Place

Clinton Manor Courtyard Apartments

This 1940 courtyard apartment has been a site of community and connection for over 80 years.

Saved

Thanks to resident-led Clinton Manor Coalition, Clinton Manor Apartments were designated L.A. Historic-Cultural Monument in February 2025.

Place Details

Address

5184 Clinton Street, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Neighborhood

Hollywood

Year

1940

Style

Decade

Designation

Property Type

Government Officials

Attributes

Community

Two story exterior of American Colonial Revival apartment

Clinton Manor exterior | Clinton Manor Coalition

Overview

The Clinton Manor Apartments are an excellent, rare, and intact example of an American Colonial Revival courtyard apartment in the Greater Wilshire area. Located directly south of two major film studios, it exemplifies the unique relationship between the pre-World War II motion picture industry and the multi-family courtyard typology, which offered studio and service workers, along with other working professionals, access to picturesque living within a developing urban environment.

Some of Clinton Manor’s earliest tenants were Ruth and Elliot Handler who used their apartment and on-site garage as a working laboratory for their plastics company. The couple would go on to found Mattel, Inc. in 1945 and create the iconic Barbie doll in 1959.

In 2022, the longtime owner sold the property to a large holding company. Concerned about potential development and loss of historic significance, residents organized to form the Clinton Manor Coalition. Tenants old and new worked together to nominate their home as a L.A. Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM). With support from the L.A. Conservancy, the Clinton Manor Apartments were designated an HCM in February 2025.

About This Place

About This Place

Clinton Manor is significant for its associations with late-Great Depression multi-family housing development in the neighborhoods of Hollywood and Greater Wilshire. The property translated Garden City principles and ideals of Southern California indoor/outdoor living, providing everyday people with a place of idyllic peace during a time of national economic hardship.

Clinton Manor’s developer, Aetna Construction Company, was a pioneer of mass housing before and after World War II. The company would go on to build large-scale