About Hawthorne's Wiseburn

For over a year now, the Wiseburn community has been rallying to get an empty, unused lot on 133rd Street, converted into a "pocket park" that everyone could enjoy. Instead, over the years the residents have been subject to an unsightly, sometimes dangerous, lot that serves no purpose to the community, now its owners - Golden State Water.

The Daily Breeze just chronicled the efforts of the Wiseburn community in a recent article "Drought sidetracks plans to make a Wiseburn vacant lot a park." Click here to read this article on the continuing efforts to beautify the wonderful community of Wiseburn.

A great family fun event with all of the proceeds going to benefit the Wiseburn Neighborhood Watch.

Who: Residents of Wiseburn and local vendors that serve the area

When: Saturday, August 23, 2008 from 11:00 am - 3:00 pm

Where: South La Cienega Blvd., between 138th Street and 137th Place in the Wiseburn neighborhood

Come on out and get to know your neighbors and get some information on the Watch program.

Food items including hot dogs, ice cream, and baked goods available for purchase.

There will also be a raffle and free moon bouncers for the kids!

For more information, or to make donations of time, money, raffle items, or a baked good, please contact Janine Gertsch by email at jgertsch@yahoo.com.

Monday, August 8 - the news is positive... The community of Wiseburn is getting their own park! The decision was just made by Los Angeles county leaders and shared with the ecstatic community. With the Wiseburn Neighborhood Watch being one of the parties instrumental in the move towards getting this park, the timing is excellent as their fundraiser event is being held this upcoming weekend - August 23rd.

Right now final details are in the works, with the expectation of a schedule and some timelines to follow shortly. Stay tuned for more details as they come!

Curious to see what the park looks like? Send me an email and I will get you a PDF artist's rendering of the Wiseburn Park design.

I want to share with you all an amazing, and not-so-well-known area of the South Bay called Wiseburn. I actually live in Wiseburn, which is a small subdivision of Hawthorne, and I have been here for 9 years. I absolutely love it! This small community has continually improved since I moved here, and become a great place to buy in the South Bay, without paying Manhattan Beach prices.

Now, to be honest though, if one is to talk about Wiseburn, the conversation must include the adjacent subdivisions of Holly Glen and Del Aire. These are all small communities within Hawthorne, which reside on the Western border of Hawthorne. All 3 areas comprise the Wiseburn school district, which has some exciting things happening right now (stay tuned for future blog postings on Wiseburn schools).

The communities of the Wiseburn school district are conveniently located near several other beach cities of the South Bay - Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and El Segundo. From anywhere in the Wiseburn school district, you can get to any of these cities within approximately 2 miles. There, you will find major retailers such as Home Depot, Costco, Best Buy, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Staples, and many more.

The communities of the Wiseburn school district are also strategically placed, with regard to major transportation routes. This offers extreme accessibility to other parts of the South Bay, and beyond. However, even though these major routes are very accessible, there is little negative impact on homeowners (like noise, visual blight, etc.)

As mentioned previously, the Wiseburn school district has some new and exciting things going on. At the beginning of this past school year, the brand, new Dana Middle School was opened and ready to educated the middle-school-aged youth of the Wiseburn school district. But in addition to that, work is currently underway in the construction of a brand new elementary school, Juan Cabrillo's replacement. As a mom with young children, I am excited to see these brand new facilities that my children will be able to take advantage of.

Also new within the last few years is Glasgow Park, a long, walking park where the folks of Wiseburn and Holly Glen often go to exercise or walk their dogs. The area where Glasgow Park now is used to be an abandoned area full of weeds and broken concrete. Not so anymore!

And speaking of parks, you will also find Holly Glen Park which has a great children's playground, picnic benches, barbecues, and even public tennis courts. Many local families frequent this park throughout the year, and especially in the summertime when they fill up the wading pool for all the little kiddies to splash around in.

Even though the communities of the Wiseburn school district are small, they have so much to offer. I hope you enjoyed this introduction to the communities, and I plan on posting many followups where I will focus on each of the great aspects of these communities, along with some pictures! Hey - we all love pics, don't we?