Celebrities can be invisible at home as they enjoy the view of life below.

Hollywood Hills wasnot always atamed refuge forthe well-heeled.

The ruggedcanyons and steep hills of the eastern SantaMonica Mountains, wherethe range briefly soars 1,800feettothe topof CahuengaPeak beforeexpending itself and petering out in the rollinghills of Elysian Park, once teemed with wildlifeand raged with uncheckedwildfires.

People have lived in the hills for thousands of years, first the Tongva people, then the Spanish, and finally the pioneers of early Hollywood.

They builttheir homesteads along the floors of the canyons that cutthrough the hills, going with the topography of the land. That began to changeinearnest in the 1920s, as thedevelopers of Hollywoodland employed bulldozers and graders to makeroom in Beachwood Canyon for spacious luxuryhomes in styles ranging from medieval castles to Spanish Colonial villas and almost every revival style in between.

Marketed to the well-to-doas an exclusivecountryretreat convenient to Hollywood and downtown, via bus or car,Hollywoodland becamethe template for celebritylifeinthe hills.

Though the developmentitself went bust during the Depression, the lifestyle it had pioneered exploded in popularity. Once the canyons were built out with the homes of studio chiefsand matineeidols, increasing demand for a “house in the hills” —that marker of one’sarrival as aplayer in Hollywood —meant developmentbegantocreep up intothe steep overhangsand narrow switchback trails above.

It wasn’t until the 1950sthat the upper reaches of the hills were truly conquered.

Modernist architects, armed with newengineering techniques and an ethos of minimalism, began to design andbuild homes that clung to the hillsides.

These newhomes turned their backsonthe narrow mountain roads, with their unsightly rows of parkedcars,and oriented the glassyfacades of their steeland concreteboxes outward,toward the stupendous cityand canyon views.

The popularityofthose views, and the architecturethatmade them possible, has remained constant.

Over the years, through trials wrought by wildfires, mudslides and streets cloggedwith valet parkingattendants duringawards season parties,the Hillshas endured as asymbolofthe city.May its infinityedgelap pools neverrun dry.

Neighborhood highlights See, without being seen: For reclusive, privacy-conscious celebs, what better than a place in the Hills, whence you can, godlike, look out at the millions of us in the basin yet remain completely invisible to everyone below?

Own a masterpiece: Hollywood Hills boasts works from nearly every major Southern California architect, from Wallace Neff to Richard Neutra and beyond, comprising one of the greatest collections of residential architecture in the world.

Aprestigious address: Like Bel- Air and Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills is instantly recognized the world over as one of L.A.’s most exclusive neighborhoods. It is, literally and figuratively, elevated.

Neighborhood challenges

AMcMansion on the hill: Even in the moneyed Hills, development pressures are leading to homes being demolished to make way for the construction of gargantuan new homes.

Expert insight Corey Weiss, a native Angeleno and agent with John Aaroe Group, said Hollywood Hills continues to be an attractive option for celebrities as well as people who want easy access to the Westside and the San Fernando Valley.

The public school system has also played a part in driving the area’s popularity, he said.

“People seem to be willing to pay a premium to live in a certain area and not get locked into the private school system.”

Those who are looking to buy into the area need to understand that there’s going to be competition.

“There’s a big lack of inventory at the right price,” Weiss said.

“If you can do something offmarket, with an agent with knowledge of the homes available, that eliminates a lot of the competition.”

Market snapshot In the 90068 ZIP Code, based on 33 sales, the median sales price for single-family homes in November was $1.382 million, a 15.2% increase year over year, according to CoreLogic.

Five condominium sales resulted in a median price of $555,000, down 8.6% from the previous year.

Report card Within the boundaries of Hollywood Hills, as defined by Mapping L.A., are Cheremoya Avenue Elementary and Valley View Elementary, which scored 847 and 822, respectively, in the 2013 Academic Performance Index.

Nearby schools include Gardner Street Elementary, which scored 863, and Joseph Conte Middle, which had a score of 765. Hollywood Senior High scored 762, and Magnolia Science Academy 5 had a score of 759.

hotproperty@latimes.com