Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Historical Notes

The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913 provided surplus water to the city and accelerated the development and growth of the San Fernando Valley.

Click HERE to see more in Construction of the L.A. Aqueduct.

Historical Notes

All morning long they came – out to where the Newhall hills rise above the northeastern edge of the San Fernando Valley. On foot, on special Southern Pacific trains ($1 roundtrip from the Los Angeles terminal), in automobiles, wagons and buggies – on horseback they came. By noon, 30,000 persons had stationed themselves around the natural amphitheater that centered at the concrete canal called the “Cascades.” **##

Historical Notes

"There it is......take it!" were the famous words yelled out by Wiliam Mulholland at the dedication.

The remarkable photo above was taken from the grandstand a minute and a half after the LA Aqueduct water gates were opened.  The view is exactly as the camera caught it, without so much as the touch of a pencil added.  The front of the water wall was black from the dust and sediment that had accumulated at the head of the cascade.

Click HERE and see more in the Los Angeles Aqueduct Opening Ceremony.

Historical Notes

Once the Los Angeles Aqueduct was completed and the City had a new source of water, it proceeded to annex outlying communities attracted by the promise of an abundant water supply. The flurry of annexations began even before the aqueduct was completed.

Between 1910 and 1930, the area of Los Angeles increased from 115 sq. miles to 442 sq. miles through annexations of surrounding areas (i.e. Hollywood is annexed in 1910, the San Fernando Valley is annexed in 1915). The City's population increased from 533,535 (1915) to 1,300,000 (1930).*^

Historical Notes

On this Day in Valley History: March 29, 1915 - Residents in most of the San Fernando Valley voted 681-25 to annex with the City of Los Angeles upon the condition of gaining drinking water from the aqueduct built by William Mulholland.

Some parts of the Valley were originally opposed but ultimately gave in (with the exception of Burbank and San Fernando). Owensmouth (1917), West Lankershim (1919), Chatsworth (1920), Lankershim (1923) with smaller communities that followed. Rancho El Escorpión as late as 1958 and what was left of Ben Porter's Ranch in 1965.*^^^

Historical Notes

When large ranches were divided into farms in the late 1800's, families of settlers struggled against poverty and drought. In her book, "Calabasas Girls," Catherine Mulholland brings the era to life with photographs and letters of her ancestors, the Ijams. When water and power came to Owensmouth (Canoga Park), they were happy to leave the difficult life of Calabasas pioneers. *

Historical Notes

In 1897, land for the school was purchased from John Enos for one dollar and eighty-seven cents. It was created from the Las Virgenes and Calabasas Districts, and was built on the Liberty Grade, west of Las Virgenes Rd. It was located near the Daic homestead, which itself was located near the present-day Grape Arbor Park at Lost Hills Rd. Wencil Daic helped start the school, and served on the school board for ten years; its location near his ranch was convenient for his children to attend.

Additional land was purchased for the school in 1941 from Herman & Dorothy Moser. In the 1940’s, a new state law forced one room schools to form a union school district, at which time, Arthur E Wright, a member of the Liberty School Board, helped pull the new district together.

The building has a feature that was not common in other schoolhouses - it had a porch.*

Historical Notes

In 1913-1914, the state highway from Calabasas on through to Ventura was being reconstructed and paved. Here is a view of the reconstruction in Calabasas. This is the westbound view in between what is now Liberty Cyn Rd and Chesebro Rd.

Historical Notes

The sign reads: “You are now entering Calabasas.   Calabasas is an entrance to Santa Monica, Topanga, Dry Benedict and Laurel Canyon of the Santa Monica Mountains.  Twenty miles south of Calabasas is Hollywood, the movie capital of the world.”  The billboard is sponsored by Royal Cord Tires made by the US Rubber Company.^

It is generally accepted that Calabasas as the city name is derived from the Spanish calabaza meaning "pumpkin," "squash," or "gourd" (cf. with the word calabash). Some historians hold the theory that Calabasas is a translation of the Chumash word calahoosa.*

Historical Notes

The first subdivision in Calabasas, called Park Moderne (in Mulwood near Calabasas High School), was a retreat for artists, craftsmen, and writers. It was built on land traded off as part of Sam Cooper Jr.’s homestead in 1928.*

Historical Notes

Charles Cooper and his wife, Alice Cooper, also owned a hotel called "Hunter's Inn." The hotel provided rooms for hunters and travelers. After Charles died, his widow married Lawrence Kramer and they renamed the grocery store Kramer's Grocery Store. They owned and operated the grocery store until he retired in 1968. *

Adjacent to the grocery store was the Oak Garage, named for the oak tree, known as "Hangman's Oak". The tree was used for hangings along with a second tree located at the Calabasas Jail across the street.

Historical Notes

The oak tree seen above carries with it some historical significance. It was one of two oak trees in Calabasas used repeatedly to dispense swift justice.*

Historical Notes

For decades residents attached nooses to the above coast live oak as well as another oak across the street; the chamber of commerce used a likeness of the “Hanging Tree” as a logo. According to doubtful town tradition, members of Tiburcio Vásquez’s outlaw gang died here. In the postwar years the massive tree, located next to a gas station, declined and died—possibly due to a gasoline leak. It was pruned down to its core and festooned with a larger noose.*

Historical Notes

The above tree known by many as the Calabasas 'Hanigng Tree' stood until 2017 when it was removed since it was dying and was deemd a public hazard.

The other well known "Hanging Tree" met its demise several years earilier. In 1965, Rocketdyne needed to transport a prototype rocket through Calabasas to its testing facility in Simi Hills. The landmark tree (in bad shape at the time) created a bottleneck for the oversize load. To solve the problem, a crane operator carefully transported the lifeless 30-foot trunk down the road to Leonis Adobe, a Calabasas house once owned by a prominent nineteenth-century Basque rancher. Here the beloved mock gallows, concreted into place, stood until 1995, when a winter storm toppled it. The desiccated wood shattered instantly, and in the aftermath, someone absconded with the decorative noose.*

Historical Notes

Legend has it that the tree was used for public hangings along with another oak tree located not too far away across the street next to the jail. The oak was estimated to be between 200 and 250 years old. It stood in front of Calabasas Jewelers on the historic Kramer store property, just across the street from the Sagebrush Cantina in Old Town.

Arborists determined the oak was dying and that it presented a hazard to the public. The tree was cut down and only a 20-foot-high section of trunk was left standing as a tribute to the past, but it too had to be removed due to internal rot.*

Historical Notes

Juan Menendez was the son of Espiritu, from her first marriage.  Espiritu later married Miguel Leonis. *

Historical Notes

In the 1880's Sun Valley was known as Roberts, the name of a general store in town. The name was changed to Roscoe in 1896 and subsequently, Sun Valley in 1948.

Roscoe Blvd, also named after the town, runs from Sun Valley all the way to Canoga Park and West Hills. ***^

Click HERE to see more early views of Sun Valley.

Historical Notes

Brand Boulevard was named after Leslie Coombs Brand, “The Father of Glendale”. Brand was an important civic booster who built an estate in 1904 called El Miradero featuring an eye-catching mansion whose architecture combined characteristics of Spanish, Moorish, and Indian styles (today’s Brand Library and Art Center).  His most important contributions to Glendale, though, was when he partnered with Henry E. Huntington to bring the Pacific Electric Railway, or the "Red Cars," to the area also in 1904.

The First National Bank of Glendale seen above was the city’s second bank. It was founded by Leslie Brand in 1905. Brand's friend and business partner, Dan Campbell, served as the bank's vice president and manager.

Historical Notes

The Glendale Line was pioneered by L.C. Brand and associates starting in October, 1902, through their corporation, "The Los Angeles & Glendale Electric Railway". On June 29, 1903, Brand received a franchise from the Los Angeles City Council for an electric railway line running from Los Angeles to Glendale.  The franchise was soon sold to Henry E. Huntington, owner of Pacific Electric Railway Co., who would bring the "Red Cars" to Glendale by 1904 under the name of Los Angeles Interurban Railway (later changed to Pacific Electric).

