Granada Hills, Los Angeles

Granada Hills
—  Neighborhood of Los Angeles  —
A welcome sign at Chatsworth Street and Zelzah Avenue
Granada Hills Location within Los Angeles/San Fernando Valley
Coordinates: 34°17′N 118°30′W
Country	United States
State	California
County	Los Angeles
City	Los Angeles
Elevation	959 ft (292 m)
Population (2000)
• Total	54,700
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP code	91344
Area code(s)	818

Granada Hills is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles.

It is located just north of the North Hills and Northridge districts, west of the Mission Hills and Sylmar districts, and just east of the Porter Ranch district. It is accessible by the Ronald Reagan (SR 118), San Diego (Interstate 405), and Golden State (Interstate 5) Freeways. Major thoroughfares include Balboa Boulevard, Woodley, Hayvenhurst, and Haskell Avenues, as well as Rinaldi Street, San Fernando Mission Boulevard, Chatsworth Street, and Devonshire Street.

In 1916, the San Fernando Valley's first oil well was drilled in what is now Granada Hills. The oil well was located at the northern tip of Zelzah Avenue. Granada Hills was founded in 1927 (as "Granada;" the "Hills" was added 15 years later) and started out as a dairy farm and orchard known as the Sunshine Ranch. Among the crops harvested here as the nation prepared for the Roaring '20s were apricots, oranges, walnuts and beans. Vestiges of former citrus groves can still be seen as small groups of orange, lemon or grapefruit trees in some residential yards.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census, and according to the Los Angeles Almanac there were 54,700 people and 28,833 households residing in Granada Hills. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 65.36% White, 20.91% Hispanic(of any race), 16.40% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 3.93% African American, 0.49% Native American, 8.86% from other races and 4.87% from two or more races.

Median household income in 2000 was $68,801.

In 2009, the Los Angeles Times's "Mapping L.A." project supplied these Granada Hills neighborhood statistics: population: 50,334; median household income: $95,247.

Government and infrastructure

Local government

Los Angeles City Council Council District 12 encompasses Granada Hills.

The area is served by two Neighborhood Councils:

• Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council: Representing the area bounded by LA City Line to the North, Aliso Canyon to the West, the 405 to the East and the 118 Freeway to the South. The Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council was formed in the Fall of 2002.
• Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council: Representing the area bounded by the 118 Freeway to the North, Aliso Canyon to the West, the 405 to the East and Devonshire Street to the South.

Los Angeles Fire Department Stations 18 (Knollwood/Granada Hills) and 87 (Granada Hills) are in the area.

Granada Hills is served by the Devonshire Community Police Station.

County, state, and federal representation

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the Pacoima Health Center in Pacoima, serving Granada Hills.

The United States Postal Service Granada Hills Post Office is located at 18039 Chatsworth Street.

Granada Hills is in California's 27th congressional district. It is in the 38th and 40th State Assembly districts, and the 17th and 20th State Senate districts.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Granada Hills High School

John F. Kennedy High School

Granada Hills is served by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Grade K-5 elementary schools in Granada Hills include El Oro Way Elementary School, Haskell Elementary, Van Gogh Street Elementary School, Tulsa Street Elementary School, Danube Elementary School, Knollwood Elementary School and Granada Elementary School.

Grade 6–8 middle schools in Granada Hills include Patrick Henry Middle School (the Patriots), George K. Porter Middle School (the Trojans), and Robert Frost Middle School (the Timberwolves).

Grade 9–12 high schools in Granada Hills include Granada Hills High School (the Highlanders), John F. Kennedy High School (the Cougars), and the Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences (the Vipers). Residents are also eligible to attend Northridge Academy High School.

Grade 6–12 schools include North Valley Charter Academy.

Private schools

The Concordia Schools Granada Hills teaches PreK-6. Granada Hills Baptist School teaches grades K-6.

Hillcrest Christian School is a Christian school teaching grades K-12 (the Eagles).

Saint John Baptist De La Salle is a Catholic elementary school teaching grades K-8.

Saint Euphrasia is a Catholic Elementary school teaching grades K-8(The Knights).

Libraries

Los Angeles Public Library operates the Granada Hills Branch.

