermont Avenue and Hoover Street and Sunset Boulevard and Melrose Avenue," the boundaries remained at "Hoover street on the east, Western avenue on the west, Melrose avenue on the north and Washington street on the south."[8]

In 1933, "due to the exceptional growth of the western part of the city, a general movement toward the ocean was necessary."[9][10] In 1937, it was bounded on the west by Crenshaw Boulevard, on the north by the 5th district and Exposition Boulevard, on the east by the city boundary and on the south by Vernon Avenue.[11] By 1940, the "general trend is westward and northeastward, due to heavy construction in the San Fernando Valley and the beach areas."[12] In 1955, it encompassed "much of the Wilshire district and in general [was] bounded by Fountain Avenue, Wilshire Boulevard, Fairfax Avenue and Catalina Street."[13]

By 1975, it was moved to Central Los Angeles, with the boundaries at Fairfax and Highland Avenues on the west, to Santa Monica Boulevard on the north, the Pasadena Freeway on the east and Olympic Boulevard on the south.[14] In 1986, it was described as "a contorted district that included the old areas as well as Atwater, Griffith Park, Forest Lawn Drive and parts of the central San Fernando Valley to Colfax Avenue and Victory Boulevard."[15] In 1989, the district stretched from Hancock Park to Studio City.[16]

List of members representing the district

1878–1889

Dates Councilmembers
Councilmember Party Electoral history Councilmember Party Electoral history Councilmember Party Electoral history
Multi-member ward established December 5, 1878
December 5, 1878 –
December 5, 1879
William H. Workman		 Democratic Elected in 1878.
Re-elected in 1879.
[data missing]
Samuel J. Beck		 Republican Elected in 1878.
Re-elected in 1879.
Retired to run for
City Tax Collector.
Samuel M. Perry		 Republican Elected in 1878.
Lost re-election.
December 5, 1879 –
December 11, 1880
O. H. Bliss		 Democratic Elected in 1879.
[data missing]
December 11, 1880 –
December 10, 1881
Bernard Cohn		 Democratic Elected in 1880.
Re-elected in 1881.
Retired to run
for Mayor.
Burdette Chandler		 Democratic Elected in 1880.
Re-elected in 1881.
Lost re-election.
December 10, 1881 –
December 9, 1882
George Kerckhoff		 Democratic Elected in 1881.
Re-elected in 1882.
[data missing]
December 9, 1882 –
December 8, 1883
Joseph W. Wolfskill		 Republican Elected in 1882.
Re-elected in 1883.
[data missing]
Alfred L. Bush		 Republican Elected in 1882.
Resigned.
Vacant
December 8, 1883 –
December 9, 1884
D. E. Miles		 Democratic Elected in 1883.
Re-elected in 1884.
[data missing]
Frank Sabichi		 Democratic Elected in 1883.
[data missing]
December 9, 1884 –
December 10, 1885
Milton Santee		 Republican Elected in 1884.
Re-elected in 1885.
[data missing]
James D. Bullis		 Republican Elected in 1884.
Re-elected in 1885.
[data missing]
December 10, 1885 –
December 13, 1886
Samuel M. Perry		 Republican Elected in 1885.
Re-elected 1886.
[data missing]
December 13, 1886 –
December 12, 1887
Joseph Hyans		 Democratic Elected in 1886.
Resigned.
John Lovell		 Republican Elected in 1886.
Re-elected in 1888.
[data missing]
Vacant
December 12, 1887 –
December 10, 1888
Bernard Cohn		 Democratic Elected in 1887.
Re-elected in 1888.
Redistricted to the
single-member ward
and retired.
Burdette Chandler		 Democratic Elected in 1887.
[data missing]
December 10, 1888 –
February 21, 1889
Anthony McNally		 Democratic Elected in 1888.
Redistricted to the
7th ward and lost
re-election.
Edward R. Threlkeld		 Democratic Elected in 1888.
Redistricted to the
single-member ward
and lost re-election.
Multi-member ward eliminated February 21, 1889

1889–1909

Councilmember Party Dates Electoral history
Single-member ward established February 25, 1989

Jacob Frankenfield
(South Park)		 Republican February 25, 1889 –
December 5, 1890		 Elected in 1889.
[data missing]

William H. Rhodes
(Wilshire Center)		 Republican December 5, 1890 –
December 12, 1894		 Elected in 1890.
Re-elected in 1892.
[data missing]

Samuel H. Kingery
(Wilshire Center)		 Democratic December 12, 1894 –
December 16, 1896		 Elected in 1894.
[data missing]

Herman Silver
(Westlake)		 Republican December 16, 1896 –
December 12, 1900		 Elected in 1896.
Re-elected in 1898.
Retired to run for Mayor of Los Angeles.

