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1 of 6
Riverside, CA 92501
4581 Brandi Ln.
Listed Price: $279,900
Starting Bid: $112,000
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEIGHBORHOOD PAGES
Click on the cities and neighborhoods below for descriptions of life in these Los Angeles areas.
Woodland Hills is a leafy ex-urban paradise tucked into the southwestern corner of the San Fernando Valley. The family-friendly community is a collection of developments that offer several high-quality schools and a range of housing price ranges.
And although it has earned a wholesome reputation, its origins are a little more colorful.
In 1922, a man named Victor Girard Kleinberger bought about 3,000 acres of farmland in the area and founded the town of Girard. After subdividing the land, building cabins and planting trees, Kleinburger also erected false storefronts lining a main street area to attract potential buyers. He is rumored to have spent time in jail for his antics, but some of the Girard cabins still exist and the Girard Golf Course, founded in 1925, operates today as the Woodland Hills Country Club.
Harry Warner of Warner Bros. Pictures was also attracted to the area and in the 1940s bought ranch land, which has been slowly developed over the years and is now the town's locus of commercial activity. A high-rise office park called the Warner Center, it features hotels, shopping centers and luxury condominiums and attracts workers from all over the Los Angeles area.
Residents say they enjoy a more laid-back pace than that found in the congested areas of Los Angeles, but for those who don't work locally, Woodland Hills can be a long commute to Burbank, Glendale, downtown Los Angeles and business districts on the Westside.
Housing is largely in developments built during different eras. Although values have continued to rise across the board over the last few years, houses are available in a wide range of prices. The median price for a single-family home was $387,500 in 2002 but was reported to be $719,000 in March 2007, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
At the top end, Westchester County, a guard-gated community on both flat and hilly property, offers an eclectic mix of new construction. The large-scale Tudors, Mediterraneans and East Coast traditionals that characterize the development are mostly more than 4,000 square feet and may command from $1.9 million to $4 million.
Vista de Oro, on flat land, features sprawling ranch homes on generous lots built in the 1950s. Fixers here generally sell in the $900,000 range while more updated homes sell in the $1.6-million range.
In Carlton Terrace, the single-story homes are relatively new, about 2,300 square feet at the larger end, and sell in the high $600,000 to $800,000 range.
Walnut Acres has also become a desirable lower-priced area because it's zoned for the highly rated El Camino school system. The original homes here were built in the 1950s and are small one-story homes on large lots. Prices range from $599,000 to $2 million depending on the age and size of the home.
- Woodland Hills-Tarzana Chamber of Commerce
- Local news for Woodland Hills, Topix.net
- Woodland Hills government, AT-LA.com
-Platt Branch Library, Los Angeles Public Library
- Woodland Hills schools, LocalSchoolDirectory.com
- Woodland Hills Elementary school
- Woodland Hills technical schools
