Shadow Hills, Los Angeles
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Shadow Hills (originally Hansen Heights) is a neighborhood in the
Verdugo Mountains The Verdugo Mountains, also known as the Verdugo Hills or simply The Verdugos, are a small, rugged mountain range of the Transverse Ranges system in Los Angeles County, California. Located just south of the western San Gabriel Mountains, the Verdu ...
and northeastern
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 ...
, within the city of
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
.


Geography

Shadow Hills is in the northwestern
Verdugo Mountains The Verdugo Mountains, also known as the Verdugo Hills or simply The Verdugos, are a small, rugged mountain range of the Transverse Ranges system in Los Angeles County, California. Located just south of the western San Gabriel Mountains, the Verdu ...
, near the western end of the Crescenta Valley. It is north of the city of
Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...
and southeast of the Hansen Dam Reservoir. It is adjacent to the communities of Lake View Terrace to the north, Sunland and Tujunga to the east, Sun Valley to the south, and Pacoima to the west. The area is primarily equestrian zoned, one of the last remaining such neighborhoods within the City of Los Angeles. Shadow Hills is an acceptable city name for ZIP Code 91040, with Sunland the default city name assigned to 91040.


Demographics

As of the 2000 census, Shadow Hills had a population of 3,739 people. The racial breakdown was 79% Caucasian, 14% Latino, 3% Asian American, and 1% African American. In 2009, the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''s "Mapping L.A." project supplied these Shadow Hills neighborhood statistics: population: 13,098; median household income: $82,796.


History

The community began as Hansen Heights when it opened for a planned settlement at $150 an
acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...
in 1907. Its first publicity was an article in ''The Los Angeles Record'' which announced a "public land meeting" in the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Building "with Stereoptican Pictures." Further promotional "illustrated lectures" about these "little farms" were held nightly. In 1927, "Butterfly Gardens" was a six-acre plot "in the hills a little way off the main traveled road" owned by Mr. and Mrs. Albert Carter which were seeded to wildflowers in the expectation of attracting and "raising"
butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
. In the same year Frank Kenniston owned a grocery in Hansen Heights and also "one of the largest bee apiaries in this part of the country." Kenniston noted that Hansen Street was still unpaved and that owners of large tracts were unwilling to subdivide, "thus retarding development." In 1946 the Shadow Hills Rodeo grounds were situated "on Wheatland Avenue in the Hansen Heights District of Roscoe," in a "beautiful setting with the green trees standing like guards." The arena was at 9951 Wheatland Avenue, a parcel that in 2021 was occupied by a six-bedroom, four-bath house. During the area's development, some homes were built on hilltops, reachable only "by narrow roads chewed out of the hillsides." In 1948, Los Angeles City Building and Safety Chief G.E. Morris raised ire when he ordered the property owners on Johanna Street south of Sunland Boulevard to "vacate and demolish" any structure because the roads were so narrow they could not be reached by fire engines. Boyd assured a deputation of angry owners and their families who visited him at
Los Angeles City Hall Los Angeles City Hall, completed in 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the Mayor of Los Angeles, mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council. It is loca ...
that he would seek a compromise which would not work "undue hardship." The area became known as "Dad's Canyon," which the city claimed was illegal because adequate police, fire, and sanitation could not be provided. In 1966, the ''Valley Times'' reported that "The 'town' – such as it is – includes one
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...
, a hitching post and a beauty parlor."


Renaming

Agitation to rename the area began in 1947 with a mass meeting in the Stonehurst School auditorium called by real estate broker John F. Willey "to discuss the possibility of securing a new post office and delivery district" for Shadow Hills. A second rally featured a song called "Shadow Hills" by Starr von Fluss. Dorothy Neely, secretary-manager of the Roscoe Chamber of Commerce said that "Shadow Hills people don't like the name of Roscoe," they with others objecting to it as "unimaginative, not
euphonious Phonaesthetics (also spelled phonesthetics in North America) is the study of the beauty and pleasantness associated with the sounds of certain words or parts of words. The term was first used in this sense, perhaps by during the mid-20th century ...
, and not descriptive of the location or the present-day development of the area." The name change was approved by a vote taken among the four hundred members of the Hansen Heights Improvement Association, who also decided to change the name of their organization to Shadow Hills Civic Association. The officers were Stanley M. Love, president; Norwood Simmons, vice president; Mrs. Lee Payne, treasurer, and Ronald King, secretary."Renamed Shadow Hills Town Now Wants P.O.," ''Valley Times,'' May 17, 1947, image 7
/ref> Shadow Hills did not receive a new post office, but the local address for 1,500 residents was changed from Roscoe to Sunland for properties between Johanna Street and Stonehurst Avenue."Shadow Hills Quits Roscoe Postal Zone," ''Citizen-News'' (Valley Edition), April 14, 1948, image 1
/ref>


