Lake Balboa, an artificial lake in Encino's Balboa Park.
Rancho Encino, part of the town's original namesake, 1900.
Encino (Spanish for evergreen or holm
oak) is a hilly district of the City of Los
Angeles
, California
, United
States
. Specifically, it is located in the central
portion of the southern San Fernando Valley
and on the north slope of the Santa Monica
Mountains
. It derives its name from the Rancho Los
Encinos
(Ranch of the Evergreens), a parcel of
land given to three Mission Indians
by the Mexican government following its secularization of the
California missions beginning in 1834. Rancho Encino was
established in 1845.
[51509]
The portion of the
Los Angeles
River that runs through the Encino area is one of only two
unpaved areas necessitated by the high water table. The original
aquifer that fed the City of Los Angeles is
the one located below Encino.
Geography
Encino is
bordered by Tarzana
on the west, the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area
on the north, Sherman Oaks
on the east, and the Encino Reservoir of the
Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power on the south. The
district's boundaries are roughly
Mulholland Drive on the south, Lindley
Avenue on the west,
Victory Boulevard on the
north, and the
San Diego Freeway
on the east. Major thoroughfares include
Ventura, Magnolia and Burbank Boulevards,
as well as White Oak Avenue, Balboa Boulevard, Haskell Avenue and
Hayvenhurst Avenue.
Demographics
As of the 2000 Census, the population of Encino was 40,946, with a
population density of 3,864.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of
the district was 89.90%
White,
1.78%
African
American, 4.38%
Asian, 0.19%
Native American, and
4.13% belonged to other races.
Hispanic or
Latino residents, of any race, were
4.62% of the population.
18.25% of the population was under 18, and 20.08% was over 64. The
district contained 18,159 housing units in a land area of 10.59
square miles (27.44 square kilometers). Water covers 0.13 square
miles (0.33 square kilometers) of the district.
In 2009, the
Los Angeles
Times's "Mapping L.A." project supplied these Encino
neighborhood statistics: population: 41,905; median household
income: $78,529.
Economy
The local economy provides jobs primarily in health care (including
one of two
Encino-Tarzana Regional
Medical Center hospitals), social services, and professional
services (accounting and financial services, real estate, and
legal) sectors. There are approximately 3,800 businesses employing
about 27,000 people at an annual payroll of $1,400,000,000.
Government and infrastructure
Local government
Most of Encino lies within
Los
Angeles City Council District 5, the portion north of the
Ventura Freeway (U.S. 101) being in District 6. Encino is also
represented in the city by the Encino Neighborhood Council, an
advisory body under the auspices of the city Department of
Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE).
Los Angeles Fire
Department Station 83 (Encino) and Station 100(West Van
Nuys/Lake Balboa) serve the community.
Los Angeles Police
Department operates the nearby West Valley Community Police
Station.
Federal, state, and county representation
Encino is in
Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors district 3.
The
United States Postal
Service operates the Encino Post Office at 5805 White Oak
Avenue and the Balboa Van Nuys Post Office at 4930 Balboa
Boulevard.
Education
Post-secondary education
Encino is
the location of Phillips
Graduate Institute and a Pepperdine University
satellite campus.
Primary and secondary schools
Public schools
Area public primary and secondary schools are operated by the
Los Angeles Unified
School District. The area is within Board District 4. As of
2008 Marlene Canter represents the district. Canter announced that
she will not seek re-election after her term expires in June
2009.
The public elementary schools serving Encino are:
- Emelita Elementary School
- Encino Elementary School
- Lanai Road Elementary School]
- Hesy Oaks School
The public middle schools serving Encino are:
- Mulholland Middle School
- Portola Middle School
- Hesby Oaks School
The public high schools serving Encino are:
Sherman Oaks
Center for Enriched Studies is a magnet school in the
area.
Zane Grey Continuation High School is in the area.
Private schools
The private schools are:
Public libraries
Encino-Tarzana Branch
The
Los Angeles Public
Library operates the Encino-Tarzana Branch at 18321
Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana.
Notable residents
Media
Encino Sun is a local community newspaper.
Encino in popular culture
It is the setting and namesake of the 1992 comedy,
Encino Man.
Within Encino is what was the Encino RKO Ranch, where the mythical
town of
Bedford Falls stood during the
filming of
It's A Wonderful Life.
