Franklin Hills Listing Agent

Franklin Hills at a glance

Franklin Hills is a quiet, stair-laced enclave between Los Feliz and Silver Lake: storybook homes, Spanish revivals and the famous public staircases that give the neighborhood its village-in-the-hills character. It occupies the ridge and slopes east of Griffith Park Boulevard and west of Hyperion Avenue, with Franklin Avenue crossing the Shakespeare Bridge at its heart and John Marshall High School at its southern foot. The streets wind, the lots terrace, and the staircases such as Prospect Walk, Radio Walk and the Udell Court stairs link one level of the neighborhood to the next.

Inventory is scarce and buyers wait for it. Franklin Hills is small, almost entirely single-family and owner-occupied, and turnover is low because residents rarely find a reason to leave. That makes the neighborhood one of the eastside's most dependable micro-markets for sellers who price correctly. James Malcom is a listing agent based at 6200 Hollywood Blvd, focused entirely on representing sellers.

Homes and architecture in Franklin Hills

Franklin Hills housing is a concentrated collection of 1920s and 1930s period revival homes. English storybook cottages with steep rooflines and rolled eaves, Spanish Colonial Revival houses with tile roofs and arched windows, Tudor and French Normandy designs, and Mediterranean villas sit shoulder to shoulder on terraced lots along St. George, Clayton, Finley, Lyric and Hollyvista. Many retain original windows, hardwood floors, tile and built-ins, and buyers in this neighborhood pay for that intactness.

Postwar infill added midcentury homes on the steeper remaining lots, and the past two decades brought a handful of contemporary builds and major expansions. These homes sell on charm and setting. View, lot usability and street access swing values sharply between neighboring homes, so the architecture is only part of the price equation; a storybook cottage with a flat garden and a garage trades very differently from the same house up a long flight of stairs.

Streets, pockets and enclaves

Franklin Hills is compact, but its streets trade on distinct micro-comps because elevation, view and stair access change block by block.

• Franklin Avenue and the Shakespeare Bridge: the spine of the neighborhood, with period homes on both approaches to the landmark bridge
• St. George, Clayton and Finley: the core storybook and Spanish streets north of Franklin, the most sought-after addresses in the enclave
• Lyric, Prospect and Hollyvista: the upper streets with Griffith Park Observatory and city views and the Prospect Walk and Radio Walk stairs
• Udell Court and Monon: the eastern slope toward Hyperion, quieter cul-de-sacs with stair connections down to the Hyperion shops
• Ronda Vista and the Tracy Street edge: the southern streets above John Marshall High School, closest to Sunset Junction
• Griffith Park Boulevard edge: the western boundary, where Franklin Hills meets the Los Feliz flats and the walk to Hillhurst begins

Schools

Franklin Hills is served by Franklin Avenue Elementary, an LAUSD school on Franklin Avenue in the neighborhood that is one of the main reasons families target this enclave. Thomas Starr King Middle School on Fountain Avenue, with its magnet programs, and John Marshall High School on Tracy Street at the foot of the hills complete the public path, and both are within walking distance for many homes. Confirm assignments by address with the LAUSD Resident School Identifier.

Parks, dining and daily life

Daily life in Franklin Hills is quiet on the hill and busy at its edges. The neighborhood has no large park of its own, but Griffith Park and the Observatory are minutes north, the Silver Lake Reservoir path is just south, and the public staircases double as the neighborhood's gym. The Shakespeare Bridge is the gathering point, and the Franklin Hills Residents Association keeps a strong sense of community.

Restaurants and shops are a walk or a short drive in three directions: Hyperion Avenue and Rowena in Silver Lake, Sunset Junction at the southern foot of the hills, and Hillhurst and Vermont in Los Feliz Village. Grocery runs go to Trader Joe's and Gelson's in Silver Lake or the markets on Hillhurst and Los Feliz Boulevard. Buyers choose Franklin Hills precisely because it offers this access without the commercial traffic running through it.

Commute and getting around

Franklin Hills commutes by car via Hyperion Avenue, Griffith Park Boulevard and Rowena, with the 5 freeway at Los Feliz Boulevard or Glendale Boulevard and the 101 at Vermont or Sunset each a short drive. Downtown, Glendale, Burbank and the Hollywood studios are all reasonable commutes, which is part of why the neighborhood holds entertainment and professional households.

Transit is at the edges. The Metro B Line station at Vermont and Sunset is the nearest subway, and Metro buses run on Hyperion, Sunset, Fountain and Los Feliz Boulevard. Inside the neighborhood, streets are narrow and winding, many homes depend on street parking or tight single garages, and some are reached only by stairs from the street, so parking and access are standard questions in every Franklin Hills listing.

Who buys in Franklin Hills and why

Franklin Hills buyers are design-driven eastside households, many in entertainment, architecture and the creative industries, who are shopping Los Feliz and Silver Lake simultaneously and want period architecture, quiet streets and a walkable path to Franklin Avenue Elementary. A large share are families moving up from Silver Lake, Echo Park or Los Feliz rentals, and some are relocating from New York or San Francisco specifically for this kind of enclave.

Selling a home in Franklin Hills

Homes that sell fastest in Franklin Hills are intact storybook and Spanish houses with a flat garden, a garage and a view, priced to true micro-comps inside the enclave. Buyers have been waiting for exactly these homes, often for a year or more, and when one is presented well it typically draws multiple offers. Thoughtfully expanded period homes that kept their character while adding a modern kitchen and primary suite also sell strongly to family buyers.

Homes that sit have usually been priced to Los Feliz estate comps that do not apply, or they carry a long stair climb with no parking, a compromised view, an unsympathetic remodel, or unpermitted additions and decks that surface during inspection. Thin comps make pricing an art here: view, lot usability and street access swing values sharply between neighboring homes, and an agent who averages the neighborhood will miss by a wide margin in either direction.

Preparation that matters locally starts with the hillside and the permits. Order the LADBS 9A report early, reconcile the permit history with every addition, deck and retaining wall, and address drainage and cracking with geotechnical or structural letters if there is a history. Complete the standard alarm, gas shut-off and water retrofit items. Cosmetically, restore rather than replace: refinish original floors and woodwork, repaint in period colors, light the stairs and garden for twilight photography, and clear anything blocking the view.

Timing in Franklin Hills favors late winter through early summer, when family buyers want to close before the school year and the hills are green for photography, with early fall as a second window. Because inventory is so scarce, a well-presented home can sell in any month, but holiday-week launches usually wait for January buyers. James builds pricing from true Franklin Hills micro-comps plus live demand from buyers shopping Los Feliz and Silver Lake simultaneously, then markets the home to the pool that competes hardest for it.

Buying in Franklin Hills

Buying in Franklin Hills means being ready before the right house appears, because it will not wait. Line up financing, know which streets and stair situations you can live with, and be prepared to review hillside permits, retaining walls, drainage and geology within a tight inspection window. Competition is strongest for intact period homes with gardens and garages near Franklin Avenue Elementary, where multiple offers are the norm. Offer strategy should emphasize clean terms, realistic but not excessive contingency periods, and a personal connection to the house, since many sellers here care who takes over a home they have held for decades.

Franklin Hills seller and buyer questions

Nearby neighborhoods

• Los Feliz
• Silver Lake
• Sunset Junction
• Hyperion
• Griffith Park
• East Hollywood
• Atwater Village

Compare Franklin Hills with

• Los Feliz
• Silver Lake

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