West Hills

     91307



  Links:

West Hills is an affluent residential and commercial neighborhood in the western San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.[2] The percentage of residents aged 35 and older is among the highest in Los Angeles County.[3]

The neighborhood was formerly the home of many Native American tribes, and during the early Spanish and Mexican era was part of Mission de San Fernando. In the American era, West Hills was part of Owensmouth, which was renamed Canoga Park in 1930. West Hills was established in western Canoga Park and retained its present name in 1987.

Historic landmarks and many city parks are to be found within the community, as are commercial districts, a business district and religious establishments. Two private high schools are among the thirteen schools within West Hills.

According to the Mapping L.A. project of the Los Angeles Times, West Hills is flanked on the north by the Chatsworth Reservoir, on the east by Canoga Park, on the south by Woodland Hills, on the southwest by Hidden Hills and on the west by Bell Canyon in Ventura County.[4][5]

As of the 2010 census, and according to the Los Angeles Almanac, there were 38,814 people and 10,626 households residing in West Hills. 

The median yearly household income in 2008 dollars was $103,008, considered high for the city and county. The percentage of households that earned $125,000 and up was high for Los Angeles County. Renters occupied 12.6% of the housing stock, and house and condominium-owners occupied 87.4%.[3]The percentages of married people were among the county's highest. In 2000 there were 785 families headed by single parents, a low percentage for both the city and the county.[3]

Eleven percent of the population were military veterans, a high rate for the city and the county, and the percentages of veterans who served during World War II or the Korean War were among the county's highest.[3]

Source: Wikipedia
Education

Thirty-eight percent of West Hills residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, a high percentage for both the city and the county. The percentages of those residents with a master's degree or higher was also high for the county.[3]

Schools
Schools within the West Hills boundaries are:[72][73]

Public
  • Capistrano Avenue Elementary School, 8118 Capistrano Avenue
  • Enadia Way Elementary School (Enadia Technology Enriched Charter School), 22944 Enadia Way
  • Hamlin Street Elementary School (Hamlin Charter Academy), 22627 Hamlin Street
  • Haynes Elementary School, 6624 Lockhurst Drive
  • Justice Street Elementary School, 23350 Justice Street
  • Nevada Avenue Elementary School, 22120 Chase Street
  • Pomelo Drive Elementary School, 7633 March Avenue
  • Welby Way Elementary School, 23456 Welby Way
Private
  • New Community Jewish School, high school, 22622 Vanowen Street
  • Chaminade College Preparatory, high school, 7500 Chaminade Avenue
  • Parkhill School, 7401 Shoup Avenue
  • Crane Academy of Excellence, K-12, 23119 Vose Street
  • Kadima Day School, 7011 Shoup Avenue
  • Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran, elementary, 23838 Kittridge Street


Adjacent public schools
Public middle schools and high schools serving West Hills within their district boundary lines include:

Source: Wikipedia
Local Interests

Three ranches and a silent film star's estate in West Hills have been awarded Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument status recognition and protection, and two are city parks. In addition on the western edge of West Hills huge open space preserves provide an undeveloped greenbelt and nearby recreation opportunities. The high number of neighborhood parks here offer sports fields and courts, play areas for children, and community rooms.

Landmarks

Orcutt Ranch
Orcutt Ranch native oaks and entry gates
  • Orcutt Ranch Estate, ("Rancho Sombra del Roble") to the Orcutts, is the 1920 adobe residence, gardens, and citrus orchards of William Warren Orcutt, an early Union Oil Company executive.[26] The park has an entry through craftsman style stone gates to a parking area with natural habitat landscaping on Roscoe Boulevard near Valley Circle Boulevard. The park, now named the Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center, offers: self-guided strolling, exploring and scheduled house tours;[27] public community gardens;[28] annual public citrus harvests;[29] and garden wedding and special event facilities.[30] Orcutt Ranch is a registered-protected Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
Shadow Ranch
Shadow Ranch ranch-house and Park
  • Shadow Ranch Park, formerly the Workman Ranch, on Vanowen Boulevard just east of Fallbrook Avenue. Alfred Workman was a muleskinner who emigrated from Australia, winding up running a massive wheat farm owned by a syndicate led by Isaac Lankershim and Isaac Van Nuys. He bought the ranch in 1869, and from then to 1872, Workman built a home for his wife, Henrietta Feliz, and himself by adding onto an existing adobe. The Australian had eucalyptus trees imported and planted on the ranch, and some folks claim all the eucalyptus trees in California stem from Workman Ranch. Workman Ranch was acquired by a married, screenwriting couple, Colin Clements and Florence Ryerson (the latter co-wrote the screenplay for The Wizard of Oz while living here). She renamed the estate Shadow Ranch for the amount of shade provided by the numerous eucalyptus trees planted by Workman decades ago. William Wyler’s movie The Children’s Hour, based on the play by Lillian Hellman, was filmed here in 1961.[31] Shadow Ranch Park is an L.A. City Park with lighted basketball courts, a children's play area, football and soccer fields, meeting and community rooms, a baseball diamond, and picnic tables. Organized youth sports are also offered at this registered-protected Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument[32]

Open-space parks

All of these large Parks are open for walks, hiking, mountain biking, and equestrian riding; sunrise to sunset.

