Home / Neighborhoods / Marquez Knolls
A postwar hillside tract above Sunset, planned around the view and now rebuilding street by street.
About the Neighborhood
Marquez Knolls occupies the hillside west of the Palisades village, climbing north from Sunset Boulevard toward the Santa Monica Mountains between Bienveneda Avenue and Palisades Drive. The Lachman family planned it through the 1950s and 1960s as a modern residential community, laying out more than six hundred houses across twenty-three recorded tracts and writing covenants meant to protect the thing the land was bought for. Buyers searching Marquez Knolls homes for sale are generally after the same combination the developers sold: a wide ocean view from a hillside pad, quiet streets with almost no through traffic, and an elementary school inside the neighborhood rather than a drive away.
The covenants are the neighborhood's defining feature and still govern what can be built. They limited residential structures to a single story unless a builder could demonstrate that added height would not obstruct a neighbor's view, and the Marquez Knolls Property Owners Association, which the Lachman family established and then handed to residents in 1996, exists to enforce them. The association's territory now takes in roughly twelve hundred homes running from Bienveneda to Palisades Drive and from Sunset up to the mountains, excluding the gated communities inside that footprint. Anyone contemplating a second story or a substantial rebuild should read the recorded covenants for their specific tract before drawing anything.
The January 2025 Palisades fire reached this hillside and its effects were uneven. Early damage mapping showed heavy losses on streets north of Marquez Charter Elementary, including Enchanted Way, while blocks nearer Bienveneda came through largely intact with scattered exceptions. Across Pacific Palisades as a whole the fire burned 23,448 acres and destroyed 6,837 structures before full containment on January 31, 2025. Because outcomes varied parcel by parcel rather than by street or by subdivision, any statement about a specific address should rest on county damage records, debris removal certification and a current inspection rather than on a general description of the area.
Rebuilding is now the neighborhood's principal activity. Community tracking of Palisades permit records showed roughly 1,600 new home applications submitted by mid-July 2026, close to 1,100 permits issued, about 900 houses under construction and the first certificates of occupancy beginning to appear. Los Angeles and the state created expedited paths for like-for-like reconstruction, generally up to about ten percent larger than what stood before, while designs that depart from the prior footprint return to standard review and take longer. In practice that means finished houses, framed shells, cleared pads and untouched homes now sit on the same block, each trading on different arithmetic.
A few practical notes. All of Pacific Palisades sits in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, so new and substantially remodeled houses must meet current ignition-resistant construction standards and annual brush clearance requirements. Insurance deserves attention early rather than late, since many owners here now pair a California FAIR Plan policy with a wrap-around companion policy; obtain binding quotes inside your contingency period. On a lot purchase, confirm debris removal certification and soil results, whether architectural plans and permits legally transfer with the sale, utility and meter restoration on the street, and how the tract covenants treat the height you intend to build.
Life Here
The Lachman covenants held houses to one story unless added height could be shown not to block a neighbor's outlook, which is why so much of the tract still reads low and open. The owners association has enforced them since 1996.
Marquez Charter Elementary anchors the neighborhood and graduated its first class in 1957. It returned to its Palisades campus in September 2025 in interim classrooms, with permanent reconstruction part of an LAUSD program targeted for late 2028.
Intact houses, cleared pads, framed rebuilds and finished new construction now sit on the same blocks. Each represents a different purchase, a different timeline and a different set of questions to ask.
Education
Attendance boundaries, interim campuses, charter enrollment policies and reopening dates have all moved since January 2025 and continue to change; confirm assignment for a specific address with LAUSD and confirm admissions and timelines directly with each school.
Common Questions
Work With Ben
Tell Ben what you are after and he will track Marquez Knolls houses, lots and in-progress rebuilds street by street, including the ones that change hands off market. Local guidance on covenants, permits and insurance comes with it.
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