Master-planned area is full of amenities, but it has yet to find its own character.

The land on whichPlaya Vista sits was, for thousands of years, a salt marsh that wasfed by the Los AngelesRiver beforeits course shiftedsouth to emptyinSan PedroBay in 1825.

The Tongva people called the area Washna and laid their dead to rest in alarge burial ground in the shadowofthe WestchesterBluffs. The Spanish used the area for grazing and called it Rancho La Ballona. In the 1900s, oil was struck in the westernmost edgeof the wetlands, and it wasredubbed the Playa del Rey Oil Field.

When Howard Hughes needed morespace to build his newest bomberin1940,hebought hundreds of acres of the wetlands, divertedCentinela Creektokeep his runwaydry and built what he called the Hughes Culver City Plant.

It wasamassiveoperation, with the world’slongest private runwayand tens of thousands of squarefeetofhangars and manufacturing facilities.The infamous Spruce Goose wasbuilt there beforebeing trucked to Long Beachfor its firstand only flight.

In 1986,the Culver plant shut down, and thehistoric hangars were abandoned. Theysoon found asecond life in the 1990sasHollywood sought ever-biggersoundstages to film modern blockbusters, with “Titanic,” “Avatar” and “Iron Man” among the movies that were shot in the gigantic Spruce Goose hangar.

The interest from Hollywood led developers to include amassivestudio complexinthe plans for amixed-use development that wasnow being called Playa Vista. The scale of the project washuge, and it faced fierce opposition from residents of neighboring communities.

The developersmade density concessions, agreed to pay for the rehabilitation of the remaining wetlands and were allowedto move forward with construction.

The studio component was abandonedinthe mid-1990s,but the plan to develop office space designed to attract tech firms that worked with the entertainment industryremained intact.

That would pay offinthe 2000s as tech giants Google, Microsoft and Facebook began to move their L.A. operationstoPlayaVista, marking this former marshland the red-hot center of Silicon Beach.

Neighborhood highlights Master-planning: In Playa Vista it’s possible to work whereyou live, livewhereyou work,and in your off-time catch a movie or hang out at the park.

Tech utopia: The dense concentration of tech companies such as Google and Facebook, which offer high-paying tech jobs in beautiful new architecturally significant office buildings, helps make Playa Vista the apex of the L.A. tech scene.

Beach-adjacent living: The heart of Silicon Beach may not literally be on the water, but Playa del Rey, Marina del Rey and Venice Beach are just minutes away.

Neighborhood challenges

No “there” there: It may develop over time, but at this early stage, Playa Vista has no real distinguishing characteristics, other than its extreme newness. Minus the ocean breezes, it could be in San Jose or Austin.

Expert insight Dennis Hsii, owner of Playa Vista Premiere Real Estate Group and a resident of Playa Vista, said the neighborhood has a little bit of everything for everyone, from residential neighborhoods to retail and restaurants — and more are on the way.

He said the neighborhood puts on such activities as movie screenings and concerts in the park as well as holiday festivals for children, which adds a community feel to the area.

“You can immediately go outside and bump into your neighbors,” he said.

“People come here and feel like they are at a resort.

“They don’t have to get into their cars and can just be in the community.”

For potential homeowners, Hsii recommended visiting Playa Vista’s welcome center and going on an hour-long walking tour offered Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Market snapshot Within the boundaries of Playa Vista is Playa del Rey Elementary, which scored 903 out of 1,000 in the 2013 Academic Performance Index.

Nearby schools include El Marino Elementary and Cowan Avenue Elementary, which scored 944 and 829, respectively. Marina del Rey Middle had a score of 743, and Orville Wright Middle scored 737.

Culver Park High had a score of 578.

Report card In May, based on 11 sales, the median sales price for condominiums in the Playa Vista area was $963,000, according to CoreLogic. That was a 2.4% increase in median price over the same month the previous year.

There were no single-family home sales during the month of May.

hotproperty@latimes.com Times staff writer Rachel Spacek contributed to this report.