Do you live in West Hills? (Los Angeles, Sacramento: new house, neighborhood, theater)

[aquamarine367]

Hi,

This is my first post here. I love reading about life in Los Angeles.

I was born in Canoga Park - now known as West Hills in 1967. I lived in Canoga Park until 1977 when my family moved to the Sacramento area for my father's new job. Does anyone here live in the West Hills area? What's it like living there now?

I frequently visit the L.A. area, and have been back to my old neighborhood in Canoga Park/West Hills many times over the past years. My last trip back was July of 2010. I lived on Welby Way near Vanowen and Platt Avenue. It's nice to see that the neighborhood looks just as cozy as it did when I lived there. The only changes I can see are that some of the trees around my old house are gone. I know one of them had to be removed due to age.....I remember playing under this tree when I was a child. Also, there are obviously a lot more people and businesses off of Platt Avenue. I used to ride my bike to Thrifty Drug for ice cream all by myself, and I remember that I had to race my bike across Platt Avenue to keep from getting creamed. That was a big deal for an 8-year-old.

Thanks for letting me reminisce!

[Charles]

I grew up in West Hills too (the homes northeast of Saticoy and Fallbrook). I lived there from 1962 to 1988. I know your area well. Used to go through it to get to the Fox Fallbrook Theater (the old one, not the one there now).
You probably climbed Castle Peak (really called El Escorpion) too.

Here are some photos from the 1940s of what the entrance of Bell Canyon used to be called, El Escorpion, also known as Castle Peak. Back in the early 1970s we used to hike to the top of the peak.











That's Topanga Plaza under construction in the background on the top right. View is looking west over Victory in 1963. The street with the pepper trees running left and right about in the middle is Canoga. Now Warner Center is where all those fields are. The biggest building was May Company anchoring the north side with the Broadway (not built yet in this photo) anchoring the eastside. "Monkey" Wards was in the middle.

The railway which goes up from the bottom and and curves to the right is now the busway.

I grew up in the top right corner of this photo, around Saticoy and Fallbrook.



This photo was taken looking north in winter 1962 from our new house in Canoga Park. In the background is snow capped Oat Mountain, 3,747 feet.

[BRinSM]

my wife's grandmother lives in west hills (near valley circle/victory) and i visit a few times a year. her neighborhood looks very similar to charles' last picture except that there are now mature trees so it feels much greener.

[aquamarine367]

Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos Charles! It's amazing how it looked back then. I love seeing the Topanga Plaza in its earliest form, and look at the beautiful farmland all around it! What a treasure those photos are! Where I lived on Welby Way, if you walked out my front door, Castle Peak was in clear view on my left. I love seeing the beautiful snow capped Oat Mountain, and your neighborhood in 1962. What a great photo!

I spent a lot of time at the Topanga Plaza (May Co., The Broadway, and the wonderful ice skating rink bring back so many memories for me!). I also used to go to the Fallbrook Mall as well. I remember going to Sears, and to Woolworth with my mother, and we would walk around the outside area of Fallbrook Mall. I loved the pleasant outdoor feeling of that mall. I also spent a lot of time at Shadow Ranch Park which is further down Vanowen, east of Topanga Plaza. I have great memories of playing there.

Hello to BRinSM as well! I know the Valley Circle/Victory Blvd. area as well. That was behind my house on Welby Way. The trees in the neighborhood are wonderful.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by aquamarine367

Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos Charles! It's amazing how it looked back then. I love seeing the Topanga Plaza in its earliest form, and look at the beautiful farmland all around it! What a treasure those photos are! Where I lived on Welby Way, if you walked out my front door, Castle Peak was in clear view on my left. I love seeing the beautiful snow capped Oat Mountain, and your neighborhood in 1962. What a great photo!

I spent a lot of time at the Topanga Plaza (May Co., The Broadway, and the wonderful ice skating rink bring back so many memories for me!). I also used to go to the Fallbrook Mall as well. I remember going to Sears, and to Woolworth with my mother, and we would walk around the outside area of Fallbrook Mall. I loved the pleasant outdoor feeling of that mall. I also spent a lot of time at Shadow Ranch Park which is further down Vanowen, east of Topanga Plaza. I have great memories of playing there.

Hello to BRinSM as well! I know the Valley Circle/Victory Blvd. area as well. That was behind my house on Welby Way. The trees in the neighborhood are wonderful.

We used to play broom ball at midnight at the Topanga Ice Rink when I was in high school late 1970s.

I went to Shadow Ranch Preschool 1965-66.

Remember that little postal hut on the east side of fallbrook square? Fosters freeze on Victory and Fallbrook?

Vanowen is a contraction for Van Nuys and Owensmouth - the road between the two towns (Canoga Park used to be called Owensmouth).

OK, this one is going to knock you out:

San Fernando Valley History Digital Library

Here's an example

CONTENTdm Collection : Item Viewer

And from the LAPL database

[BacktoBlue]

Originally Posted by Charles

I grew up in West Hills too (the homes northeast of Saticoy and Fallbrook). I lived there from 1962 to 1988. I know your area well. Used to go through it to get to the Fox Fallbrook Theater (the old one, not the one there now).
You probably climbed Castle Peak (really called El Escorpion) too.

Here are some photos from the 1940s of what the entrance of Bell Canyon used to be called, El Escorpion, also known as Castle Peak. Back in the early 1970s we used to hike to the top of the peak.

That's Topanga Plaza under construction in the background on the top right. View is looking west over Victory in 1963. The street with the pepper trees running left and right about in the middle is Canoga. Now Warner Center is where all those fields are. The biggest building was May Company anchoring the north side with the Broadway (not built yet in this photo) anchoring the eastside. "Monkey" Wards was in the middle.

The railway which goes up from the bottom and and curves to the right is now the busway.

I grew up in the top right corner of this photo, around Saticoy and Fallbrook.



This photo was taken looking north in winter 1962 from our new house in Canoga Park. In the background is snow capped Oat Mountain, 3,747 feet.

Cool story, bro.

[VLWH]

Originally Posted by aquamarine367

Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos Charles! It's amazing how it looked back then. I love seeing the Topanga Plaza in its earliest form, and look at the beautiful farmland all around it! What a treasure those photos are! Where I lived on Welby Way, if you walked out my front door, Castle Peak was in clear view on my left. I love seeing the beautiful snow capped Oat Mountain, and your neighborhood in 1962. What a great photo!

I spent a lot of time at the Topanga Plaza (May Co., The Broadway, and the wonderful ice skating rink bring back so many memories for me!). I also used to go to the Fallbrook Mall as well. I remember going to Sears, and to Woolworth with my mother, and we would walk around the outside area of Fallbrook Mall. I loved the pleasant outdoor feeling of that mall. I also spent a lot of time at Shadow Ranch Park which is further down Vanowen, east of Topanga Plaza. I have great memories of playing there.

Hello to BRinSM as well! I know the Valley Circle/Victory Blvd. area as well. That was behind my house on Welby Way. The trees in the neighborhood are wonderful.

Cavaretta's Italian groceries on sherman way, has several old photos of the area near there back entrance. Don't forget to pick me up a meatball sandwich while you're there.

[Charles]

Downtown Canoga Park 1949

[VLWH]

Originally Posted by Charles

This is the photo I was thinking about that I saw at Cavaretta's.

[Fleet]

Boy, would I like to go back there (1953) for a few days and just drive around the western and northwestern part of the valley just to see how it looked before it was (over)developed.

For me, it would be especially interesting to explore areas like what is now Chatsworth St. and Tampa Ave; Reseda Blvd. and Devonshire St; and Tampa Ave and Rinaldi St.