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of Glendale.

Historical Notes

The town of Lankershim (first called Toluca, now North Hollywood) was named after its founding family. Isaac B. Lankershim grew wheat on a wide swath of the Valley floor on his Lankershim Ranch. North Hollywood was established by the Lankershim Ranch Land and Water Company in 1887. It was first named Toluca before being renamed Lankershim in 1896 and finally North Hollywood in 1927.*^

Historical Notes

Named for one of the area's founding families, Lankershim Boulevard is one of the oldest streets in the area surrounding what is now the neighborhood of North Hollywood. It was a major thoroughfare for the town of Toluca (which was itself renamed "Lankershim" in 1896), connecting it to Los Angeles by way of the Cahuenga Pass. In the center of Toluca it crossed the Southern Pacific Railroad, with a depot near the current location of the North Hollywood Metro Station at Chandler Boulevard.*^

Historical Notes

The North Hollywood PE Station was part of a very efficient rail system that was dismantled due to competition from the automobile in 1952, though the station itself is still standing.^

Historical Notes

In 1912, several ranches were located south of the Los Angeles River and east of Lankershim Boulevard.  In 1914, Universal Studios purchasted these ranches, which included the Taylor, Boag, Davis, and Hershey ranches.  The ranches were once part of the overarching Clyman Ranch that was owned by the Lankershim wheat empire, which was under the guise of the Los Angeles Farm and Milling Company.^^

Historical Notes

In 1913, the Universal Company purchased 12,000 acres of land in the San Fernando Valley near the railroad station of Lankershim and about eight miles from Los Angeles.^*#^

A year earlier, on April 30, 1912, Carl Laemmle merged the Independent Motion Picture Company with five smaller companies to form the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. After visiting his newly acquired west coast operations of Nestor Studios and Nestor Ranch, he renamed the studio "Universal Studios" and the leased Oak Crest Ranch became the first "Universal City" in the San Fernando Valley.

The first Universal/Nestor Ranch (Providencia Land and Water Development Company property Oak Crest Ranch) is presently the site of Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).

In 1915, Universal moved its operations at the Hollywood/Nestor studio and Universal/Nestor Ranch to its new Lankershim Blvd. location before the official opening of Universal City (Lankershim Blvd).*^

Historical Notes

The main buildings consisted of two main stages, Universal Studio Tours, and the production support facilities that were on the north side of the lot.  At this time, the studio had formerly opened on Lankershim Boulevard.

Historical Notes

Universal City celebrated its grand opening on March 15, 1915. Something like 20,000 members of the public responded to studio head Carl Laemmle’s invitation to visit his new studio at the north end of Cahuenga Pass that day to check out the fancy administration building, open air stages and bleachers on which, until the advent of sound filmmaking a decade later, they were welcome to come back and watch real movies getting made.***^#

Historical Notes

Besides showing off the facilities on opening day, Laemmle staged cowboy stunts and had engineers create a fake flood, which actually swamped a few vehicles.***^#

Historical Notes

After the gala opening, Carl Laemmle continued to let the general public visit his Movie City - "The City of Wonders."

Historical Notes

The tower building near the front entrance is actually a water tower modified to resemble a castle tower (see earlier photo).

Historical Notes

Carl Laemmle invited members of the public to watch films being made (in exchange for a 25 cents admission fee). A chicken lunch box was also available for a nickel; the first step towards the Universal Studios theme park we know today.^*#^

Historical Notes

Guests sat in outdoor bleachers and were encouraged to cheer for the heroes and boo the villains! The advent of sound meant the end of the early Universal Studio tour (as the noise the visitors made now disrupted filming) and Universal closed its gates to the general public. Three decades would pass before the studio gates would open again.^*#^

During that time, Universal developed into a powerhouse studio, producing numerous classics such as All Quiet on the Western Front, Dracula, and Frankenstein. With its success, Universal City (and other San Fernando Valley studios) influenced the residential and commercial development of nearby North Hollywood, Studio City and Toluca Lake that took off in the 1920s.

Historical Notes

In 1961, Universal decided to once again open up the studio gates, but this time guests toured the lots by bus. The cumbersome and noisy busses, ill-suited for discreet travel through the busy lots, were swapped out for trams in 1964. This was the year the tour officially became known as the Universal Studio Tour. For only $6.50, two adults and a child could peek into the behind-the-scenes world of one of Hollywood’s most famous studios; and if they were lucky, catch sight of star.****#

Click HERE to see more Early Views of Universal Studios.

Historical Notes

Faith Bible Church, built in 1917, was the first church built in Northridge. The church is in the Carpenter Gothic Victorian style. It was built nine years after the Southern Pacific Railroad first laid tracks through Northridge, which was then known as Zelzah station, in 1908. When it was built, the church was originally known as the Norwegian Lutheran Church, as the six families that formed the congregation were of Norwegian descent.

Built of wood in the basilican style, with the steeple at the entrance, the church's early Gothic style is differentiated from the High Victorian Gothic by the thinness of moldings and its generally monochromatic appearance. One writer observed that, "with its steep stairs and narrow girth, it looks like a church you'd find sitting all alone on the Kansas plains." *^

(2008)*^ - View of the original Norwegian Lutheran Church Building which still stands at 18531 Gresham Street in Northridge.

Historical Notes

The original church building still stands at 18531 Gresham Street in Northridge. For many years, it was known as the Faith Bible Church. More recently, the church has been acquired and operated as a Korean congregation known as either the Northridge Free Methodist Church, or the Los Angeles Antioch Church. The sign on the church in March 2008 (in the above photograph) identified it as the Los Angeles Antioch Church.*^

In 1976, the Faith Bible Church building was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 152 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

Sylmar, once home of the largest olive groves in the world, received the creative name meant to mean "Sea of Trees," combining the Latin silva (for "forest") and the Spanish mar (for "sea").^

Historical Notes

The foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains at the north slope of the San Fernando Valley were seen as "an unattractive and apparently worthless waste" before 2,000 acres of them were transformed in the late 1890s by the Los Angeles Olive Growers Association.  One observer recalled that the land had been "a mass of ill-looking chapparal and chemisal" before it was planted with olives.  

In 1893, a group of Illinois businessmen purchased from the trustees of the Maclay ranch either 1,000 or 2,000 acres (the sources differ) east of the railroad tracks on San Fernando Road just south of Roxford Street and in 1894 began planting olives trees on up to 1,700 acres.  Experts were brought from France to supervise the work. Calling themselves the Los Angeles Olive Growers, they built a packing plant and sold olives under the Tyler Olives label, later changing to the Sylmar Packing label.

By March 1898 about 200,000 trees had been planted, and by 1906 the property had become the largest olive grove in the world. *^

Historical Notes

One source stated in 1981 that it was the "Fusano family" who built a headquarters building for the olive association on Roxford and San Fernando in 1902 and that the first packing plant was built in 1909.

In 1904 the Sylmar brand olive oil won first place at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St, Louis, Missouri, in 1906 at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, Portland, Oregon, and in 1915 at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. *^

Historical Notes

The pickling plant was located on the corner of Roxford Street and San Fernando Road.*^

Historical Notes

The first groves were planted with Mission, Nevadillo Blanco and Manzanillo olives.  Some Sevillano and Ascolano varieties were planted for extra-large fruit.  During the picking season in the early 1900s, an extra force of 300 Japanese was employed and housed in a village of tents.

