Del Aire

In Del Aire, you can settle into a home in a suburban setting without sacrificing convenient proximity to Los Angeles. This unincorporated community is full of neatly organized residential blocks lined with well-kept homes near your pick of day-to-day amenities — from schools to restaurants. “It’s a nice kind of pocket community,” says local Realtor Rod Vargas of Tierra Properties. “It's mostly single-family homes.”

These single-family houses mostly date back to the mid-20th century, and most are single-story, but they were constructed with various layouts and individual style elements. Some, for instance, come with stone adorning part of their facades, while others have Spanish Revival styling. Most of these homes have driveways for off-street parking, and sidewalks on every street help make the neighborhood walkable.

Lots around Del Aire are similarly sized, often between 5,000 and 6,000 square feet, enough to provide residents with a bit of front and back lawn room. The houses themselves usually have floor plans of between 1,000 and 2,000 square feet. When homes hit the market here, they typically come with price tags ranging from the $700,000s to around $1 million.

One of the benefits of Del Aire’s walkability is that many students can reach their neighborhood schools by foot. Del Aire falls into the well-regarded Wiseburn Unified School District, which has an A overall grade on Niche. Kids here can begin their academic journeys at Del Aire Elementary, from kindergarten through fifth grade. Del Aire Elementary has been recognized as a California Distinguished School multiple times. Students can then progress to Wiseburn Middle, where there’s a full lineup of athletics offerings, from a coed flag football team to boys and girls soccer teams.

The Wiseburn district partners with the nearby Da Vinci charter schools for Grades 9 to 12. Da Vinci features specific programs aimed at helping prepare students for possible career pathways. For instance, students can enter the Da Vinci Communications school for computer science, marketing, multimedia journalism and media production instruction. The Da Vinci Design school includes tracts in architecture, graphic design and entrepreneurship. Da Vinci’s science school has mechanical engineering, civil engineering and biomedical engineering classes. There’s also the Da Vinci Connect High School, where students can take dual enrollment courses starting in ninth grade, allowing them to earn a two- or even four-year degree while in high school.

Da Vinci’s campus is right down the road from a neighborhood resource in Del Aire Park, a 7-acre space with a covered playground, a basketball court and plenty of athletic field space, including a baseball and softball diamond. There’s also a community center on site here with an indoor gymnasium.

Grab some food after an afternoon at the park at one of the variety of options in the area — most along the thoroughfares of Aviation Boulevard and South Inglewood Avenue. Frijoles Mexican Restaurant is one of the local favorites on Aviation Boulevard. Patrons at Frijoles enjoy the shrimp tacos, burritos and enchiladas, and like washing them down with the restaurant’s micheladas. Al-Watan Halal Tandoori Restaurant is a well-liked spot on South Inglewood Avenue, for Pakistani and Indian fare. One of the specialties here is its nihari, a spicy beef curry.

One of the marks of Del Aire is that, while it’s close to so much, it’s primarily residential nature helps it avoid heavy traffic. “Most people who go into the community are homeowners or people visiting,” Vargas says. “It's close to everything that El Segundo and South Bay have to offer." Del Aire is part of the South Bay region and is just about 3 miles east of El Segundo. Downtown LA is a mere 15 miles north, too.

Wherever you go, with a home in Del Aire, you get to look forward to returning to the quiet ambiance that helps define this community. It’s a pocket of peace in an advantageous spot of LA County.

Written By

Wayne Epps Jr.

Photography Contributed By

Christopher Montagne-Waggoner

Video By

Vladislav Sedykh