Woodland Hills, California

Woodland Hills, California is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles. Along with Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, and Bell Canyon, Woodland Hills is one part of the patchwork of neighborhoods and cities that converge on the southwestern corner of the San Fernando Valley. To the north of Woodland Hills, north of Victory Boulevard, which is the area’s northern border, are Canoga Park, West Hills, and Winnetka. Woodland Hills is bounded on its eastern border, which is marked by Corbin Avenue, by the neighborhoods of Reseda and Tarzana. Woodland Hills is divided into four near-equal quarters by the east-west running Ventura Freeway (U.S. Route 101) and the north-south running Topanga Canyon Boulevard (State Route 27). To the south of Ventura Boulevard, the neighborhood runs up against and partly climbs the northern slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains, where it runs into State parkland and the Census-designated place of Topanga, California. The southern border of Woodland Hills is approximately defined by the world-famous and storied winding road called Mulholland Drive.

The economic and commercial heart of Woodland Hills, and a major economic center for the City of Los Angeles as a whole, is comprised of the 1.5 square mile Warner Center. During the last few decades of the twentieth century, the planned neighborhood and business district saw a burst of development of high-rise and mid-rise glass office buildings, other business-oriented structures, and multi-family dwelling units. Nearly 50,000 people work in Warner Center.

Woodland Hills Medical Center is a Kaiser Permanente facility within Warner Center. The facility provides emergency services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Urgent Care services are also available at the facility. A pharmacy on site is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The facility offers a broad range of services. Woodland Hills Medical Center has approximately 260 beds and 440 physicians.

The G (Orange) Line of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), a bus rapid transit line, connects Warner Center to Metro’s extensive network of transit rail lines and bus routes.

In the 1930s, movie mogul Harry Warner of Warner Brothers Studio began purchasing land, massing 1,200 acres over time in what would become Warner Ranch. Warner Ranch served as a rural retreat and horse ranch. Harry Warner began selling off portions of the property in the 1950s, including what was to become Warner Center.

Touted as a “mini-city,” promenade 2035 is a 34-acre Warner Center located project that when completed will offer more than 1,400 apartments, public plazas, an office tower, two hotels, and a sports arena.

Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center is located on a 13-acre site in nearby Tarzana. The acute care hospital has 249 beds and over 600 physicians.

Girard
In about 1922, the Boulevard Land Company purchased 2,886 acres of land from the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company. The sloped land, extending south from the present day junction of Topanga Canyon and Ventura Boulevards, was subdivided into more than 6,000 lots. The visionary behind the enterprise, Victor Girard Kleinberger, had two Turkish mosque-style buildings and minarets constructed on Ventura Boulevard, one on each side of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, along with false business fronts to convey the impression of a flourishing economy. Girard caused more than 100,000 trees to be planted on the property. Girard held the grand opening of the town, called “Girard,” after himself, in 1923. Girard provided free transportation from downtown Los Angeles for prospective buyers. Girard sold thousands of lots priced as low as $500. Buyers could also have a house built on the lot for an additional price of $985 to $1,625. The lots were smaller than most lots available for sale in the then partly rural San Fernando Valley. Despite the small lots and relatively remote location, significant construction took place in Girard during the Roaring Twenties. The town’s success began to fade, however, when a fire destroyed the country club Girard had built on the property. The 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression proved disastrous to the ambitions of Girard as many of the lot owners stopped making payments. By 1932, only 75 families remained in Girard, but the population rebounded as the economy improved in the late 1930s.

Woodland Hills
Residents chose to rename the area from Girard to Woodland Hills in 1943, to sever the town’s connection to Mr. Girard and his sometimes questionable practices and to capitalize on one of the area’s attributes—the thousands of now maturing trees Girard had planted in the 1920s.

The heavily wooded 18-hole golf course at Woodland Hills Country Club was designed in 1925.

El Caballero Country Club opened in nearby Tarzana in about 1957 with the proclamation that “No person shall be denied the privilege of the Club or employment by it because of race, color, creed, gender or religious belief.” The club features an 18-hole golf course on the site of the original El Caballero golf course, which was in operation from about 1924 to 1929. The original El Caballero golf course was on Tarzana Ranch, a 550 acre tract of land then owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the well-known author of the Tarzan the Ape Man story.

Nearby Marvin Braude Mulholland Park encompasses 1,500 acres of open space in the Santa Monica Mountains. Trials connect to Topanga State Park. Topanga State Park lies entirely within the boundaries of the City of Los Angeles and, at 11,000 acres, is considered the world’s largest wildland within the boundaries of a city.

Nearby Corbin Canyon Park extends into the Santa Monica Mountains from Woodland Hills and nearby Tarzana though a canyon that is wooded along its lower reaches. The 328-acre parcel is now part of Topanga State Park.

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