Some of the olive trees were still growing in Sylmar decades after they were planted. In 1963 twenty-five mature olive trees were removed from the site of the Sylmar Juvenile Hall, then under construction, to be planted at Busch Gardens, an entertainment center in Van Nuys.*^

Historical Notes

In 1927 the packing plant, which had been built in 1910, employed some five hundred workers during its busiest season, November through January. The oil was pressed from the fruit, allowed to separate from the fruit's water content, then drawn into 12,000-gallon concrete tanks lined with glass and set deep into the ground to avoid a change in temperature. Over time, the plant expanded its activities, bringing in figs, pimientos and watermelon rind from the San Joaquin Valley for processing.*^

Historical Notes

In 1922, the controlling interest in the Los Angeles Olive Growers Association, which had been held by the estate of F.D. Butterfield (Charlotte M. Butterfied, the heir), was bought by Charles C. Moore of San Francisco, and its name was changed to Sylmar Packing Corporation. The management remained with Frank Simonds, who was president of the association. At that time there were 140,000 trees on the property. *^

Historical Notes

The Sylmar Packing Corporation, which was located at 448 South Hill Street in Sylmar, handled the product of the largest olive grove in the world and was once the largest industry in Sylmar. It was demolished in 1958 and there is no Hill Street in Sylmar today, but there is a Hill Crest Avenue and a Hillside drive, both above a street that is still called Olive View Drive.

Historical Notes

The grocery store was owned by Steve Lopez who was the son of Geronimo Lopez, a prominent resident in San Fernando. Geronimo Lopez established the Lopez Station in the early 1860s, which served as a station for stagecoach travelers.^

Historical Notes

The City of San Fernando was named for the nearby Mission San Fernando Rey de España, and was part of the Mexican land grant of Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando. In 1874 Charles Maclay, San Fernando founder, bought 56,000 acres of the Rancho. In 1882, cousins George K. Porter and Benjamin F. Porter of future Porter Ranch each received one-third of the total land.*^

In 1874, San Fernando became the valley's first organized community, thus earning the title "First City of the Valley".

Historical Notes

While most of the towns in the surrounding San Fernando Valley agreed to annexation by Los Angeles in the 1910s, eager to tap the bountiful water supply provided by the newly opened Los Angeles Aqueduct, San Fernando's abundant groundwater supplies allowed it to remain a separate city. Even as the San Fernando Valley transformed itself from an agricultural area to a suburban one in the decades after World War II, San Fernando retained its independence.*^

Historical Notes

From the brochure highlighting the delights of the new Porter Hotel in San Fernando:

San Fernando with its altitude of 1100 feet and its pure air and health giving climate is only 20 miles from both Los Angeles and Pasadena over the finest boulevards in California.  Good Roads and boulevards lead to the San Fernando Mission (1797) and to the mountains with their beautiful and easly accessible wooded canyons.  More than a million dollars has been spent in the San Fernando Valley for ideal roads, well-lighted boulevards unsurpassed in the world.  Few places in California are so inviting to the tourist and the city man.  A quiet place near the mountain foothills surrounded by orange, lemon and olive groves, within walking distance of the famous aquedct, reservoir dam and other places of interest.

The Southern Pacific and the Pacific Electric from Hill Street Station furnish transportation from Los Angeles. #^

Historical Notes

An advertisement describes the new 1912 Porter Hotel as follows:

The Porter Hotel is a new house, equipped with all modern conveniences, electric lights, steam heat and private baths and is under the personal management of John G. Holborrow.  Auto parties and other guests making their first visit to the Porter Hotel never fail to express their pleasure with the entertainment furnished.  You wil like it.

Rates are extremely moderate, considering appointments and cuisine, $2 per day and up.  Reservations may be made by either phone, calling San Fernando 642 at our expense. #^

Historical Notes

The 1918 flu pandemic (January 1918 – December 1920) was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus.  It infected 500 million people across the world, including remote Pacific islands and the Arctic, and resulted in the deaths of 50 to 100 million (three to five percent of the world's population), making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.  Disease had already greatly limited life expectancy in the early 20th century. A considerable spike occurred at the time of the pandemic, specifically the year 1918. Life expectancy dropped by about 12 years.

Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill juvenile, elderly, or already weakened patients; in contrast, the 1918 pandemic predominantly killed previously healthy young adults. Modern research, using virus taken from the bodies of frozen victims, has concluded that the virus kills through a cytokine storm (overreaction of the body's immune system). The strong immune reactions of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults resulted in fewer deaths among those groups.

To maintain morale, wartime censors minimized early reports of illness and mortality in Germany, Britain, France, and the United States; but papers were free to report the epidemic's effects in neutral Spain (such as the grave illness of King Alfonso XIII), creating a false impression of Spain as especially hard hit—thus the pandemic's nickname Spanish flu.*^

Historical Notes

From the 1921 SFV Directory:  The address of the 'El Rey Hotel' is 118 N. Maclay Ave with an 'Alex Martin' being the proprietor;  the 'Post Office' is 123 N. Maclay Ave and 'Ross H Hille' is the Postmaster;  'Shimmin's Pharmacy' is at 117 N Maclay Ave;  'First National Bank' is at the corner of 1st St and N Maclay;  'Harrison Block Apts' at 131 N. Maclay;  'First Presbyterian Church' is mentioned to be between 2nd & 3rd streets on N. Maclay. #^*^

Historical Notes

The town of Marian, named for Marian Otis Chandler, was changed to the present-day Reseda in 1922.^

Historical Notes

The high school opened October 4, 1914, as Owensmouth High School, making it the oldest high school in the west San Fernando Valley. It was located on the second floor of the Owensmouth Elementary School building seen above for about one year until its new campus was completed at the current Topanga Boulevard site.

The 1913-built elementary school building was damaged by the 1933 Long Beach earthquake and replaced by the present one story building. According to the former school secretary, Mrs. Mundale (1986), when the building opened, the elementary school occupied the lower floor and the high school was located on the upper floor.^

Historical Notes

Top row L to R: 3rd person Margarite Coig, Laura Hyden, Edith Haas, Dorothy Tweedy, Antonya Weber, Helen Pillcher, Mary Knapp, the rest unknown. 2nd Row L to R: Earl Haas, Carol Driscoll, ?Herby Mitchell, Merrick Gschwind, Clarence Daic, unknown, Marx Cooper, ?Herby Mitchell.

These students are from pioneer families in the West Valley. You may recognize some of the surnames.

Historical Notes

On September 11, 1916, Owensmouth High started the school year with a new building and a new location. The new structure was located near the softball field on the present-day Canoga Park High School campus. It was designed in a Beaux-Arts Neoclassical architectural style, unusual for a small town two years old.*^

Historical Notes

The school originally opened October 4, 1914, as Owensmouth High School (located at the Owensmouth Elementary School sight), making it the oldest high school in the west San Fernando Valley. It later moved to its current locattion (as seen above) in 1916.*^

In 1929 a fire partially destroyed the building seen above and it was soon replaced with two new structures.

Historical Notes

The Greek Theatre was located on the backside of the school's main building erected in 1916, near the softball field on the current campus. The theatre was used for plays, graduations and various school and community events.

Historical Notes

While the original school was demolished in 1929, the Greek Theater remained into the 1950s when it too was demolished to make room for the P.E. field.

Historical Notes

The school's name was changed in 1931, after the community of Owensmouth changed its name to Canoga Park. Among the school's features were a Coast Redwood grove planted in 1936 just north of the football field. Also, the classic Greek outdoor theater (out of view), built in 1916, was still part of the School until 1953.

Historical Notes

Over the years, Canoga Park has seen snow a few times. The Canoga Park High School website states that the high school has seen snow in these years: 1915, 1923, 1932, 1941, 1949, 1957 and 1989.

Historical Notes

CANOGA is the oldest high school in the west San Fernando Valley. It opened with 14 students and 2 teachers on October 4, 1914, when it was originally named Owensmouth High School.

Historical Notes

In 1916, the Owensmouth Baseball team lost all their games but one. They had no coach! Track and Field was the only other sport offered to the boys that year.*^*^

Click HERE to see more Early Views of Baseball in L.A.