Pomeroy W. Powers
(Alvarado Terrace)		 Republican December 12, 1900 –
December 5, 1902		 Elected in 1900.
Retired to run for Mayor of Los Angeles.

Theodore Summerland
(Alvarado Terrace)		 Republican December 5, 1902 –
December 13, 1906		 Elected in 1902.
Re-elected in 1904.
[data missing]

Niles Pease
(Westlake)		 Republican December 13, 1906 –
December 10, 1909		 Elected in 1906.
Retired.
Single-member ward eliminated December 10, 1909

1925–present

Councilmember Party Dates Electoral history
District established July 1, 1925

Boyle Workman
(Mid-Wilshire)		 Democratic July 1, 1925 –
June 30, 1927		 Redistricted from the at-large district and re-elected in 1925.
Lost re-election.

William M. Hughes
(Harvard Heights)		 Independent July 1, 1927 –
June 30, 1929		 Elected in 1927.
Lost re-election.

Robert L. Burns
(Wilshire Center)		 Republican July 1, 1929 –
June 30, 1945		 Elected in 1929.
Re-elected in 1933.
Re-elected in 1935.
Re-elected in 1937.
Re-elected in 1939.
Re-elected in 1941.
Retired.

Harold A. Henry
(Windsor Square)		 Republican July 1, 1945 –
May 1, 1966		 Elected in 1945.
Re-elected in 1947.
Re-elected in 1949.
Re-elected in 1951.
Re-elected in 1953.
Re-elected in 1955.
Re-elected in 1959.
Re-elected in 1963.
Re-elected in 1965.
Died.
Vacant May 1, 1966 –
May 24, 1966

John Ferraro
(Hancock Park)		 Democratic May 24, 1966 –
April 17, 2001		 Appointed to finish Henry's term.
Elected in 1967.
Re-elected in 1971.
Re-elected in 1975.
Re-elected in 1979.
Re-elected in 1983.
Re-elected in 1987.
Re-elected in 1991.
Re-elected in 1995.
Re-elected in 1999.
Died.
Vacant April 17, 2001 –
November 1, 2001

Tom LaBonge
(Silver Lake)		 Democratic November 1, 2001 –
June 30, 2015		 Elected to finish Ferraro's term.
Re-elected in 2003.
Re-elected in 2007.
Re-elected in 2011.
Retired.

David Ryu
(East Hollywood)		 Democratic July 1, 2015 –
December 14, 2020		 Elected in 2015.
Lost re-election.

Nithya Raman
(Silver Lake)		 Democratic December 14, 2020 –
 Elected in 2020.

References

  1. ↑ Hernández, Caitlin (November 18, 2022). "LA City Council In 2023: Your Guide To Who's Who (And What They Do)". LAist.
  2. ↑ "The Ward Boundaries". Los Angeles Herald. November 12, 1878.
  3. ↑ "The Black Pioneers of Los Angeles County: The Counting of African Americans in the 1880 Federal Census". Homestead Museum. February 22, 2021. In the city's First Ward including the northern part of downtown, [...].
  4. ↑ Stevens, Mark H. The Road to Reform: Los Angeles' Municipal Elections of 1909: Part II. Vol. 86. University of California Press. pp. 325–368.
  5. ↑ "First Map Showing City Council's Districts," Los Angeles Times, January 16, 1925, page 1
  6. ↑ "Here Are the Hundred and Twelve Aspirants for the City's Fifteen Councilmanic Seats," Los Angeles Times, May 3, 1925, page 7 Includes a map.
  7. ↑ "Who's Who in Council Race," Los Angeles Times, May 3, 1925, page A-7
  8. ↑ "Council Areas' Lines Changed," Los Angeles Times, December 29, 1928, page A-1
  9. ↑ "District Lines Approved," Los Angeles Times, December 24, 1932, page A-1
  10. ↑ "City Reapportionment Measure Gets Approval," Los Angeles Times, January 19, 1933 With map of all districts.
  11. ↑ "New Council Zones Defined," Los Angeles Times, January 7, 1937, page A-18
  12. ↑ "Proposed New Alignment for City Voting Precincts," Los Angeles Times, November 30, 1940, page A-3 Includes a map.
  13. ↑ "Council Contests in Seven Districts," Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1955, page B-1
  14. ↑ Doug Shuit, "5 Council Members Coasting Through Campaigns," Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1975, page E-1
  15. ↑ "Los Angeles' Realigned Council Districts," Los Angeles Times," September 21, 1986, page B-3
  16. ↑ Laureen Lazaarovici and Harold Meyerson, "John Ferraro on Deck," L.A. Weekly, August 11-17, 1989
  • Note: Access to most Los Angeles Times links requires the use of an LAPL library card.

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