West Hills Tutors Come To You

The community of West Hills is fortunate enough to house three ranches that have achieved “Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument” status. As such these monuments are recognized and protected. West Hills also has a number of sprawling parks and wide, open undeveloped space. It feels very fresh and green in comparison to some neighboring communities. Originally West Hills came under the banner of Canoga Park, but the residents wanted their own identity, and felt their smaller neighborhood within the boundaries of Canoga Park, as a more sleepy residential area should be a separate entity. After West Hills achieved the status, as it’s own community, residents on the borders of Canoga Park/West Hills streets campaigned to move the border so that they too would be included in this new community. West Hills’ tutors saw this type of protestation frequently in many San Fernando Valley communities. Often times being part of a different neighborhood or community would mean an increase in the value of property as certain neighborhoods were deemed more desirable. West Hills was certainly one of the more desirable neighborhoods, and as such its residents did not want to dilute it’s appeal by including older residential tracts and small retail strips.

One of West Hills preserved Historical-Cultural Monuments is Shadow Ranch Park. This expansive property houses lighted basketball courts, a baseball diamond, football and soccer pitches, a children’s play area and picnic tables. It is very popular meeting spot for tutoring in West Hills. Formerly the ranch was known for a long time as “Workman Ranch”, and was named after its owner Alfred Workman. Workman hailed from Australia, he struck up a working relationship with prominent community leaders Isaac Lankershim and Isaac Van Nuys, who led a farming syndicate. He was able to buy the ranch in 1869, and with this land to call his own, he set about making a home for himself and his family. West Hills’ tutors speculate that the reason for the planting of the native Australian eucalyptus trees was to make the landscape of the ranch feel more like Australia. Workman imported many eucalyptus trees so that he could see them from the windows of his home where he lived with his wife Henrietta. It is thought that all the eucalyptus trees in California stem from “Workman Ranch”.

The ranch later had new owners, a married screenwriting couple, Colin Clements and Florence Ryerson. It was Florence who renamed the estate “Shadow Ranch”, the more artistic name deriving from the amount of shade provided by the numerous eucalyptus trees that populate the property.