Parks and recreation

O'Melveny Park, the second largest park in Los Angeles, consists of a large undeveloped area and a much smaller developed section with several dozen citrus trees, a small intermittent stream, and grass and picnic areas. This 672-acre (2.72 km²) park includes hiking trails and fire roads, including a grassy promontory from which a view of the northeastern portion of the San Fernando Valley may be seen.

Mission Point and its environs are popular mountain biking and hiking areas. The view from the top of Mission Point, the highest point in Granada Hills, is striking, taking in most of the San Fernando Valley. In clear weather, one can see the Pacific Ocean and Downtown Los Angeles. The area around the peak is home to deer, golden eagle, bobcats, mountain lions, raccoons, and coyotes.

The Granada Hills Recreation Center (also known as Petit Park) is located at 16730 Chatsworth Street, at Petit Avenue. It features an auditorium, playground, sports facilities, and picnic areas.

Zelzah Park, an unstaffed park, has a bridle path, a children's play area, and picnic tables.

Sports

Granada Hills High School's stadium, the John Elway Stadium (named after the quarterback, an alumnus), is the home of the Los Angeles Rampage women's soccer team and the former home of the San Fernando Valley Quakes.

In 1963, the Granada Hills Little League won the Little League World Championship in baseball.

In 1994, the Granada Hills Little League made it all the way to the Little League World Championship in baseball, but lost to Maracaibo, Venezuela with the score of 4–3.

Significant events

Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting

Main article: Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting

On August 10, 1999, at around 10:50 am local time, white supremacist Buford O. Furrow, Jr. walked into the lobby of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills and opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon, unloading 70 shots into the complex. The gunfire wounded five people: three children, a teenage counselor, and an office worker. Shortly thereafter, Furrow murdered a mail carrier, fled the state, and finally surrendered to authorities.

Khrushchev visit

On September 19, 1959, a special visitor entered Granada Hills with a large entourage. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev arrived in California with two requests: to visit Disneyland and to meet John Wayne, Hollywood's top box-office draw. Disneyland was ruled out due to security concerns and the Cold War, and as a result, he was taken on a visit to a modern American neighborhood on Sophia Drive in Granada Hills.

On his visit, the Soviet leader got a show of American consumerism and the American way of life. Khrushchev's visit marked the first time a Soviet leader set foot on U.S. soil. His whirlwind 20-hour Los Angeles journey, part of a six-day, coast-to-coast tour, is better remembered for the Kremlin boss' bumptious antics than for his talks with U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the White House and at Camp David.

Although he declared himself outraged at missing Mickey Mouse and offended when he saw a rousing Hollywood rendition of the can-can, then finally threatened to go home when Los Angeles Mayor Norris Poulson needled him, his visit gave fascinated Granada Hills and L.A. area residents a close look at him.

Shortly after his noon arrival, Khrushchev, already irritated that Disneyland had been placed off-limits, was further annoyed that the main event of the day was a lunch with 300 movie stars and other celebrities and a visit to the set of the movie "Can-Can" at 20th Century Fox, rather than an inspection of an aerospace plant.

After Khrushchev left the studio, gawkers pasted tomatoes on his limo as the doubly offended leader and his 30-car, heavily guarded caravan made its way through city streets. Angelenos, six-deep at the curb, offered not one wave or audible greeting while the open limo lumbered by. Authorities would later report that a bomb was planted in a tree along the route and that a 47-year-old Hawthorne man who said he was "deer hunting" was arrested on suspicion of carrying concealed weapons—a .45-caliber handgun and a bow and arrow—just moments before Khrushchev's motorcade passed on Sepulveda Boulevard.

Heading toward the San Fernando Valley, the premier was escorted by a Jewish Russian emigre whom the mayor had appointed to accompany the Soviet leader while he inspected two types of housing developments on Sophia Drive just south of Rinaldi Street. Ironically, the Ronald Reagan Freeway (State Route 118) was later built within a mile of the housing site and named after the former U.S. President who is credited with ending America's long Cold War with the Soviet Union. Crowds of several hundred gathered to observe the Soviet leader's reaction to an American model home. As it turned out, the earlier visit to 20th Century Fox had cut into Khrushchev's time, and his only inspection of the housing project was a fleeting glance from a motorcade.

Architecture

Granada Hills is a hot spot of mid-century architecture which returned to vogue in the 1990s, known as mid-century modern. The most notable tract is "Balboa Highlands," a small tract designed by iconic architect Joseph Eichler. Many of these homes, which are North of Rinaldi/West of Balboa, have been featured in movies, commercials, magazine pictorials and often pop up in books both on Eichler and classic examples of mid-century architecture.