Historical Notes

In 1934 E. Yale Waterman, a former teacher at the school, planted redwood grove near the site to honor the school and civic organizations.*

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles River begins just beyond the Canoga Park High School football field, at the confluence of Bell Creek and Calabasas Creek, which flow down from the Santa Susana and Santa Monica Mountains. The river flows southeast, joined by Santa Susana, Browns, Dayton, Chatsworth, Limekiln, Wilbur, Aliso, Woodley, Pacoima and Burbank creeks, that drain the mountains ringing the Valley.

Historical Notes

Built in 1917 and beginning operation on Dec 22 of that year, the reinforced concrete building was erected by the Bureau of Power and Light, located in Studio City near the corner of Diaz Avenue and Ventura Blvd along the Los Angeles River. The plant cost $120,000 and created 4000 watts of electrical energy. In 1937, Diaz Ave was renamed Coldwater Canyon Ave. 

Historical Notes

Water was channeled to the Los Angeles River and sent to the Buena Vista pumping plant in Elysian Park. From Elysian Park, the water could be sent to either east Los Angeles or to the Franklin Canyon Reservoir and then into the west side water system.**

Historical Notes

Skyline Drive was renamed Mulholland Highway in December, 1924.

The town Girard was founded in 1923 and named after its developer, Victor Girard Kleinberger.  By 1941, the community was renamed Woodland Hills.

Owensmouth was named for the new Owens River aqueduct's terminus/mouth in the northern valley, that opened in 1913. It was renamed Canoga Park in 1931.

Zelzah Avenue was part of the 19th-century wagon route from San Fernando to the Hawk Ranch, which became the town of Zelzah (a Biblical name for "oasis," or "watering place in the desert").  In 1929 the name was changed to North Los Angeles.  In 1938, the name changed again to Northridge Village and promptly shortened to Northridge.

The town of Lankershim was named after its founding family. It was first named Toluca before being renamed Lankershim in 1896 and finally North Hollywood in 1927.*^

Click HERE to see more SFV Communities Name Origins.

Historical Notes

Stanley Norris Petit, known for his pioneering efforts in ranch operations and aviation in the San Fernando Valley, and his father William Justin Petit, owned and operated Encino Rancho, the largest single parcel of property in the Valley before the Sepulveda Basin and Birmingham Hospital (now Birmingham High School) were built. After subdividing the ranch, Petit Avenue--which runs across the Valley to Encino--was named for the elder Petit.^^*

Historical Notes

The largest hill here is actually, what was once called, Sherman Peak (in Encino), but the peak doesn't exist any longer. The house (forefront) is believed to be that of 'Edna & J. W. Maddrill', that resided at 15530 Ventura Blvd. in the early 1920's.*

Historical Notes

Ventura Boulevard is the oldest continuously traveled route in the Valley. Laid out to follow a poriton of the Spanish settlers' famed El Camino Real, it has been known as Camino de las Virgenes, U.S. highway 101 and Ventura Road.

Lankershim Boulevard was  named for the town of Lankershim (first called Toluca, now North Hollywood) and its founding family. Isaac B. Lankershim grew wheat on a wide swath of the Valley floor.^*

Click HERE to see more SFV Street Name Origins.

Historical Notes

Mission Point, also known as "Mission Peak" by some locals, is a spur of Oat Mountain. At an elevation of 2,771 ft., it is the second highest peak of the Santa Susana Mountains after Oat Mountain. Newhall Pass lies just to the east, separating the Santa Susana and San Gabriel mountain ranges.*^

Historical Notes

Encino (Spanish for evergreen or holm oak) is a hilly district of the San Fernando Valley. Specifically, it is located in the central portion of the southern San Fernando Valley and on the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains. It derives its name from the Rancho Los Encinos (Ranch of the Evergreens), a parcel of land given to three Mission Indians by the Mexican government following its secularization of the California missions beginning in 1834. Rancho Encino was established in 1845.*^

Historical Notes

Encino Reservoir was constructed in 1921 to provide and store water for the fast growing San Fernando Valley.

Historical Notes

Encino Reservoir, which was originally constructed in 1921, is currently no longer in service but continues to hold water for fire and emergency purposes.

Historical Notes

Rómulo Pico Adobe, also known as Ranchito Rómulo and Andrés Pico Adobe, was built in 1853 and is the oldest adobe residence in the San Fernando Valley. It is also the second oldest adobe residence in the City of Los Angeles. Located in Mission Hills, the Rómulo Pico Adobe is a short distance from the San Fernando Mission (Mission San Fernando Rey de España).*^

Historical Notes

Located on Sepulveda Boulevard in Mission Hills, the original part of the Rómulo Pico Adobe was actually built in 1834 by Tongva-Fernandeño, Tataviam-Fernandeño, and Chumash-Ventuaño Native Americans (Indians) from the San Fernando Mission. The original purpose of the structure is unknown, though the adobe was located in the center of the Mission's orchards and surrounding vineyards.*^

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of the San Fernando Mission.

Historical Notes

The adobe was lived in by the Pico family until the 1890s when it fell into disrepair. In 1930, Dr. Mark Harrington, curator of the Southwest Indian Museum and a famous archeologist, purchased the adobe, renovated it and lived there until the 1940s.^

Historical Notes

The San Fernando Valley Historical Society saved the adobe from destruction in the 1960s and it now houses the collection of the Mark Harrington Library. The property also houses the Lankershim Reading Room.^

Historical Notes

Located on Sepulveda Boulevard in Mission Hills, the original part of the Rómulo Pico Adobe was actually built in 1834 by Tongva-Fernandeño, Tataviam-Fernandeño, and Chumash-Ventuaño Native Americans (Indians) from the San Fernando Mission. The original purpose of the structure is unknown, though the adobe was located in the center of the Mission's orchards and surrounding vineyards.*^

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of the San Fernando Mission.

Historical Notes

In 1962, the Rómulo Pico Adobe (Rancho Rómulo) was dedicated as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 7 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

In 1966 the adobe was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It also has been designated as California Historical Landmark No. 362 (Click HERE to see California Historical Landmarks in L.A.).

Historical Notes

Jack Woods, a pioneer stage and mail driver, built what is thought to be the oldest inhabited structure in Topanga Canyon.  The stone cabin on Old Canyon property was later the Frederick Mezet ranch and winery. Since then, the property was bought and sold about ten times. Its owners and tenants included John Bonnell, a real estate developer who subdivided a portion of the property, which he named Topanga Park and was later known as Bonnell Park or Bonnell Flats. Rock star Neil Young was a 1960s tenant. His famous three-day party there resulted in the arrest of Young, as well as Eric Clapton, and led to the breakup of Young’s group, Buffalo Springfield.*

Historical Notes

Topanga is the name given to the area by the Native American indigenous Tongva tribe, and may mean "a place above". It was the western border of their territory, abutting the Chumash tribe that occupied the coast from Malibu northwards. Bedrock mortars can be found carved into rock outcroppings in many locations.*^

Historical Notes

Topanga was first settled in 1839 by the Trujillo and Cheney families. Much later, during the 1920s, it gained popularity with the denizens of Hollywood. As an ideal getaway not far from urban conveniences, it was the perfect site for weekend cottages, which actors and other industry people built there at the time.

Historical Notes

The location of this photo is about two miles up the canyon from Topanga State Beach. The bridge in the photo, along with a handful of others, was built across Garrapata Creek when the road opened up for automobile traffic in 1915. Click HERE to see this same bridge in 1938 on the cover of a December 1938 California Highways publication.

Historical Notes

The first road through Topanga Canyon opened in 1915. The road was an adventure to drive, with a few hundred turns to navigate before arriving at the other end. In 1925, officials began studying how to alter the road for easier travel, with actual restructuring occurring in 1930.

Historical Notes

The Summit is the highest point along Topanga Canyon Highway, with an elevation of approximately 1,560 feet. This vantage point provides sweeping views of the San Fernando Valley to the north and the surrounding Santa Monica Mountains.

Historical Notes

The first road through Topanga Canyon opened around 1915, following the path of Topanga Creek.