Rolling hills at Upper Las Virgenes Canyon
  • El Escorpión Park: The area landmark El Escorpión Peak centered in the park offers hikes with impressive views of the Valley. The trailhead and parking are at the western end of Vanowen Boulevard, west of Valley Circle Boulevard (Castle Peak Park).[33]
  • Bell Canyon Park is directly adjacent on the northwest of El Escorpión Park, with trails along natural Bell Creek and up the north side of the Peak. The trailheads and parking are off Bell Canyon Boulevard just before the 'Bell Canyon community' gatehouse, west of Valley Circle Boulevard. Pedestrian access follows up the creek past the gated road to later loop around the Peak to El Escorpión Park.[34]
  • Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve parking and trailheads are at the western end of Victory Boulevard, west of Valley Circle Boulevard. Trails cross the huge natural park and connect west to adjoining Cheseboro-Palo Comado Canyon Park section of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, north to El Escorpión and Bell Canyon Parks, and south to Hidden Hills, creating a generous greenbelt for West Hills. There are also scheduled evening moonlight hikes, and daytime events.[35]
  • Roscoe/Valley Circle Park is a rustic linear open space park with panoramic views and an equestrian trail, west of Valley Circle Blvd. with access at Roscoe Boulevard, at West Stagg Street, and at Quiet Hills Court.[36]

Neighborhood parks

Mae Boyar Recreation Center and Castle Peak as seen from Highlander Road School, 1978.
  • Knapp Ranch Park has two sections: Kittridge Avenue east section offers these outdoor unlighted sports facilities: baseball diamond, basketball courts, a children's play area, picnic tables, and tennis courts; Wooded Vista and Twisted Oak Drive west section offers walks, a picnic area, and panoramic views.[37]
  • The West Hills Sports Center/Adam Bischoff Soccer Fields has a pocket park, recreation center, and soccer fields. It is on the west side of Valley Circle Blvd. near Vanowen.[38]
  • Mae Boyar Recreation Center has basketball courts and a playground, on Highlander Rd.[39]
  • Taxco Trails Park is a pocket park, with a children's play area and picnic tables on Platt Ave. and Saticoy.[40]
  • Lazy J Park is a pocket park, with a children's play area on Valley Circle Blvd.[41]
  • Chase Park has a children's play area and picnic tables.[42]
  • Hidden Lake Park, a neighborhood park at Lees Lake, Sedan Ave. off Roscoe Boulevard, directions at gate.
  • Castle Peak Park is a small neighborhood open space park for picnics on Valley Circle Blvd., (not to be confused with El Escorpión [Peak] Park).[43]
  • Four Oaks Park is a neighborhood pocket park, with a children's play area and picnic tables, on Cohasset and Melba Ave.[44]

Other historic-cultural landmarks

Francis Lederer Estate
The Lederer Estate, of stage actor and early film star Francis Lederer (1899–2000), has two separate structures and their settings that are each a registered Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument—LAHCM. These are: the former residence and its outdoor patio rooms, gardens, and grounds; and the equestrian stables and its patios. Lederer was the honorary Mayor of Canoga Park (pre-West Hills) for many years. In retirement he taught theatre classes, and was a member of the L.A. City Parks Board of Directors. The landmark buildings are located west of and near the West Hills Post Office and West Hills Hospital.

  • Francis Lederer Residence — LAHCM No. 204, a very distinguished residential example of the Mediterranean Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, and Mission Revival styles of architecture integrated together, with the interior and exterior design and artisan detailing of museum quality.[45] The house was begun in 1934 and constructed over a period of years, with artisan builder John R. Litke, by Lederer on his then 300-acre Canoga Park ranch. It sets atop a hill overlooking the Valley and surrounding mountains.
    The exterior walls use stone quarried from the site. The residence wraps around a large central courtyard with a fountain and outdoor fireplace, and the various rooms opening onto it. The materials were chosen with care and painstakingly employed in such a manner as to make the resulting structure appear very old. The imported Spanish and Italian furnishings and artworks are of particular interest, dating from the 14th to 19th centuries. The estate's residence was to become a public museum housing the Canoga-Owensmouth Historical Society, a community arts center, and its gardens and open space a city park; however it is currently for sale by the heirs (2013).[46][47]
  • Francis Lederer Stables — LAHCM No. 135, designed and built in a rustic and authentic Mission Revival architectural style. It was also designed by Francis Lederer and John R. Litke in the 1936 and used locally quarried stones.[48] It was originally on the natural bank of free-flowing Bell Creek, before its channelization in the late 1950s.[49] Through Mrs. Lederer's efforts in the 1970s, the stables opened to the community as the Canoga Mission Gallery—now the Hidden Chateau event venue, on western Sherman Way.[50]

Peppergate Ranch
The 29-acre (120,000 m2) Peppergate Ranch was located between Orcutt Ranch and Chatsworth Reservoir. The ranch's residence was designed by master architect Paul R. Williams (1894–1980) in theRanch Style.[51] It was built in 1939 for Talton R. Craig, founder of the Craig Movie Supply Company. The T.R. Craig Residence is a California Historical Landmark (#992) and Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (in 2011), located on Pinelake Drive. Peppergate Ranch was subdivided, as Woodlake Estates and Pinelake Estates, in the 1960s.[52]

Other Community Features

Larger shopping centers in West Hills include the Westfield Mall in Topanga Canyon, the Fallbrook Center and Platt Village Shopping Center, with several other smaller groups of stores, cafes and restaurants, and other services located on major streets and intersections.

Among religious buildings, Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church, Saint Bernardine Parish and the Shomrei Torah Synagogue is located near Stone Gate Drive and Valley Circle Boulevard. Chabad of West Hills is located near the intersection of Hartland Street and Valley Circle Boulevard.

The Corporate Pointe business park, on the largest research and light industry property in West Hills, is in planning for redevelopment.[76] It is located at Fallbrook Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard, near Hidden Lake and the Chatsworth Reservoir. The property was originally developed in 1959 as the Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge aerospace corporation's new headquarters. It was later used by Atomics International,Hughes Aircraft, and Raytheon for aerospace development advancements and nuclear research.[77][78]


Source: Wikipedia
Notable Residents
Source: Wikipedia