While the Eichler homes are the most famous examples of MCM in this North Valley suburb many areas of Granada Hills feature the aesthetic style that includes pitched roofs and beam ceilings including numerous homes surrounding the Knollwood golf course to the east of Balboa, Knollwood Grove to the west of Balboa (behind the Eichler tract) and dotted throughout the areas south of Rinaldi.

Historical landmarks

White Oak Avenue, between San Fernando Mission and San Jose Street was declared a Historical Landmark on August 3, 1966 for the 101 Deodar Cedar Trees that line the street (which has been dubbed "Christmas Tree Lane"). The trees are native to the Himalayas and valued for their size, beauty and timber.

Filming location

• The actual location of the cul-de-sac in the prime time soap opera Knots Landing was on Crystalaire Place in the Knollwood Country Club Estates area of Granada Hills.
• Multiple TV shows and commercials were filmed in the Greyhawk Ranch subdivision, including one episode of V.I.P. (TV series) starring Pamela Anderson, The Handler (TV series) episode Jar of Spiders (2003) starring Joe Pantoliano and Lou Diamond Phillips, and an Isuzu commercial with Joe Isuzu.
• In the fifth episode of season 6 of the television show 24, Jack Bauer visits Granada Hills and rescues a man from a crashed helicopter.
• Many locations along Chatsworth Street in Granada Hills were filmed in My Tutor.
• In Fast Times at Ridgemont High the pirate hat scene featuring Judge Reinhold was shot along Chatsworth Street.
• My Name Is Earl is frequently filmed in Granada Hills.
• Several scenes from the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial were filmed in Granada Hills, including one notable scene having been filmed on White Oak Avenue between Chatsworth Street and San Fernando Mission Boulevard.
• The 40-Year-Old Virgin's final musical segment was shot near O'Melveny Park, located in Granada Hills.
• One episode of Scrubs where J. D. went to see his girlfriend at another hospital was filmed at the now demolished Granada Hills Hospital.
• Keith: The Movie filmed a scene at a house residing in Granada Hills.
• A March 2009 Jack in the Box commercial was shot near the corner of Chatsworth Street and Zelzah Avenue.
• The scene in The Lost World Jurassic Park where the Tyrannosaurs Rex goes into a backyard of a house is filmed in Granada Hills.

Scenes in the movie Drive (2011) were located in Granada Hills. (Pizza Place)

Notable residents

• Garret Anderson, professional baseball player, Kennedy High School alumnus
• Valerie Bertinelli, actress, 1978 Granada Hills High School graduate
• Ryan Braun, professional baseball player, Granada Hills High School alumnus
• James Cagney, actor, owned a ranch here
• Chao-Li Chi, actor
• Darren Daye, professional basketball player, Kennedy High School alumnus
• Gustavo Diaz, actor/director and businessman who co-founded Project One Source; attended Granada Hills High School and Kennedy High.
• Bo Diddley, rock & roll musician
• John Elway, professional football player, Granada Hills High School alumnus, but lived in Northridge.
• Robert Englund, actor, Granada Hills High School alumnus
• Vivica A. Fox, owns a home in Granada Hills, CA
• Jon Garland, professional baseball player, Kennedy School alumnus
• Cuba Gooding, Jr, actor, Kennedy High School alumnus
• Stuart Gray, professional basketball player, Kennedy High School alumnus
• Maurice Greene, track athlete
• Ashley Judd, actress, was born in Granada Hills.
• Gavin MacLeod actor, owned a home in Granada Hills
• Cheech Marin, actor, comedian, grew up and lives in Granada Hills
• Gary Matthews, Jr., professional baseball player, Granada Hills High School alumnus
• Lee Meriwether, actress
• Jimmie Rodgers, pop singer, lived here for several years
• Jim Rodnunsky, technician, inventor of the Cablecam system.
• Jeff Suppan, professional baseball player

See also

• Hal Bernson, Los Angeles City Council member who fought the Sunshine Canyon project in the 1990s and 1990s

External links

• Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce
• Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council
• Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council
• Old Granada Hills Residents Group
• Granada Hills History Project
• GigaGranadaHills.com, The Granada Hills Blog
• Balboa Highlands – Eichler tract