By the 1920s, the Summit had become a popular stopping point for travelers.

Historical Notes

By the mid-1920s, the Summit had become a popular stopping point for travelers. The area was developed with amenities for visitors, including parking areas, viewing platforms, and refreshment stands.

Historical Notes

From the Summit, visitors could see expansive views of the San Fernando Valley, which in the early 20th century was largely undeveloped agricultural land.

Historical Notes

Eastside was a Los Angeles beer in the early 1900s, brewed by the Los Angeles Breweing Company (later Eastside Brewing Co.).  It was called Eastside because the brewery was located on the east side of the Los Angeles River.  Click HERE to see more.

Historical Notes

Some people confuse the “Summit” with the current "Top of Topanga Overlook" at 3400 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. Both served a similar purpose in that they offered great views of the San Fernando Valley and surrounding mountains, but they are not at the same location.

Historical Notes

From the Summit, visitors could see expansive views of the San Fernando Valley, which in the early 20th century was largely undeveloped agricultural land.

Historical Notes

Victor Girard Kleinberger bought 2,886 acres in the area from Chandler's group and founded the town of Girard in 1922. He sought to attract residents and businesses by developing an infrastructure, advertising in newspapers, and planting 120,000 trees. His 300 pepper trees forming an arch over Canoga Ave. between Ventura Boulevard and Saltillo St. are Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #93 in 1972. The community of Girard was eventually incorporated into Los Angeles, and in 1945 it became known as Woodland Hills.

Historical Notes

The town Girard was founded in 1923 and named after its developer, Victor Girard Kleinberger. By 1941, the community was renamed Woodland Hills.

Historical Notes

Victor Girard is credited for planting more than 120,000 sycamores, eucalyptus, fir pine, and pepper trees across the townsite for which Woodland Hills would later be named for.

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of Girard.

Historical Notes

The area was originally named Owensmouth by Los Angeles Suburban Home Company's general manager, Hobart Johnstone Whitley, with a real estate salesman's exaggeration that it was the new mouth of the Owens River, after the Los Angeles Aqueduct would be completed the next year. The town was founded on March 30, 1912, and the Suburban Home Company contracted with the Janss Investment Company, to sell properties.

Historical Notes

The event seen above was the first annual San Fernando Valley Fair and Market that took place on September 15-18, 1920 in commemoration of what the aqueduct has done for the San Fernando Valley. There were horticultural and industrial exhibits to wow the crowds with lots of news clippings about it.

Per the Van Nuys News (9-17-20 – Page1), the management of the fair gave a reception in the Owensmouth HS auditorium Sept 15 1920. Sept 17th was designated "San Fernando Day".

Historical Notes

A well-thought pre-development scheme brought Pacific Electric streetcars and an all-purpose highway (Sherman Way) out all the way from Hollywood through Cahuenga Pass, through the previously subdivided Van Nuys (1911). Highlighting the "opening day barbecue" was the display of the "Owensmouth Baby", a race car that could go up and down the paved Sherman Way at the incredible speed of 35 mph—as you could do—in an age without pavement or speed limits.*^

Historical Notes

Owensmouth, as the junior San Fernando Valley city to Van Nuys, promoted itself with the "baby" motif—using storks in their advertisement—the "baby city" of the Valley. And Owensmouth remained a very small community.*^

Historical Notes

The lack of an independent water supply made annexation to the City of Los Angeles inevitable, and on February 26, 1917 Owensmouth joined with its larger neighbor. The name was changed to Canoga Park in 1930. It is believed to be named after Canoga, New York, which derived its name from the Native American village "Ganogeh". Eventually, the area's zoning was rural/agricultural and its industry was small farms involved in production of fruits, vegetables, melons, some livestock, horses, movie/television studio and stunt location work.

The Canoga Park Airstrip occupied the area now known as "Warner Center" (as shown on the street map 1955 Thomas Guide)*^

Historical Notes

Parthenia Street was named for Miss Parthenia Staton of Lafayette Park, Calif. in 1916, when it opened between Van Nuys Blvd. and Kester Ave.

Kester Ave was named for Kester Ranch, a major wheat-growing concern—part of the Lankershim-Van Nuys empire—from the 1870s to 1909.^*

Reseda was named after a fragrant North African yellow-dye plant, Reseda odorata, whose English name is mignonette and which grows in hot, dry climates—replaced Marian as a designation for a stop on the Pacific Electric interurban railway running along Sherman Way. The name "Reseda" was given first to a siding on a branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad in the south San Fernando Valley.

Zelzah Avenue was part of the 19th-century wagon route from San Fernando to the Hawk Ranch, which became the town of Zelzah (a Biblical name for "oasis," or "watering place in the desert").  In 1929 the name was changed to North Los Angeles.  In 1938, the name changed again to Northridge Village and promptly shortened to Northridge.*^

Click HERE to see more SFV Street Name Origins.

Historical Notes

The above photo appeared on the front side of a postcard mailed by the owner of the house in 1918. See next photo for the reverse side of postcard.

Historical Notes

Chatsworth Boulevard was a dirt road that ran from the City of San Fernando all the way to the town of Chatsworth Park located at the west end of the San Fernando Valley.  It followed present-day Chatsworth Street and Zelzah Avenue, then continued west on Devonshire Street to Santa Susana Avenue (Now Topanga Cyn Blvd).

Historical Notes

Francis Marion ("Bud") Wright, an Iowa farm boy who migrated to California as a young man, became a ranch hand for Senator Porter and later co-developer of the 1,100-acre Hawk Ranch, which is now Northridge land. Wright continued to farm the land with Colonel Henry Hubbard from 1887 until 1910, when it was sold for subdivision to the Valley Farms Company. Before the first small farm homes had been sold, Bud Wright's wife, Emily Vose Wright, a deeply religious woman, had christened the development Zelzah, a Biblical name for "oasis," or "watering place in the desert." Zelzah became a Southern Pacific depot town at the Henry Hubbard & "Bud" Wright Hawk Ranch.*^

Historical Notes

Zelzah Grammar School opened in 1914, one year after the Los Angeles Aqueduct was completed.  The citizens of Zelzah formally voted for annexation to the City of Los Angeles and Owens River water rights in 1915.  William Mulholland, engineer of the mammoth project, lived nearby and maintained one of many large rancho tracts remaining from the Spanish, Mexican, and Californio land grant days.*^

Historical Notes

Nordhoff Street was named for famed 19th-century health seeker and writer Charles Nordhoff.  Hired by Southern Pacific rail baron Henry Huntington in 1873, journalist Charles Nordhoff wrote the book California for Health, Pleasure and Residence.

Click HERE to see more SFV Street Name Origins.

Historical Notes

A water source at the intersection of Parthenia St. and Reseda Blvd. served as the watering hole and gathering place for the Gabrielino Indians and later the Spanish who established Missions in the area.  The area, fed by underground streams, was very fertile and soon a development christened "Zelzah," a Biblical name for oasis, became important. #*^

Zelzah Acres became the name of one of those early housing tracts carved from the former enormous Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando lands joining nearby towns of Chatsworth Park, Lankershim, Owensmouth, San Fernando and Van Nuys. Through the 1920s, Zelzah grew up, linked to Los Angeles by annexation, water, city government taxes, and transportation. A group of citizens joined forces and on July 1, 1929, christened this post office and train depot North Los Angeles, a name they considered more suitable and more memorable.*^

Historical Notes

At the suggestion of Carl Dentzel, a local resident and director of the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, North Los Angeles became "Northridge Village" and was promptly shortened to Northridge. The sign on the depot was changed again, and the new name became permanently affixed on Oct. 1, 1938.*^

Historical Notes

This winding ridgeline road in the Santa Monica Mountains was dedicated in honor of William Mulholland, the water engineer who designed the Los Angeles Aqueduct, on Dec. 27, 1924. Originally dirt and called Mulholland Highway, the name was changed to Mulholland Drive in 1939. Portions of the original road remain unpaved.

