Manhattan Heights and Liberty Village Homes for Sale

Manhattan Heights and Liberty Village sit in the eastern part of Manhattan Beach, north of Manhattan Beach Boulevard. The MLS treats them as a single search area. The City does not.

That gap is the first thing to understand about buying here, and it explains a lot of confusion in listings.

Are Manhattan Heights and Liberty Village one neighborhood or two?

It depends who is describing them.

The City’s General Plan identifies seven neighborhoods in Manhattan Beach, one of which is the Eastside. Within the Eastside the City names three distinct sub-areas: the Poets Section, Manhattan Heights, and Liberty Village.

The MLS combines Manhattan Heights and Liberty Village into one search area covering both, north of Manhattan Beach Boulevard.

So a property marketed under this label could sit in either of two areas the City considers separate. If the distinction matters to you, confirm the specific address rather than relying on the listing’s area designation.

Where is Liberty Village?

The General Plan gives it a published boundary: Redondo Avenue, Aviation Boulevard, Marine Avenue and Manhattan Beach Boulevard.

It has a specific origin. The General Plan records that the tract “broke City building permit records and became the biggest housing tract in town” when it was built. That postwar tract construction is why the housing stock here reads differently from the older sections nearer the water.

Is Mira Costa High School in the Mira Costa area?

No, and this catches people out regularly.

Mira Costa High School sits at 1401 Artesia Boulevard, which falls in this MLS area, not in the neighboring area that carries the Mira Costa name. The two areas split along Manhattan Beach Boulevard: this one is north of it, the Mira Costa area is south.

If proximity to the high school is part of why you are looking, that is worth knowing before you narrow a search to the wrong area. The school opened on 30 September 1950 and serves grades nine through twelve for the whole district.

What can you build here?

This is Area District II, the same as the Tree Section and Manhattan Village. For single-family property:

• Minimum lot area 4,600 square feet
• Minimum lot width 40 feet
• Maximum height 26 feet and two stories
• Buildable floor area 240 plus 0.65 times the lot area above 4,800 square feet

These standards cannot be loosened without a citywide vote. Any amendment raising height or floor area, or reducing setbacks or lot minimums, goes to the ballot.

The City’s tree protection ordinance applies here, since it covers Area Districts I and II. A tree with a trunk 12 inches or more in diameter, sitting at least partly in the required front yard or corner streetside yard, requires a permit to remove. Rear and interior side yard trees are not covered.

Being inland, the area sits outside the coastal development permit requirements that govern The Strand and Ocean Drive.

Which schools serve the area?

Manhattan Beach Unified serves the entire city, and it publishes per-address elementary attendance boundaries, unlike neighboring Redondo Beach Unified. Assignment is confirmable from a published map.

District elementary schools are Grand View (455 24th Street), Meadows (1200 Meadows Avenue), Pacific (1200 Pacific Avenue), Pennekamp (110 South Rowell) and Robinson (80 Morningside Drive). Confirm assignment for a specific address with the district.

Working with an agent here

The useful local knowledge in this part of Manhattan Beach is mostly about definitions: which sub-area an address actually sits in, which side of Manhattan Beach Boulevard it falls on, and what the tract history means for the housing stock. If you are buying or selling here, we are glad to walk a specific address with you.

Continue exploring Manhattan Beach

Each section of the city has its own rules and its own character. Keep looking:

• Sand Section – the coastal strip, walk streets and The Strand, with coastal permit requirements
• Tree Section – where the tree ordinance began, and where two official boundaries disagree
• Hill Section – the largest lots in the city, with the lower height limit
• Manhattan Village – the only gated community in the three beach cities
• Manhattan Beach overview – how the sections compare