Anger

This is an appeal on the part of certain defendants from an interlocutory decree of condemnation of a strip of land consisting of thirty-two lots adjacent to the northerly border of Santa Monica Boulevard in the City of Beverlv Hills, to be used as a public park.

The appellants contend the awards are grossly inadequate to conpensate them for the values of the condemned properties, and that the court erred in the admission of evidence respecting the market value of these lots. The chief attack is directed toward the admission in evidence of a zoning ordinance which restricts the use of these lots to the construction of one-family dwelling-houses.

The City of Beverly Hills is a thriving municipal corporation. Santa Monica Boulevard intersects the city in an easterly and westerly direction. The industrial and business portion of the city is situated south of this avenue. In 1922 the city adopted a zoning ordinance restricting that portion which lies north of Santa Monica Boulevard as an exclusive residential district, with the exception of certain schools and churches which were sanctioned therein. An electric street-car line traverses this boulevard. The respondent City of Beverly…