Woodland Hills is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, northeast of Calabasas and west of Tarzana. To the north Woodland Hills is bordered by West Hills, Canoga Park, and Winnetka. Running east-west through the community is U.S. Route 101 (Ventura Freeway) and Ventura Boulevard, which starts in Woodland Hills and intersects Valley Circle Boulevard.
Victor Girard Kleinberger bought 2,886 acres in the area and founded the town of Girard in 1922. He sought to attract residents and businesses by developing an infrastructure, advertising in newspapers, and planting 120,000 trees. Although his early efforts were criticized as providing only dubious facade of economic activity (local lore has it that in order to attract development he erected false store fronts on Ventura Boulevard, for which he spent time in jail), the Girard Golf Course completed in 1925 continues to operate today as the Woodland Hills Country Club, and his scheme was ultimately successful in attracting interest in the community.
In 1941, the community was renamed Woodland Hills, an appropriate name owing to all the trees that Girard had planted years earlier. Harry Warner bought 1,100 acres in the area in the 1940s for a horse ranch. The modern Warner Center commercial zone is named for Harry and features high-rise buildings, hotels, and shopping centers. A major transit hub — the western end of the Orange Line — opened here in October 2005.
About The Valley
The San Fernando Valley has no American counterpart. Encircled by five ranges of mountains and hills, the basin could hold all of San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C. combined. The population of 1.7 million is more people than live in a dozen states.
The Valley has a story all its own that dates back two centuries. Vaqueros, outlaws and battling armies are part of the lore, as are Lucy and Desi, Gable and Lombard and Marilyn Monroe. It's the birthplace of Valley Girls, the subtext for Chinatown and Boogie Nights, the home turf of Disney, ABC, Universal & Warner Bros. The Valley today is the multi-cultural melting pot for Los Angeles—and growing all the time.
