O'Melveny Park is a public park in the
Santa Susana Mountains, in the
Granada Hills community of the northern
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...
, in the northernmost portion of the City of Los Angeles, California.
History
The park is named after Henry W. O'Melveny, who founded one of Los Angeles' oldest law firms,
O'Melveny & Myers, which represented many early Los Angeles founder and developer families, and in 1927 was one of the original members of the California State Parks Commission.
The land was purchased in 1941 by attorney John O'Melveny, son of Henry W. O'Melveny, and was originally named C. J. Ranch before it was later acquired by
The Trust for Public Land and turned into a park. The ranch was used for growing citrus fruit, grazing cattle, and raising bulldogs. In the early 1970's John O'Melveny arranged for his wife Corinne O'Melveny's estate to sell her half interest in the property to the City at below market price while he donated his half interest to the City outright. In 1976, O'Melveny arranged for the land to be deeded to the city for a park.
The installation of commemorative plaques in honor of the O'Melvenys was approved with support of the Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council in July 2008 by the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners; they were installed near the park caretaker's house and in front of a picnic area.
Archer Fire
During the
2025 Southern California Wildfires, the park was affected by the Archer Fire which started on January 10 at 11:24 a.m. and spread to . Under erratic wind conditions, the fire threatened to spread into the main part of the park as well as the surrounding neighborhood which was immediately placed under evacuation orders. About a half hour after its ignition, forward progress was quickly halted by firefighters, aided by water-dropping helicopters, and the evacuation orders were revised to warnings before being lifted by 1:44 p.m. The fire was halted at and spread on the light to medium brush over the hills to the east of the main park area and north of the parking lot, but no structures were damaged.
Park
O'Melveny Park is the second largest public park in Los Angeles after
Griffith Park. O'Melveny Park is managed by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.
It provides large grassy areas, picnic tables, and is known for its hiking and horse trails and the views they lead to. Near the entrance is a grove of citrus trees, nearly all of which are Grapefruit.
A caretaker resides in a residence in the park.
See also
*
Santa Susana Mountains
*
California chaparral and woodlands
The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of southwestern Oregon, northern, central, and southern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico), located on the west coast of North America. It is a ...
–
Ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...
*
Chaparral
Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...
–
plant community
A plant community is a collection or Association (ecology), association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The comp ...
*
California oak woodland
California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico. Oak woodland is widespread at lower elevations in coast ...
–
plant community
A plant community is a collection or Association (ecology), association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The comp ...
*
Oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
s –
List of Quercus species
The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 known species, plus about 180 hybrids between them. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the tw ...
*
Quercus agrifolia
References
External links
Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy
{{Granada Hills, Los Angeles
Parks in the San Fernando Valley
Santa Susana Mountains
Granada Hills, Los Angeles
Parks in Los Angeles County, California
Regional parks in California