The Riviera Homes for Sale

About the Neighborhood

A Country Club Neighborhood Since the 1920s

The Riviera was laid out in the mid-1920s after the Los Angeles Athletic Club assembled land above Santa Monica Canyon for a championship golf course and surrounding home sites; the Frank Meline Company handled much of the subdivision and sales, though accounts differ on exactly how the two organizations split the work. George C. Thomas Jr.'s course at the new Riviera Country Club opened for play in the winter of 1926 to 1927, and the streets around it took Italian coastal names — Amalfi, Capri, San Remo, Monaco, Corsica, Sorrento. The club hosted equestrian events for the 1932 Olympic Games before golf became its signature.

Roughly seven hundred homes make up the neighborhood, generally on larger lots than elsewhere in Pacific Palisades, with deep setbacks and wide, quiet streets. Sunset Boulevard divides the Upper Riviera, whose streets climb toward the Santa Monica Mountains and take in canyon and ocean views, from the Lower Riviera, which lies closer to the golf course and Santa Monica Canyon. Housing runs from 1920s and 1930s Spanish Colonial Revival and traditional houses through postwar ranch homes to extensive recent custom construction, and parcels range from flat pads near the club to steep view lots along the upper ridgelines.

The January 2025 Palisades fire affected the Riviera unevenly. Homes on some streets were destroyed while adjacent blocks came through largely intact, and the country club itself survived; the PGA Tour's Genesis Invitational returned to the course in February 2026, and it remains the announced golf venue for the 2028 Olympic Games. Will Rogers State Historic Park, which borders the neighborhood, lost its historic ranch house. Because outcomes varied house by house, statements about any specific property should rest on parcel-level records, debris-removal certification and a current inspection rather than on neighborhood generalizations, and lots, rebuilds and intact homes now trade side by side.

All of Pacific Palisades sits in a city-designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, so new and substantially remodeled homes must meet current ignition-resistant construction standards and annual brush-clearance requirements. Canyon and upper-ridge parcels also fall under Los Angeles hillside regulations that govern grading, height and haul routes. Rebuilds that stay like-for-like, up to about ten percent larger than what stood before, qualify for streamlined city review under post-fire executive orders, and state orders suspended environmental and coastal review for qualifying projects. Designs that depart from the prior footprint return to standard processes, so a bigger or different house means a longer approval path.

A few practical notes. Riviera Country Club membership is separate from property ownership; tournament week each February brings road closures and traffic; and daily routes run along Sunset Boulevard or down San Vicente through Brentwood. Insurance deserves early attention — several admitted carriers reduced their Palisades exposure before the fire, more than a thousand local policies were non-renewed in 2024, and many owners now combine a California FAIR Plan policy with a wrap-around companion policy — so obtain quotes inside your inspection contingency. Finally, confirm school interim campuses and rebuild timelines, utility status on fire-affected streets, and whether plans or permits transfer with any lot purchase.