Freeway off-ramp

In the 1960s a section of the Foothill Freeway was mapped from Sunland southwest through Lakeview Terrace to Van Nuys Boulevard. The Shadow Hills Property Owners Association fought against the freeway mainly because its members, mostly horse enthusiasts, feared their rural environment would be spoiled, particularly if a freeway bridge were built over the Tujunga Wash.


Education


Former

A Hansen Heights school district was formed in 1912, with M.W. Fuhrman as one of the
trustees Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...
and E.D. Lamb as
clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...
.


Current

By 1931, Hansen Heights School had become a part of the Los Angeles City school system. In June of that year it was announced that Hansen Heights stood "highest of any high or elementary school in the city of Los Angeles in thrift" because every child "has an account in the school savings bank." Evangeline Hymer was the principal. The school, at 9900 Wheatland Avenue, was declared surplus in 1945 and the property put up for sale. The
Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a State school, public school district in Los Angeles County, California, United States of America. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the List ...
(LAUSD) today serves Shadow Hills. Not one LAUSD school is inside of Shadow Hills. Students must travel outside of Shadow Hills to Sun Valley for Stonehurst Elementary School, Maclay Middle School in Pacoima, and Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga. Village Christian School, a private K-12 school, is located in Shadow Hills.


Attendance boundary, 1966

A 1966 plan to require Shadow Hills students to switch from the overcrowded and virtually all-white Mount Gleason Junior High School in Sunland to the more diversified Maclay Junior High in Pacoima was opposed by the Shadow Hills Homeowners Association. The Los Angeles school board approved the boundary switch in a 4–3 vote on July 14, 1966.


Government


Representation

Shadow Hills is represented by: * Los Angeles City Council District 7, Council Member Monica Rodriguez. *
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member Board of Supervisors, governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Se ...
District 5, Supervisor
Kathryn Barger Kathryn Ann Barger-Leibrich (born in 1960) is an American politician who is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 5th District since 2016 and is the Chair of Los Angeles County. A member of the Republican Party (United ...
* California State Senate District 25, * California State Assembly District 44, * United States House of Representative District 30,


Public safety

*
Los Angeles Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD or LA City Fire) provides firefighting services and technical rescue services, hazardous materials services, and emergency medical services to the residents of the city of Los Angeles, California, United ...
Station 24 (Sunland/Shadow Hills) is in the area. * Los Angeles Fire Department Station 77 (Sun Valley/Shadow Hills/La Tuna Canyon) is in the area. * Shadow Hills is served by the
Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...
Foothill Community Police Station.


Notable residents

*
Delaney Bramlett Delaine Alvin "Delaney" Bramlett (July 1, 1939 – December 27, 2008) was an American singer and guitarist. He was best known for his musical partnership with his wife Bonnie Bramlett in the band Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, which included a ...
, singer and guitarist * Ken Osmond, child actor * Mark Salling, actor and musician *
Hervé Villechaize Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (; April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993) was a French actor. He is best known for his roles as the evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film '' The Man with the Golden Gun'' and as Mr. Roarke's assistant ...
, actor and painter * Tyrus Wong, artist
Sunland Tujunga Directory
. Retrieved on March 12, 2022.
* Paul Walker, actor


References


External links


Shadow Hills Property Owners Association

Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce

Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council
{{Los Angeles San Fernando Valley Communities in the San Fernando Valley Neighborhoods in Los Angeles Sun Valley, Los Angeles Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles Verdugo Mountains