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Woodland Hills has a very interesting history. As with most land in the San Fernando Valley the land changed hands numerous times since the land belonged to the Native Americans of the “Fernandeno-Tataviam” and “Chumash-Venturano” tribes.

Just after the turn of the twentieth century a syndicate headed up by Harry Chandler and Hobart Johnstone Whitley owned the land including a vast section of the San Fernando Valley. The syndicate was known as the “Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company”.

In 1922 along came Victor Girard Kleinberger, he bought 2,886 acres from the syndicate and founded his not so modestly named town “Girard”. The area had recently seen growth due to the arrival of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, yet the land was still a cow pasture. Most land in the San Fernando Valley at that time was primarily used for agriculture. Despite warnings from other developers, Girard had had multiple success stories in the past with land development in fringe areas. He was certain that Los Angeles would continue to grow and that soon the housing boom would spread into this area after the south and east became saturated.

The infrastructure to a certain extent was already in place, with the intersection of Topanga Canyon and Ventura Boulevards, making it easy for Angelenos driving up the coast from Santa Monica. Girard created almost 7,000 small lots making the ability to own your own plot of land more affordable. The question was how was he going to make this barren cow pasture a desirable neighborhood? His plan was simple. In order to turn this area into a desirable retreat he would plant thousands of trees. In total he planted more than 120,000 sycamores, eucalyptus, fir pine and pepper trees across the town site.

Girard built false shop fronts along the ‘town center’ at the intersection of the two main boulevards. It was very much like a modern day movie set. He hoped this would give the town an appearance of being busier for those driving by. Instead of the Mission style architecture that was so popular at the time, Girard chose to construct buildings in a Moorish Style. Essentially it looked like a city straight out of Turkey or Morocco. When the town officially opened in 1923 Girard made sure to attract buzz and plenty of media attention. He even organized day tours for potential buyers to be driven to the area lured in by the promise of a free lunch.

His techniques worked and soon people began to populate Girard. However his success would not last for long. Girard over extended himself with investments in improving infrastructure including involvement in the development of Mulholland Drive. He unscrupulously used money derived from adding a lien on every lot in the town. After the Stock Market Crash the community quickly unraveled as residents were confronted with the unforeseen debt. After the Great Depression the few remaining residents of Girard made the decision to rename the community Woodland Hills.