^Moses Sherman served on the water board while he also participated in plans to develop the San Fernando Valley, which became the outlet point for the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Sherman's double role has been the source of conspiracy theories with regard to the aqueduct.

Historical Notes

Mulholland Drive has its origins in 1921 as a scenic drive, with the “working name” of Skyline Drive, engineered by DeWitt Reaburn.  The scenic drive was engineered in small sections, with work actually beginning at several points along the route simultaneously.  The road was originally planned to encompass a right of way of 200 feet and intended to be 20 miles long, taking a mere two years to complete. 

For reasons, some to honor Mulholland, but mostly to use his stature and accomplishments to silence opposition, the most traveled scenic highway conceived as Skyline Drive became Mulholland Highway.*

Historical Notes

On the morning of the opening (Dec 27), William Mullholland dedicated the road with, what else, a bottle of aqueduct water. (Being prohibition, he couldn't use champagne).

Historical Notes

When it officially opened on December 27, 1924, Mulholland Highway was 24 miles long - the solid line, running from Cahuenga Pass to Calabasas. The dotted line shows what was still to be constructed, Topanga Summit to the Ocean. Originally the road was of gravel surface treated with oil.

Historical Notes

An article in the Oxnard Press Courier provides additional details of the event:

“The first part of the festival program will be held at Calabasas, beginning at 11 o’clock, when a wild west performance and rodeo will be staged by the world’s greatest riders and ropers under the direction of Tom Mix.  Other novel features are being arranged for this part of the celebration, which will include one of the most spectacular aerial demonstrations ever witnessed in this state, with more than 50 military and civilian airplanes participating.  Hair-raising flying stunts will be performed and the military planes from Clover Field and San Diego will engage in battle manoeuvers and combat demonstrations.”

Historical Notes

Curving ingeniously through the eastern Santa Monicas, the Mulholland Drive motorway once brought a heavy slew of Angelenos into the Valley. In the early 1970s, however, 5,000 local activists successfully prevented the cement paving of most of that stretch. To this day, that section is known as 'Dirt Mulholland', and is only open to cyclists and pedestrians. From the famous Mulholland Bridge east, Mulholland Drive completes its creator's vision, and winds through the affluent Hollywood Hills to Mulholland Drive's easternmost terminus at Cahuenga Boulevard, near Universal Studios, until again becoming an unpaved footpath to Griffith Park.

The paved road begins again east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard at Santa Maria Road. Shortly thereafter, the thoroughfare splits into Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Highway. Mulholland Drive terminates at U.S. Highway 101 (the Ventura Freeway), where it becomes Valley Circle Boulevard. Mulholland Highway continues to the southwest until it terminates at State Route 1 (PCH) in Leo Carrillo State Park at the Pacific Ocean coast and the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.*

Historical Notes

Real estate developers Woodruff and Shoults called their development "Hollywoodland" and advertised it as a "superb environment without excessive cost on the Hollywood side of the hills". They contracted the Crescent Sign Company to erect thirteen letters on the hillside, each facing south. Each letter of the sign was 30 feet wide and 50 feet high, and the whole sign was studded with some 4,000 light bulbs. The sign would flash in segments; "HOLLY," "WOOD," and "LAND" would light up individually, before lighting up entirely. Below the Hollywoodland sign was a searchlight to attract more attention.

The sign was officially dedicated on July 13, 1923.*^

Historical Notes

In the early 1900s, the area now known as Tujunga was undeveloped land, the former Rancho Tujunga. In 1913, William Ellsworth Smythe, working alongside M.V. Hartranft (they had purchased the land together), formed a Utopian community called Los Terrenitos— Spanish for The Little Landers. Smythe was the leader of the Utopian Little Landers movement and had already established colonies in Idaho and San Ysidro, California. He advocated the principle that families settling on an acre or two of land could support themselves and create a flourishing community.*^

Historical Notes

Generally thought to be a part of the San Fernando Valley, Sunland-Tujunga is actually located in a valley of its own --the Tujunga Valley — which opens into the northern edge of the larger San Fernando Valley. Also known as The Rock, the towns lie on a large bedrock close to 2,000 feet above sea level with mountain ranges on both sides.*

Historical Notes

Sunland and Tujunga were originally home to the Tongva people. In 1840 the area was part of the Rancho Tujunga Mexican land grant, but later developers marked off a plot of land known as the Tejunga Park, or the Tujunga Park, Tract. The name Tujunga is assumed to have meant "old woman's place" in the extinct Tongva language, where Tuhu "old woman" is a term for Mother Earth in Tongva mythology.*^

Historical Notes

The above print was reproduced in 1955 for an article in the Herald Examiner.  Photo caption read "Farming was hardly worthwhile. The land was poor. If you dug out stones to build a home or barn, there wasn't enough dirt to fill up the hole."*

Historical Notes

The "Moon Festival of the Tujungans" was sponsored by the American Legion (Monte Vista Post 250) as well as other Tujunga businesses and establishments.*^^^

Historical Notes

The first election for Tujunga to be consolidated with Los Angeles was held on February 15, 1927. In heavy rain, voters turned down the idea by a vote of 594 to 354. A second election held in March 1930 also resulted in defeat for annexation, "by a large majority."  The third and final election in January 1932, however, resulted in a favorable vote to join Los Angeles, even though the actual transfer was delayed by inaction of state authorities. Tujunga finally joined the city on March 8, 1932. 

Sunland was annexed to the city of Los Angeles effective August 4, 1926.*^

Historical Notes

Clarence, center, and his friend Odgen, a coworker at the Claycraft pottery factory, with their cars. Clarence's car is a Model T. He could coast most of the way from his home in the town of Tujunga down Tujunga Canyon Boulevard past Verdugo City and through Glendale via Verdugo Road to work at San Fernando Road and Fletcher Drive, in Los Angeles.*

Historical Notes

Bolton Hall was built in 1913 by George Harris, a self-described "nature builder, rock mason and stone sculptor. He first named it "Bolton Hall Hall," after Bolton Hall (1854–1938), a New York City progressive activist and proponent of the back-to-the-land movement. Harris urged that the 3,000-square-foot hall be built solely of native materials, and selected a design that he said borrowed nothing from European architecture. Harris and the Terrenitos community built the hall using granite chunks and stones from nearby fields and hillsides and from the Tujunga Wash. Stones were placed in position in the structure based on the positions in which they settled after falling from a cliff.

Historical Notes

When Bolton Hall opened in August 1913, the Los Angeles Times reported that it marked the "awakening of the Vale of Monte Vista" (the former name of Sunland):

First settled nearly thirty years ago, the valley has shown more life in the past six months than in all its previous history. Los Terrenitos, the settlement of "'little-landers," has made wonderful progress since its inception, five months ago, about 200 families having purchased land, not all of whom are yet on the ground. But enough are here to make it a beehive of industry. The dedication of "Bolton Hall" last Saturday aroused much enthusiasm among the "little-landers."

The Times also reported that Bolton Hall was "built to stand for ages," and it has survived the 1971 Sylmar and 1994 Northridge earthquakes without a scratch.

During the hall's early years, it hosted community meetings patterned after those held in old New England town halls. Over the next decade, it was used for church services, musical performances, lectures, motion picture shows, the Women's Club, dances and pot-luck suppers. It also was the site of the San Fernando Valley's second public library.

In 1962, Bolton Hall at 10116 Commerce Avenue was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 2 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

The Women’s Community Club of Chatsworth hoped to improve the area through their good works such as sewing for needy families and the Red Cross. They funded their work by private donations and benefits such as their 50 cent "Plate Lunch" events. Their slogan was: "Bite off more than you can chew, and chew it; Plan more than you can do, then do it; Hitch your wagon to a star, sit tight, and there you are."

Historical Notes

Chatsworth Reservoir was placed in service in 1919 at a time when the San Fernando Valley was a sparsely populated agricultural area. The reservoir has two earthfill dams which provided an initial capacity of 7,400 acre-feet and a high water elevation of 884.3 feet.

