why is my west hills zip code shared with canoga park (Los Angeles: neighborhood, school district)

[JustMike77]

The value of your home will be based on the values of similar homes nearby. There is no ill effect of being in Canoga Park other than to your ego. There is also no adjustment made for being in West Hills versus Canoga Park as long as the homes are similar. The fact is that areas like Valley Village, West Hills and North Hills were just made up to make the homeowners feel like they didn't really live in Canoga Park, North Hollywood or Sepulveda.

Mike

[Charles]

Originally Posted by LAappraiser

The value of your home will be based on the values of similar homes nearby.

Do two otherwise identical homes have the same resale value if the only difference between them is their "city" (west hills vs canoga park) name?

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by SoCal35

Acutally, I think the history went like this: West Hills was around since at least the 1960's, albeit a smaller slice of what it is today (originally West Hills was just on unincorprated county land that bordered Canoga Park, which was in the City of LA). In the late 1980's, the "nice" part of Canoga Park pressured the city (of LA) to rename them to West Hills. The city agreed and the current boundaries were re-set. This change had no real legal change , just the name association with a nice area.

Wikidpedia lists the following which is sourced to the West Hills Neighborhood Council:

In 1987, the City of Los Angeles recognized the following description of the boundaries of West Hills:
"Starting at the centerline intersections of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Nordhoff Street, westward down the centerline of Nordhoff extended in a straight line to the city limits of the City of Los Angeles; thence southward, following the border of the City of Los Angeles to the centerline of Victory Boulevard; thence eastward down the centerline of Victory Boulevard to Shoup Avenue centerline; thence northward down the centerline of Shoup Avenue to the intersection of the centerline of Roscoe Boulevard; thence eastward down the centerline of Roscoe Boulevard to the centerline of Topanga Canyon Boulevard; then northward downthe centerline of Topanga Canyon Boulevard to the centerline of Nordhoff Street."

I think you are right on.

Nita

[stanstr]

Yes, SoCal35 up above has parts of it right.

In 1987, the City of Los Angeles recognized the boundaries of West Hills: Starting at ...Topanga Canyon Blvd and Nordhoff Street, west down Nordhoff to the city limits; then south following the LA border to Victory Blvd; then east to Shoup Ave.; then north to Roscoe Boulevard; then East to Topanga Canyon Blvd and finally North Nordhoff Street.

Westhills (one word) was and is still part of unincorporated Los Angeles. You enter this area by turning West on Kittridge Street, which is also the only exit from the area. It encompasses three long blocks, bounded by Kittridge on the South, Welby Way on the North and Randiwood Ln and Julie Ln on the West and East. It's about a mile around the perimeter. See milermeter.com

West Hills split from Canoga Park in 1987. It was thought that it would raise property values if the area was not called Canoga Park - they wanted to upgrade. Most of the area West of Shoup Ave was / is higher income and newer nicer homes. What is now the Madrid theater on Sherman Way was then a Pussycat (porno) theater, and residents thought it made their neighborhood look bad.

I live in the area, have friends in 'Westhills', although many there call it West Hills. There used to be a sign just past Temple Solael (which is now a Montessori School), saying 'Welcome to Westhills'. Children living there are bussed to schools in Las Virgines School District. High schoolers are bussed past El Camino HS to go to Calabasas High School. Kids in Middle School go to AE Stelle Middle School on Mulholland and the 'local' elementary is Round Meadow at the back entrance to Hidden Hills (about 5 miles).

If they call the police, the Sheriff comes.

As new areas were built up West of Valley Circle it was included in the (mostly) unincorporated area.

Many companies use older databases that don't update 91304 to West Hills. It really makes no difference - the Post office just needs the zip code. if you use the zip+4, it tells just what block you live on.

[timtemtym]

So if one lives in one of these districts in the valley, is it acceptable to write Los Angeles as the city on one's address instead of writing the district like Tarzana, Encino, etc...? My friends in Palms, Mar Vista, and West L.A. all write "Los Angeles" as their city. But it seems like valley areas use their valley "district" name. I know in New York where they have boroughs, people write Bronx or Brooklyn or even the district within the borough like Jamaica, Park Slope, etc... and some friends I have there insist they can't write just "New York City, NY" unless they are in Manhattan.

[stanstr]

Don't get bent out of shape. Your home has the same value whether mail coming to you is addressed to West Hills or Canoga Park. Of course the PO says you can't use the wrong zip code. How would you expect them to deliver your mail if it is directed to a mail carrier who delivers to 91307 if your home in in 91304? Go to Zip Code Finder and Boundary Map., put in your zip code the the space next to Key Zip, hit the FindZipcode button and you'll get a map showing that areas boundaries. This is a partial screen shot...



