Editing Woodland Hills, Los Angeles (section)

==History==
The area was inhabited for around 8,000 years by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] of the [[Fernandeño|Fernandeño-Tataviam]] and [[Chumash (tribe)|Chumash-Venturaño]] tribes, who lived in the Santa Monica Mountains and [[Simi Hills]] and close to the [[Arroyo Calabasas]] (Calabasas Creek) tributary of the [[Los Angeles River]] in present-day Woodland Hills.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2006-03-03-prehistoric-mill_x.htm |title=Prehistoric milling site found in California |date=March 4, 2006 |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |access-date=October 3, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/14007712.htm |title=Prehistoric milling site found in Azusa |date=March 3, 2006 |newspaper=[[The Mercury News]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060313151831/http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/14007712.htm |archive-date=March 13, 2006}}</ref> The first Europeans to enter the San Fernando Valley were the [[Portola Expedition]] in 1769, exploring [[Alta California]] for [[Spanish missions in California|Spanish mission]] and settlement locations. Seeing it from present-day [[Sepulveda Pass]], the [[California oak woodland|oak savanna]] inspired them to call the area ''El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bononia de Los Encinos'' (Valley of St. Catherine of Bononia of the Oaks).<ref>{{cite book |last=Roderick |first=Kevin |date=2001 |title=The San Fernando Valley: America's Suburb |location=Los Angeles, CA |publisher=Los Angeles Times Books |pages=20–24 |isbn=1-883792-55-X}}</ref> The [[Mission San Fernando Rey de España]] (Mission San Fernando) was established in 1797 and controlled the valley's land, including future Woodland Hills.<ref name=Pitt>{{cite book |first1=Leonard |last1=Pitt |first2=Dale |last2=Pitt |name-list-style=amp |date=1997 |chapter=Woodland Hills |title=Los Angeles A to Z |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=University of California Press |page=556 |isbn=0520202740}}</ref>

Ownership of the southern half of the valley, south of present-day Roscoe Boulevard from [[Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, California|Toluca Lake]] to Woodland Hills, by Americans began in the 1860s. First, [[Isaac Lankershim]] (as the "San Fernando Farm Homestead Association") in 1869, then Isaac Lankershim's son, [[James Boon Lankershim]], and [[Isaac Newton Van Nuys]] (as the "Los Angeles Farm & Milling Company") in 1873,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/180/72/case.html |title=Thompson v. Los Angeles Farming & Milling Co., U.S. Supreme Court, 180 U.S. 72 (1901) |website=[[Justia]] |date=September 19, 2011 |access-date=October 3, 2011}}</ref> and finally, in the "biggest land transaction ever recorded in [[Los Angeles County]]", a syndicate led by [[Harry Chandler]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' with [[Hobart Johnstone Whitley]], Gen. [[Moses Sherman]], and others (as the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company) in 1910.<ref name="Rod48">Roderick (2001), p. 48.</ref>
[[File:"Country_Homes_in_Girard"_Los_Angeles_Evening_Express,_November_17,_1923.jpg|thumb|"Country Homes in Girard" ''Los Angeles Evening Express'', November 17, 1923]]

Victor Girard Kleinberger bought {{convert|2,886|acre|ha}} in the area from Chandler's group and founded the town of Girard in 1922.<ref name="WHTCC History">{{cite web |url=http://www.woodlandhillscc.net/Scripts/openExtra.asp?extra=38 |title=History (Woodland Hills) |website=Woodland Hills-Tarzana Chamber of Commerce |access-date=June 24, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007055658/http://www.woodlandhillscc.net/Scripts/openExtra.asp?extra=38 |archive-date=October 7, 2007}}</ref> He sought to attract residents and businesses by developing an infrastructure, advertising in newspapers, and planting 120,000 trees.<ref name="WHTCC History" /> His 300 pepper trees, forming a canopy over Canoga Avenue between Ventura Boulevard and Saltillo Street, became [[Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument]] #93 in 1972.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://preservation.lacity.org/monuments |title=Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments |website=Preservation.lacity.org |access-date=October 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002104315/http://www.preservation.lacity.org/monuments/ |archive-date=October 2, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> {{circa|1939}} the area was described as "A small business district on Ventura Boulevard at Topanga Canyon Junction. The population is scattered, being found mostly throughout the surrounding agricultural country."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Know Los Angeles county, by Wm. J. Dunkerley, under the direction of Leonard E. Read. |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015059481179?urlappend=%3Bseq=30 |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=HathiTrust |pages=28 | hdl=2027/mdp.39015059481179?urlappend=%3Bseq=30 |language=en}}</ref> The community of Girard was eventually incorporated into Los Angeles, and in 1945, it became known as Woodland Hills.<ref name=Pitt/> Reference to the founding of Girard is part of the story arc in the first season of ''[[Perry Mason (2020 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'' (2020).