Click HERE to see Construction of the Chatsworth Reservoir.

Historical Notes

For many years Chatsworth Reservoir served as the principal water storage facility in the western San Fernando Valley, serving the irrigation needs of agriculture. At various times during this period, improvements to the reservoir were constructed to increase its capability to provide the required water supply. The most significant improvement occurred during 1930 and 1931 when the dams were partially reconstructed to increase the high water level of the reservoir 5 feet to elevation 889.3 feet and the capacity to 9,840 acre-feet.

As the area served by Chatsworth Reservoir was subdivided and developed to meet the demands for increased housing, the character of the West San Fernando Valley changed from an agriculture to urban setting. This transition gradually changed the requirements for Chatsworth Reservoir and its storage was increasingly used to supply residential and domestic drinking water, emergency requirements and continued agriculture uses.

Historical Notes

The Chatsworth Reservoir served as the primary water storage facility for the western part of the San Fernando Valley from 1919 until after the Sylmar earthquake in 1971.

Historical Notes

After the Sylmar Earthquake of 1971 the reservoir was placed out-of-service and permanently retired. Since then, 150 acres has been handed over to Rec. and Parks for recreational use. Another 30 acres has been converted to an ecology pond for the habitat of migratory birds.*

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Chatsworth Reservoir. Also, click HERE to see more Early L.A. Water Reservoirs.

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Chatsworth Reservoir.

Historical Notes

In 1910, Otto F. Brant (along with Gen. H. G. Otis, Gen. M. H. Sherman, H. J. Whitley, and Harry Chandler) was one of the five original investors in the Suburban Home Company (aka The Syndicate).  Each of the major partners put up $100,000.  In return Brant took 850 acres of land at Ventura and Topanga Canyon Boulevards, later to be known as the Brant Rancho, where his son created a model ranch for the world’s largest pure-bred Guernsey dairy herd of dairy cattle.

Historical Notes

D. O. Brant was the manager and one of the owners of the Brant Rancho, breeders of registered Guernsey cattle.#^

Historical Notes

TIn 1922, Girard Kleinberger bought 2,886 acres in the west San Fernando Valley and founded the town of Girard. He sought to attract residents and businesses by developing an infrastructure, advertising in newspapers, and planting 120,000 trees.  His 300 pepper trees forming an arch over Canoga Ave. between Ventura Boulevard and Saltillo St. are Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #93 in 1972 (Click HERE to see the LA Historic-Cultural Monuments List).***

Historical Notes

Victor Girard Kleinberger was a land huckster with big dreams. Born in Kentucky, he began his sales career peddling Persian rugs -- fakes, of course -- door to door. Girard's modus operandi was to shove the rolled-up rug into the door frame (thus preventing the door from being slammed shut on him) and begin coughing profusely -- all the while mumbling about tuberculosis and priceless rugs.

It was a ruse that apparently worked, and by 1899, with his fortune already made, the 18-year-old Girard (he had dropped his last name) headed west to Los Angeles, where he branched out into other enterprises, including real estate.*##

Historical Notes

Girard (later to become Woodland Hills) is seen in the later stages of subdividing, paving and installation of utilities. Topanga Canyon Boulevard runs away from the camera from lower right to the middle distance with the residential streets radiating left and right. First street at the bottom is Dumetz Road and then, in order, Providencia, San Miguel, De La Osa, Velicata, Lopez, Celes, Martinez, Galvez, De La Guerra, Crespi, Avenue San Luis, Del Valle, Costanso and finally Ventura Boulevard with the Girard real estate buildings built east and west along the boulevard. Road that skirts the base of the hill on the right is Don Pio Drive and on the left is San Feliciano Drive.##^

Historical Notes

In 1924 Victor Girard opened a real estate office on what is now Topanga Canyon and Ventura Boulevard and built a mosque-like gate to his 2886-acre subdivision named Girard. He graded the streets, set aside land for parks and schools, and planted thousands of trees.*

Historical Notes

In 1923, when Girard was building his town (later re-named Woodland Hills), he and a team of engineers designed a plan to lay the pipes starting in Mission Acres, and running through Reseda, Zelzah, Weeks Colony, Owensmouth, and ending at Girard. This proposal was presented to So Cal Gas, which determined that the job would cost $153,000. The West End Improvement Assn, assisted by Girard, raised $60,000 to defray the costs so that the project could begin.

Historical Notes

The neighborhood was founded in 1923, named after Victor Girard Kleinberger, developer and founder. The new town was heavily promoted while bus tours from Los Angeles to the new town were offered.*^^^

Historical Notes

This was the first commercial building to be built in the town of Girard (now Woodland Hills).  It is now replaced by a gasoline station on the southeast corner of Ventura and Topanga Canyon boulevards. Click HERE to see contemporary view.

Historical Notes

Girard offered a free lunch and organized bus shuttles on a sightseeing tour that included, among other things, a stop at his new town. #*#*

(1924)#^ - Postcards advertising the recreational activities of Girard.

Historical Notes

The town of Girard officially opened in 1923 with an advertising blitz. Newspaper ads and pamphlets distributed in train depots and hotels across the region promoted the new town's location and the soon-to-be developed amenities. #*#*

Historical Notes

Although Girard Kleinberger's early efforts were criticized as providing only a dubious facade of economic activity (local lore has it that in order to attract development he erected false store fronts on Ventura Boulevard, for which he spent time in jail), the Girard Golf Course completed in 1925 continues to operate today as the Woodland Hills Country Club, and his scheme was ultimately successful in attracting interest in the community.*^

Historical Notes

Girard is credited for planting more than 120,000 sycamores, eucalyptus, fir pine, and pepper trees across the townsite for which Woodland Hills would later be named for. #*#*

Historical Notes

Would-be buyers could purchase an undeveloped parcel for as little as $500, or choose from a small selection of houses that would be constructed on the lot of their choice. With an advertised "marvelous view," $1,625 bought a four-room house that could be designed in the Moorish style Girard loved so much. However, the most common pick was a small cabin that sold for $985. Sometimes placed on lots as small as 50 by 125 feet, the cabins were in line with Girard's standards and thus constructed with cheap materials and wooden foundations that sat directly on the ground. #*#*

Historical Notes

Unbeknownst to many of the buyers, Girard and his Boulevard Land Company added a lien on every lot in his town to help pay for all the improvements, forcing the residents to repay the funds at a later date.  After the 1929 Stock Market Crash many of the residents were confronted with the debt that Girard incurred on their behalf. Many simply left—by 1932 there were only 75 families remaining. Girard and the Boulevard Land Company faced a slew of lawsuits, most of which accurately contended the company had misrepresented the land it was selling. Unable to sell the heavily taxed 1,350 acres it still possessed, the Boulevard Land Company eventually folded. #*#*

Historical Notes

By 1941, the community was renamed Woodland Hills. Also, in the 1940s, Harry Warner of the Warner Bros. Studio, bought 1,100 acres in the area for a horse ranch and named it Warner Ranch. The modern Warner Center commercial zone is named for Harry and features high-rise buildings, hotels, and shopping centers.*^

Historical Notes

This little cottage at the corner of Ventura Blvd and Glade Ave was built in 1927. Most recently it was a coffee shop and outdoor cafe called The Secret Garden. Before that it was a gift shop called Dove Hill.

As of 2023 the little cottage structure was still there. Click HERE for contemporary view.

Historical Notes

During the 1940s, Harry Warner of Warner Bros. acquired over 1,000 acres of land in what was then Girard. Called the Warner Ranch, he built his home there and raised thoroughbred horses on the surrounding property. A portion of this land is now the Warner Center in Woodland Hills.^

Click HERE to see more Early Views of Warner Ranch.

