Woodland Hills Real Estate > Woodland Hills Community Info

Woodland Hills has much to offer both families and businesses. The city's Warner Center is considered the hub of Valley business, much like Century City is to Los Angeles. Located in the heart of the community, Warner Center Properties is the largest office complex in the San Fernando Valley. Curved walkways connect the sweeping 50-acre office and research and development campus that offers 2.3 million square feet of space.

There are two main shopping centers in Woodland Hills that have undergone redesign programs and expansion. Topanga Plaza and The Promenade shopping mall, with its 16-screen AMC theater complex, delight shoppers on a daily basis. Both offer a mix of department stores, smaller retail stores and restaurants.

Woodland Hills' schools consistently rank among the best in the state. For higher education, there are a variety of colleges in and around the area. Pierce Community College, San Fernando Valley College of Law and the West Valley Occupational Center are all located in this community. Larger universities such as Pepperdine, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Southern California and California State University at Los Angeles are all located a short drive away.

The San Fernando Valley has a rich history. The first settlers in the area were the Chumash Indians. The first Europeans rode into the area around the late 1700s with the Portola Expedition, and they called the area the Valley of the Oaks; it was here that the treaty was signed to end the Mexican War. This cleared the way for California to be admitted to the union in 1850 as the 31st state.

The modern history of this city began when visionary and entrepreneur Victor Girard Kleinberger settled in the area and called it the “dream city." He foresaw a large population and a thriving economy in the town he named Girard. He sold thousands of small lots to families when many other developers would have sold the land in larger parcels. Girard believed in his community and tried to do his best to expedite sales -- he erected gates and a mosque tower, and imported and planted more than 120,000 trees. Many years later when these trees flourished, the town's name was changed to Woodland Hills. During the Depression, Girard's "super community" crumbled, and only 75 families remained. Large family landholders moved in, including Harry Warner.

Warner purchased 1,100 acres, ostensibly to raise horses. In the 1980s, he liquidated most of his real estate holdings, and a number of large corporations bought and developed portions of the master-planned business center that is now known as the Warner Center. The Warner Center continues to be the core of the business district of Woodland Hills and includes large financial institutions, insurance companies and other large corporations.