Dave Grohl mentioned wearing a black
"Encino" shirt to the MTV Movie Awards in a
Spin Magazine interview and says of Encino,
"There are some really good delis out here." Grohl also
mentions,
"Dude, I love the Valley!"
Encino is mentioned in
Frank Zappa's
1982 hit song,
Valley Girl.
It is a place where the crew of
Blue
Thunder, a 1983 film with
Roy
Scheider, during their helicopter shift secretly watch a woman
performing physical exercise at her house while elsewhere LA
councilwoman Diane McNeely is shot.
"The Point" from
Fast
Times at Ridgemont High was located at one of the baseball
fields in Encino Little League.
Ali's (
Elisabeth Shue) family lived
in Encino in the movie
The Karate
Kid. Their country club was Encino Oaks and they lived on
Alonzo Avenue.
Encino is where live-action specials on the popular cartoon
SpongeBob SquarePants
take place. The character
Patchy the
Pirate from
SpongeBob
SquarePants lives in Encino.
Encino is
the setting of the first half of Chilean
author
Alberto Fuguet's novel Las
películas de mi vida (The Movies Of My Life).
Encino is where, according to a recurring on-air gag,
Match Game panelist
Brett
Somers would take host
Gene Rayburn
to a nice hotel after the show if she were "feeling frisky."
The 40-Year-Old Virgin was
partly filmed in Encino.
Tribal Tech, a progressive
Jazz fusion band, has a song called Sheik of
Encino.
In the 2008 movie
Hancock,
Ray Embrey, one of main characters, states that his son plays on
the little league soccer team the Encino Hurricanes, suggesting
that the movie is at least partially set there.
Miles Straume of
Lost claims to be from Encino.
A bonus level in
Call of
Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is set in a museum located in
Encino.
Notable attractions
The stump pictured is all that remains of the historic
millennium-old California Live Oak
The Encino
Velodrome has provided an
outdoor oval bicycle racing track since
1963.
Los Encinos State
Historic Park features historic buildings, a small museum, and
picnic grounds.
The Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area is a large area in Encino with
multiple golf courses, tennis courts, soccer fields, baseball
diamonds, bike paths and a lake bordered by about 2,000 Pink Cloud
Cherry Trees that blossom in the Spring and were donated
anonymously.
For over a
millennium, the area known as
Encino was the home of a massive
California live oak known as the
Encino Oak Tree. It is possible that
Encino is named because of this particular tree. It was known for
both its size and longevity. The tree died on
February 7,
1998 after an
El Niño Storm felled it. Today there is
a monument to the great tree at the corner of
Ventura Boulevard and Louise Avenue where
the Encino Oak once stood.
Encino is home to L.A.'s largest
Earth Day
festival held annually at Woodley Park.
References
- "Encino" entry on the Los Angeles Times
"Mapping L.A." website
- Encino
Neighborhood Council
- Station
83
- Station
100
- [1]
- " Post Office Location - ENCINO."
United States Postal
Service. Retrieved on December 6, 2008.
- " Post Office Location - BALBOA VAN NUYS."
United States Postal
Service. Retrieved on December 6, 2008.
- Board District 4 Map. Los Angeles Unified School
District. Retrieved on November 24, 2008.
- " Board Members." Los Angeles Unified School
District. Retrieved on November 24, 2008.
- " Two LAUSD board members retire, Friedlander wins
Shoah scholarship prize." The Jewish Journal. November
12, 2008.
- Lanai Road
Elementary School
- Hesby Oaks
School - K-8
- Mulholland Middle School
- Portola
Middle School
- Holy Martyrs
Armenian High School
- " Encino - Tarzana Branch Library."
Los Angeles Public Library.
Retrieved on December 6, 2008.
- http://www.dearlydepartedtours.com/Deceased/g/gable/clark.htm
Clark Gable
- http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/104383/hasselhoffbach_news.php
David Hasselhoff
- Chick Hearn, House of Representatives
- Michael Milken
- [2]
- Tom Petty
- Ashlee Simpson, People
- John Wayne
- http://www.nbc4.tv/news/9545628/detail.html John Wooden, NBC
4
- Encino Sun
- [3]
- [4]
- [5]
- [6]
- [7]
- Encino's
"1,000 Year Old" Oak Tree
- [8]
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