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Shelley Taylor, whose family has owned residential space in the North Village for nearly 50 years

After living in Los Angeles nearly 50 years, Shelley Taylor, founder of the North Village Improvement Committee, will leave Westwood next month in favor of a slower-paced life in the Pacific Northwest.

Since its creation, Taylor’s group has initiated many improvements to the North Village, a residential area west of the UCLA campus and enclosed by Gayley, Le Conte and Veteran avenues. The area consists of apartment buildings and is home to many UCLA students.

Taylor, a retired actress known for roles on “General Hospital,” “Days of Our Lives” and “Hunter,” among other shows, founded NVIC in the late 1990s in response to the “general apathy” that she saw in the neighborhood.

The group has been responsible for the installation of trash cans, the maintenance of lamp posts and red curbs and the insurance of weekly curbside collection of bulky items such as couches and refrigerators by city employees.

Operation Clean Sweep, a program in which fraternity members clean the streets of the North Village twice a year, is also a product of NVIC.

The physical preservation of the the North Village is not Taylor’s only concern.

NVIC has also worked to establish dialogue between property owners, UCLA and the student population.

Taylor’s family has owned residential space in the North Village since they moved to Westwood in 1956, and Taylor has owned two area businesses – an arcade and a bakery.

For Taylor, the decision to leave the North Village was difficult, and she will depart next month with deeply ambivalent feelings.

She is simultaneously enamored with her history with Westwood and relieved to be unburdened of that connection and liberated from her history.

Taylor currently resides in the building in which her late parents lived, which serves as a constant reminder of them.

Though Taylor has long been connected to the neighborhood, it was not until her retirement from acting that she had the time to become active in the community.

Taylor was prompted to found NVIC when a fellow property owner voiced her intention to leave the North Village, citing the increasing student population and the high noise level in the area.

“When I was a kid growing up, there were always students, but there were families, professional people, kids playing ball in the street. It was very much a family community here,” she said.

Her desire to preserve the historic character of the North VIllage led her to work for the physical upkeep and the social welfare of the village.

Taylor and her husband are among the last of a dwindling class of Westwood property owners. The two live in their own building and directly oversee their property and tenants.

The proliferation in recent years of owners who do not live in Westwood has altered the character of the neighborhood for the worse, Taylor said.

Her efforts to improve the condition of the village have been substantial, but the outward appearance of her own building, from the lush landscaping to the unique paint job, is perhaps the clearest manifestation of the extreme care that Taylor invests in everything she does.

The pride with which Taylor cares for her own property is indicative of her concern for the quality of the neighborhood.

Taylor was an advocate for the removal of a sober living facility that was intended to provide a sanctuary for recovering addicts. The facility apparently fell short of that goal, and its tenants were responsible for numerous drug-related emergencies.

Though some criticized Taylor for a perceived lack of compassion and elitist attitude, she defended her position as being in the interest of the neighborhood.

“If it had been what it was supposed to be, that would have been fine with me,” she said.

Community involvement has allowed Taylor to utilize the same skills that made her a successful actress. Those who have worked with her are quick to mention her outgoing personality as an important factor in her ability to organize and motivate diverse groups of people.

“She was enthusiastic and easy to work with. Everyone she helped wanted to help her,” said Nancy Greenstein, the director of university police community services, who worked with Taylor on various projects.

Susan Strick, a neighborhood prosecutor at the city attorney’s office who worked with Taylor to establish a coalition of property owners to provide responsible oversight of buildings and tenants, described Taylor as both “tenacious” and “charming.”

Both Greenstein and Strick said the North Village community is indebted to Taylor and will miss her.

“She bridged the gap between fraternities, apartment owners and non-students. I don’t see anyone who will fill her role,” Strick said.

Taylor’s efforts to eliminate graffiti in the commercial area of Westwood have garnered the admiration of local business owners.

Though it may seem that Taylor’s decision to leave the area was motivated by her frustration at not being able to improve the neighborhood satisfactorily despite her painstaking efforts, she says the reasons behind the move are more personal.

Taylor and her husband look forward to the uncrowded way of life that awaits them in the town of 8,000 where they will make their home.

Her husband, a retired contractor, plans to build a house from scratch. Taylor plans to relax.

“People say to me, ‘Aren’t you going to be bored up there?’ But the truth is, I don’t always have to be involved in something,’” she said.