Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
|
|
Woodland Hills is a community within the City of Los Angeles. It is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, northeast of Calabasas and west of Tarzana. To the north Woodland Hills is bordered by West Hills, Canoga Park, and Winnetka. Running east-west through the community is U.S. Highway 101 (Ventura Freeway) and Ventura Boulevard, which starts in Woodland Hills.
Victor Girard Kleinberger (later known as simply Victor Girard) bought 2,886 acres (12 kmē) in the area and founded Girard in 1922. He sought to attract residents and businesses by developing the land, advertising in newspapers, and planting 120,000 trees. Although much of his development provided a dubious facade of economic activity in Girard, the Girard Golf Course completed in 1925 continues to operate today as the Woodland Hills Country Club, and his scheme was successful in attracting interest in the community.
The town suffered through the Great Depression yet survived. In 1941, the community was renamed Woodland Hills, an appropriate name owing to all the trees that Girard had planted years earlier. Harry Warner came along in the 1940s and bought 1,100 acres (4.5 kmē) in the area for a horse ranch. The modern Warner Center commercial zone is named for Harry and features several high-rise buildings, hotels, and shopping centers in Woodland Hills. A major transit hub is being constructed here.
Famous residents
- Born and raised in Woodland Hills:
- Jamal Anderson, NFL football player
- Brad Garrett, actor who played Robert on Everybody Loves Raymond
- Janel Moloney, actress on The West Wing
- Jan Smithers, actor on WKRP in Cincinnati
- Prior to being convicted of fraud, teenage entrepreneur Barry Minkow bought a mansion in Woodland Hills.
- Many Hollywood notables spent their later years at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital.
- Ted Cassidy, actor who played Lurch on The Addams Family lived here until he died in 1979 (his ashes were supposedly buried in his yard)
- Lisa Kudrow, actress on Friends graduated from William Howard Taft High School
Locations of interest
- El Camino Real High School and William Howard Taft High School, both are multiple United States Academic Decathlon winners
- Fry's Electronics (store #8)
- Los Angeles Pierce College
- Panavision headquarters
- Westfield Shoppingtown Topanga Plaza (borders Canoga Park)
External links
- Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce (http://www.woodlandhillscc.net/)