Woodland
Hills is a very desirable west San Fernando Valley
community located in the southwest corner of the Valley.
It straddles the 101 freeway and is just east of Calabasas
and west of Tarzana.
This
is a large diverse area with many very different neighborhoods.
There are two very large regional malls that are popular
shopping destinations. Additionally, Ventura Boulevard
has a large variety of shops and restaurants.
Woodland
Hills is also home to a very large commercial center
known as Warner Center, which has high-rise office
space as well as several lower rise campus style office
space clusters. Warner Center is the commercial and
retail center for the entire West Valley.
The
housing has several distinct areas ranging from lower-middle
level to large Estate size properties. The oldest
homes are in a wooded, hilly area known as the Girard
tract located above the Woodland Hills Country Club.
Some of the original Girards were built in the late
1930's and early 1940's. The western edge of Woodland
Hills has a large tract called "Woodland Wests"
and "Woodland Souths". These were built
in the early 1960's and are considered upper-middle
level.
Other
highly desirable areas are known as Walnut Acres,
College Acres, and Vista de Oro. These are mostly
moderate sized homes on large, oversized lots (for
LA at least). There has been a trend of expanding
the smaller homes into large, almost Estate size homes.
That trend is likely to continue. The Estate sized
homes were built mostly in the 1970's to the present
time.
There
are several large townhome projects that are considered
well located and are highly desirable. There are a
few areas of apartments and a large new rental complex
near Pierce College.
The
employment opportunities are plentiful, however, commuting
out of the area is usually pretty easy. The 101 freeway
is easily accessible from most parts of Woodland Hills.
The freeway moves along quite well in the early mornings.
There are backups further east. The traffic patterns
have reversed over the years with more backups and
slower commutes heading west in the mornings and backing
up heading east in the afternoons. This has caught
everyone by a little bit of a surprise. You may want
to keep this trend in mind when contemplating a work
commute. There is a "secret passage" to
the Westside and Santa Monica called Topanga Canyon.
People use this canyon road as a short-cut to bypass
the 101 and 405 freeways into the Westside. A lovely
side benefit is that you get to enjoy Pacific Coast
Highway for about 10 miles! The mileage is not any
shorter, but the beautiful canyon and ocean views
make everything seem faster.
Other
interesting links:
Woodland
Hills Chamber of Commerce
History
of Woodland Hills
Los
Angeles Pierce College
Woodland
Hills Neighborhood Council (the only Valley Council
with a website...except for Van Nuys)
