West Hills - City of Los Angeles

Demographics   Land Area (Sq. Mi.): 15.9 Population: 42,405 African American: 2.6% Asian American: 13.4% Hispanic: 11.1% White: 72.4% Other: 0.4% Median Housing Value: $690,000 (average of east west south as per Southland Regional Association of Realtors) Number of Households: 8,078 Related Websites City of Los Angeles Canoga Park/West Hills Chamber of Commerce

Two historic ranches in the West Hills area have been become Los Angeles City Parks, and awarded City of Los Angeles Cultural Historic Monument status. The one in West Hills is the Orcutt Ranch (Rancho Sombra del Roble), on Roscoe Boulevard, the 1920 adobe residence, gardens, and citrus orchards of William Warren Orcutt, an early Union Oi Company executive. Now named the Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center, it offers tours, community gardens, public citrus harvests, and wedding facilities.

The second is Shadow Ranch, formerly the Workman Ranch, on Vanowen Boulevard just across Fallbrook Avenue in Canoga Park. Alfred Workman was a muleskinner who immigrated 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 re-named the estate Shadow Ranch for the amount of shade provided by the tons of eucalyptus trees planted by Workman decades. William Wyler’s movie The Children’s Hour, based on the play by Lillian Hellman, was filmed here in 1961.

The area landmark El Escorpión Peak centered in El Escorpión Park offers hikes with impressive views of the Valley. Bell Canyon Park is directly adjacent to the north, on The West Hills trailhead and parking for the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve is at the western end of Victory Boulevard. Trails also connect west to Oak Park through the adjoining Cheseboro-Palo Comado Canyon Park section of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, creating a generous greenbelt for West Hills.

Knapp Ranch Park is an unstaffed park. It has an unlighted baseball diamond, unlighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, picnic tables, and unlighted tennis courts. Castle Peak Park in West Hills is also unstaffed. Bell Canyon Park is in West Hills, north of the West Hills Recreation Center. The West Hills Sports Center/Adam Bischoff Soccer Fields is an unstaffed pocket park consisting of unlighted soccer fields. Taxco Trails Park, an unstaffed pocket park, has a children's play area and picnic tables. Lazy J. Park, an unstaffed pocket park, has a children's play area. Chase Park, which is unstaffed and unlocked, has a children's play area and picnic tables. Four Oaks Park, an unstaffed pocket park, has a children's play area and picnic tables. In addition Roscoe/Valley Circle Park is in West Hills.

The other two Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monuments in West Hills are the former residence and stables of actor Francis Lederer (1899-2000). Lederer was the honorary Mayor of Canoga Park for many years. The house is distinguished example of Mediterranean and Mission Revival style architecture, with the interior and exterior design and detailing being of museum quality. It was constructed over a period of years by the Lederers, starting in 1934, with the help of artisan builder John R. Litke. The materials were chosen with the greatest of care and painstakingly employed in such a manner as to make them appear old. The Spanish and Italian furnishings are of particular interest, dating from the 14th Century. The property is to become a public historical facility. The stables, in the 1970s becoming the Canoga Mission Gallery (Hidden Chateau), is in rustic Mission Revival Style architecture also designed by Francis Lederer with John R. Litke. They are near the West Hills Post Office.