Sometime in 1987 / 1988 some raised a stink that they didn't want to live in a community that had the Pussycat Theater (that showed pornographic movies). They were also looking down at some of the older areas with very small scruffy looking homes, many with Mexican residents. These were home owners in larger, more expensive homes, in newer areas of Canoga Park, mostly near Valley Circle Boulevard. They wanted to remove themselves from Canoga Park and presented a city motion (or whatever the procedure is) to rename their part of Canoga Park to West Hills. They also thought this renaming would substantially raise home values. After a lot of dickering, their original proposed Eastern boundary was moved from (Fallbrook Ave?) to Shoup Ave. The motion (or whatever it is called) passed. My home was now only maybe 400 feet inside of Canoga Park. With the advent of the internet, the Pussycat Theater closed down and later morphed into the Madrid Theater - a big asset to the community.

At the time, there was (and still is) an established community of Westhills, part of Ventura County starting about half a block West of Valley Circle. Westhills is now, 25+ years later, sometimes called West Hills by some who live there - they may not know the difference or just prefer to go with the majority.

Since then we've moved and now live in West Hills. Some of our mail comes addressed to Canoga Park and some comes to West Hills. I just think many places are not using updated maps or data bases. A neighbor recently bought a computer on line from Dell, and when filling out his address, the Dell system changed his address from West Hills to Canoga Park. It's nothing to worry about - as long as they entered the zip code he should have no worries.

Don't sweat it. It's not worth even thinking about, much less getting riled up about it enough to post a complaint. (or this reply!) The same thing happens in other places. After WW II Mission Acres (in the North valley) was renamed Sepulveda, and in the 1990s was changed to North Hills (even though are no hills there). Parts of Van Nuys, Northridge and Reseda were chopped off to make Lake Balboa in 2006. Valley Glen was parceled from parts of North Hollywood and Sun Valley (and Arleta?). Valley Village was cut North Hollywood in 1991.

Renaming happens.

What today is Canoga Park was at one time the homeland of Native Americans of the Tongva-Fernandeño and Chumash-Venturaño tribes. Later the area was part of Mission San Fernando. After the Mexican War of Independence from Spain the 'future Canoga Park' land became part of Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando. Later on it was converted into wheat farms and then subdivided, with part of it named Owensmouth which was founded as a town in 1912. It joined Los Angeles in 1917 and was renamed Canoga Park in 1931.

Victor Girard Kleinberger bought 2,886 acres in the West valley and founded the town of Girard in 1922. It was eventually incorporated into Los Angeles, and in 1945 it became known as Woodland Hills.

For more of the history of the Valley, look up any of the communities in Wikipedia - mostly here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Fernando_Valley and here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoga...ngeles#History

Look up most any of these communities in Wikipedia and you'll also find maps showing their boundaries.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by heylucy

Hello:
Hoping someone can give me an answer to this. We moved into the West hills area last year. Our zip code is 91304. The city states that we live in West Hills yet most of the mail that we receive has canoga park on it because we share the 91304 zip code with canoga park. We know for a fact that we live in West Hills according to the city division yet it has something to do with the post office. The post office will not allow us to use the 91307 zip code for other sections of west hills. When I go on zillow.com my home shows as canoga park yet my next door neighbor shows as west hills and my other neighbor shows as canoga park so it is different along all of the houses on my same block. I wish I knew what the homeowners that have it correct have done for it to show as west hills and not canoga park. It is a big deal because it has to do with home values and so forth.

Anyone have an answer for this? Thanks

Because they want to make you a flatlander and a val.

[Sydney123]

West Hills used to be Canoga park.

[Taiko]

Originally Posted by stanstr

Many companies use older databases that don't update 91304 to West Hills. It really makes no difference - the Post office just needs the zip code. if you use the zip+4, it tells just what block you live on.

A bit more information then just the block, It will break down each hundredth block to its odd or even side of the street and every place the letter carrier needs his key to open the bank of mail boxes will have its own unique plus four code, so an apartment building on that block will have one or more plus fours then the rest of the block..

[nmnita]

If my mind serves me correctly, West Hills is just a section of Canoga Park which is simply a neighborhood or small section of Los Angeles. The entire area was known as Canoga Park until the late 60s or maybe even 70s, something like that.