Historical Notes

In 1916, Charles Weeks established the "Weeks Poultry Colony," also known as Runnymede, on land near his Palo Alto farm in Northern California. With a heavily promoted motto of "one acre and independence," Mr. Week’s experimental utopian community grew quickly, housing 400 families by 1922. Adding to the success of the colony was his monthly magazine publication called Intensive Little Farm which attracted new buyers to the area and kept the area thriving for years, peaking at over 1,000 citizens by the mid-1920s.

In 1923, Weeks moved out of Northern California and engaged himself in actively promoting a new colony in Owensmouth. He had been invited to the San Fernando Valley by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in 1920 to establish a series of one-acre farms in the area that would emulate the success of his Los Altos "poultry colony." The colony Mr. Weeks created eventually developed into a small farming community, which actively engaged in uplifting the spirit of its members, and aided in the social, intellectual and artistic enlightenment of the region.^

Historical Notes

Weeks, the 50-year-old philosopher-entrepreneur, began building his egg-based Eden along Sherman Way, a wide boulevard lined with palms and roses. It was the only paved road in the West Valley. A trolley called "Big Red" ran down its center and made daily round-trips to Los Angeles.

"Each man must create his own little world," Weeks liked to say. "None that others prepare for him will ever satisfy." The Valley community of Owensmouth was the ideal place for little-world building, Weeks argued. Its soil was rich, there was abundant water because of the Owens Aqueduct and nearby Los Angeles was a ready and growing market for the settlers' eggs.

Weeks disseminated his philosophy of collective self-reliance in a widely distributed magazine called "Intensive Little Farms" and in a book he sold by mail for $1. He described the Valley project with characteristic confidence as "the greatest economic work of the age, bringing peace of mind, health of body and an abundant living to thousands bound in slavery by wage-earning and too much business." ^^^

Historical Notes

By 1923, Weeks sold the first acre of his Colony to Jenja Beckman of Los Angeles, when the lots went for $1,250. By the end of the year, 41 families had established their acre plots in the tract bounded by Winnetka and Oso avenues and Leadwell and Lanark streets.......The Weeks Colony became a Valley institution, listed on maps and well known in the surrounding towns. Weeks deeded five acres at Winnetka and Roscoe Boulevard to the city for an elementary school (later becoming Winnetka Elementary School). The colony grew to more than 500 families and had its own egg co-op, warehouse, and packing plant. #^#

Historical Notes

Charles Weeks established new methods of raising poultry, concentrating birds into coops. Previous to this time, it was a commonly accepted farming practice to raise chickens in large, space consuming, chicken runs. The "Weeks Poultry Method" of raising poultry in compact houses became so successful that visitors from all over the world began arriving at Mr. Weeks' farm to study and learn his method.^

Historical Notes

Unfortunately, the Great Depression and the dramatic downturn of the Los Angeles economy drastically affected both the Owensmouth and Runnymede communities. By 1932, many of the farms faced bankruptcy and Mr. Weeks himself lost almost everything. With the failure of the poultry colonies, Mr. Weeks relocated to Florida, where he lived out the remainder of his life growing papayas, raising fishing worms and skin diving.

Many of the colony’s residents also fled facing dire economic situation and a lot of the homes were abandoned. Some remained, though, and became longtime residents. Those that stayed behind renamed the neighborhood Winnetka in 1934, after Weeks' former hometown, Winnetka, Illinois. Also, Runnymede Street was named after Weeks' first poultry farm in Northern California.

Charles Weeks died in Florida in 1964 but the impact of his communal experiment can still be seen in some areas of both Palo Alto and Winnetka.^

Historical Notes

The area was purchased in 1909 by the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company. LA Times founder and publisher General Harrison Gray Otis invested in the company and also personally acquired 550 acres in the center of modern-day Tarzana.

Historical Notes

The Mil Flores Estate was described as ‘A magnificent dwelling of the most modern hollow tile and concrete construction built on a commanding knoll a half mile back from the highway (Ventura Blvd.), from which one of the finest and most comprehensive views of the entire valley is had.'  The residence was built by General Otis, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, and was occupied by him as a home at the time of his death (1917).

In 1919, Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator of the Tarzan character) purchased the ranch from the Estate of Harrison Gray Otis. General Otis called the ranch “Rancho del Cabrillo” and the home he constructed on the Southerly hill fronting along present day Tarzana Drive, he called “Casa Mil Flores.” The roughly 100 acre Burroughs or Tarzana Tract ran from present day Ventura Boulevard to Tarzana Drive and was bounded by Mecca Avenue and Avenida Oriente. The Tract was possibly recorded as early as 1921. Burroughs was busy in 1922 trying to promote the sale of lots of the tract.

Burroughs also sold 120 acres to found the El Caballero Country Club.

Historical Notes

The community was not officially named Tarzana until the Post Office was established in 1930. The Women’s Club, however, may have referred to the community by that name after taking a vote for a community name and then asking Burroughs permission to use it, which he gleefully granted in 1927.

Historical Notes

The corner of Ventura Boulevard and Lindley Avenue in Tarzana was once the Adohr Milk Farm. However, the land was part of a cattle ranch empire owned by a Southern California family who later established the city of Malibu.

Historical Notes

In 1892, Frederick Hastings Rindge bought the original Spanish land grants that made up Rancho Malibu Topanga Sequit. Rindge's land purchases spanned more than 17,000 acres along the coast toward Ventura County and several miles inland over the Santa Monica Mountains into the San Fernando Valley.

Rindge’s daughter, Rhoda, married Merritt Adamson and together they started the successful Dairy Farm.

Historical Notes

In 1916, Merritt and Rhoda Adamson established a dairy farm on the north slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains. To honor Rhoda, Adamson named the farm "Adohr"--his wife's name spelled backward. Adohr Farms became famous for having one of the largest herds of Guernsey cattle in the world.

Historical Notes

During the Depression, the Adamsons were forced to sell most of their land to pay creditors. However, the milk farm kept the family solvent.

Historical Notes

In 1948, the land was sold by Merrit H. Adamson, head of the Adohr Milk Farms, to builders who planned to demolish the 31-year-old landmarks and divide the land into parcels for construction of low-cost housing for veterans.

Historical Notes

The Adohr dairy moved to Camarillo in 1947. Adamson's son, Merritt Jr., eventually sold the dairy operation to the Southland Corp. in 1966.

Historical Notes

In the mid-1920s, the Hollywood Country Club opened for golf and other forms of recreation. Several film stars of the era were investors.

Historical Notes

In 1937, the Harvard School for Boys took over the closed country club.

Historical Notes

Twin Lakes was built as a resort around two man-made lakes circa 1920, in a canyon just above Chatsworth.

Historical Notes

Twin Lakes Park was a privately owned planned community where one could buy a home, a mountain retreat, or a membership in the park (to use the facilities). In the 1920s and 1930s the community consisted of approximately 500 acre park, two fully stocked lakes, a country club, and picnic areas. There was room for 5,000 homes. Prices ranged from a one hundred dollar camp site to a twenty-five thousand dollar estate. Robert B. Stacy-Judd was the architect who designed and built the destinctive Mayan observation building on one of the lakes.

Historical Notes

Promoted as a retreat for the weekend, season, or holiday, 750 lots were subdivided from the George W. Haight ranch, and somewhere between 400 to 500 parcels were sold in the 1920s.

Historical Notes

The upper lake dammed up Devil Canyon creek, and was named Raymond Lake in the sales brochure. George W. Haight’s son was named Raymond.

Historical Notes

Mayan Road was accessible from Santa Susana Pass Road before the continuation of Topanga to the 118 freeway in the 1970’s.

Historical Notes

Remnants of the dams can still be found in the arroyos around the community of Twin Lakes, north of the Simi Valley Freeway between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Canoga Avenue.

Please Support Our Cause

Water and Power Associates, Inc. is a non-profit, public service organization dedicated to preserving historical records and photos. 

Your generosity allows us to continue to disseminate knowledge of the rich and diverse multicultural history of the greater Los Angeles area; to serve as a resource of historical information; and to assist in the preservation of the city's historic records.