Quiet Area Provides Safe Place for Play : Canoga Park: Small-town atmosphere combines with more house for the money and friendly neighbors.

Back in 1989, Jim Reo and his wife, Adriana, were struggling with their Southland house hunt. With prices rising at a superheated clip of 1%-2% a month, the couple found themselves constantly on the losing end.

More than once, the Reos thought they had found a neighborhood where they wanted to live, only to discover that the $90,000 fixer-uppers they had visited six months ago were now going for as much as twice that.

By the time their search led them to Canoga Park, the Reos weren’t expecting much from the housing market.

“I thought (the real estate agent) said $219,000,” Reo, 34, said, describing how impressed he was when he first saw their home’s hardwood floors and French windows. “When I heard $119,000, I took about five more steps and that was it. We bought it right there.”

Even though prices have been dropping steadily of late, the Reos are still very happy with their 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom one-bath bungalow.

In particular, Reo has come to appreciate his home’s lot size, which is large enough to allow him to tinker with his collection of antique cars in the yard, and his neighbors, many of them 30- or 40-year residents, who don’t seem to mind his hobby.

“It’s a small-town atmosphere,” the Santa Monica-based accountant said. “We’re a working-class neighborhood.”

Located in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, Canoga Park has a population estimated at between 116,000 and 150,000 depending on what boundaries are used. The 4.1-square-mile community is bounded on the north by Chatsworth and on the south by Woodland Hills. The western border, West Hills, was formerly a part of Canoga Park until it split off into a separate area five years ago.

The eastern border, however, is a little hazy. Although Canoga Park Chamber of Commerce officials consider Winnetka as a separate community to the east, the majority of real estate professionals include Winnetka as part of Canoga Park--thus making Reseda the eastern border.

None of this mild ambiguity seems to trouble the average resident too much.

For Craig Engel, 36, and his wife, Cristalina, 37, the decision to move from downtown Los Angeles to Canoga Park was a simple matter of safety, and for two reasons: 1) Joshua, age 11, and 2) Craig Jr., age 4.

The Engels paid $225,000 for a four-bedroom, two-bath 2,000-square-foot home on a tree-lined street in eastern Canoga Park, an area they consider a marked improvement from their old residence near Fairfax and Olympic.

“Crime was so bad in (downtown) L.A.,” said Engel, who seemed to be taking his work as a security officer home. “Always my van was getting broken into--I actually caught one guy breaking into my garage, and he got four years in prison for it, too . . . but for L.A., it wasn’t unusual.”

Engel, who used to live only three minutes from work, now has a 40-minute commute but feels it’s worth it.

“My wife and I alone could live anywhere, but we wanted a place where the kids could get out. It’s real quiet here. The old place had no yard for the kids to play in and now they’re happy as all get out. You get more house for the money (out here) . . . the people are friendly . . . it’s nice.”

Lon Adams, a realtor for R&R; Gable, considers average homes in Canoga Park to be California ranch-style houses built in the 1960s. Typically, a three-bedroom 1 3/4-bath house of about 1,500 square feet would sell for close to $200,000, with smaller houses going as low as $160,000 and larger ones reaching up to $250,000.

Krishan Batta, 29, bought in Canoga Park a year and a half ago principally because of its central location. After emigrating from his native India seven years ago, Batta and his wife, Ritu, 27, settled in Canoga Park on the advice of friends at work. Batta, who is the director of mechanical engineering for a computer company in Moorpark, paid $300,000 for a 3,000 square-foot, five-bedroom 3 1/2-bath house and appreciates his short commute not only to work but to other parts of Los Angeles.

“It gives you access to everything,” he said. “When I go to work in the morning it only takes 20 minutes because there’s no traffic at all. I looked at other areas as far out as Palmdale, but (they’re) not completely developed yet.”

The territory that was to become Canoga Park was claimed by Spanish explorers in 1796. During the 1800s, the land changed hands twice as a result of wars, from Spain to Mexico and from Mexico to the United States, eventually becoming a part of the San Fernando Mission holdings.

Franciscan padres and other travelers headed north for Monterey would stop to have their horses watered by the Native Americans who populated the area, and the native words for watering troughs, “Le Canoas,” is believed by some to be the origin of the word “Canoga.” Others believe “Canoga” was originally a railway station, so named by the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. in the 1880s.

In either case, the town was originally christened Owensmouth in 1912 by the five developers who brought water from the Owens River to the land through the Owens River Aqueduct. The diversion of water to the semiarid land allowed Owensmouth to develop rapidly into a farming community, but in 1931 the area was renamed Canoga Park.

Some attributed the change to the desire of the citizens to distance themselves from the controversial charges that the developers had used their influence to enrich themselves.

But longtime resident Howard Shirley, 74, notes that the fad at that time was for communities to append “Park” or “Hills” to their name in the hope the pleasant image invoked would lead people to settle there.

“It was the thing to do,” he said, recalling there were maybe a half-dozen paved roads and perhaps 3,500 people total in Canoga Park at that time, mostly in farming.

“It was citrus, cantaloupes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash--big squash, 60 or 70 pounds,” he said.

Shirley, a retired general contractor, lives in a 2,700-square-foot, three-bedroom three-bath house he built himself for about $270,000. Back in 1956, he and his wife, Bess, bought one of the first tract homes built in the area, a 1,400-square-foot, three-bedroom two-bath house, for $16,000.

With high-tech and aerospace firms such as Hughes Aircraft and Rocketdyne moving into the area at that time, Shirley said the area began a long population boom that drove some of his friends out to less crowded Camarillo and Santa Barbara. However, he and his wife chose to stay.

“Home is where you make it,” he said. “This is a nice place to live.”

Officer George Aguilar of the Los Angeles Police Department agreed with Shirley’s assessment. While pointing out Canoga Park has not escaped the problems of youth crime, Aguilar also says the community has not suffered any more over the last decade than Greater Los Angeles has as a whole.

“Having worked all over L.A., I feel it’s as safe as any place,” said Aguilar. “We have a strong, active community.”

Included in the community’s crime prevention measures, he said, were 50 Neighborhood Watch groups, Business Watch groups, youth programs designed to encourage teens to use their free time productively, and programs designed to give limited-English-speaking immigrants an understanding of the laws and opportunities in the community.

There are more than 30 preschools, elementary, secondary and high schools in or close by Canoga Park, and Larry Higgins, principal of Canoga Park High School, noted 82% of his 1,700 students continue into higher education.

At a Glance Population

1991 estimate: 116,882

1980-91 change: +28.3%

Median age: 33.3 years

Annual income

Per capita: 20,413

Median household: 54,718

Household distribution

Less than $30,000: 23.1%

$30,000 - $50,000: 22%

$50,000 - $75,000: 26.1%

$75,000 - $150,000: 25.5%

$150,000 + 3.3%