| Tarzana | |
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| — Neighborhood of Los Angeles — | |
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Tarzana
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Los Angeles |
| City | Los Angeles |
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
Tarzana ( /tɑrˈzænə/) is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. The neighborhood is located on the site of a former ranch owned by author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who named it Tarzana after his jungle hero character Tarzan.
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Tarzana, a district of Los Angeles, is surrounded by Reseda to the north, Woodland Hills to the west, Encino to the east, and the Santa Monica Mountains (also a part of Los Angeles) to the south. Major roads in Tarzana include Reseda Boulevard, Tampa Avenue, Wilbur Avenue, Burbank Boulevard, and Ventura Boulevard.
Most of Tarzana's inhabitants live in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains south of Ventura Boulevard. South of Ventura Boulevard also contains two golf courses: El Caballero Country Club and Braemar Country Club.
North of the Ventura Boulevard, where a smaller portion of the population lives, there are fewer houses and more apartment buildings. Tarzana extends north to Victory Boulevard, encompassing a wide swath of medium-density housing.
The area now known as Tarzana was originally part of the San Fernando Mission, which was established in 1797 by Spanish settlers and missionaries. Later on the area became part of Mexico and then, following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States, at which point the area came to be part of a sequential order of large cattle ranches owned by local elites. Beginning in the 1870s, the area was purchased by investors who transformed it into a large-scale wheat farm operation.
In 1909 the surrounding area was purchased by the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company. General Harrison Gray Otis, the founder and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, had invested in the company, while also purchasing 550 acres (2.2 km2) in the center of modern-day Tarzana.
In 1915 or 1919, Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the Tarzan stories, purchased Otis’s land and built a large home on it, which he called the Tarzana Ranch. Burroughs subdivided and sold the land for residential development, and the neighboring small farms composing Tarzana were converted to residential areas. In 1927 or 1928, local residents renamed the town Tarzana in honor of Burroughs and his famous storybook character. Burroughs also planted a large forest of various trees on his property located south of Ventura Blvd., and just East of Reseda Blvd. A development has since been built in the forest's prior location.. Thus Tarzana lost a large hunk of its history to development, a common theme in the Los Angeles area.
There are approximately 28,484 residents. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the racial composition was predominantly White (78.9%), followed by Asian (5.6%), and Black or African American (3.8%). Native American or Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander each constituted less than one percent (0.3% and 0.1% respectively) of the population. 13.1% identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino. About 35.2% of the population in 2000 was foreign-born, including 21.9% that were born in Iran and 10.6% in Mexico.
In 2009, the Los Angeles Times's "Mapping L.A." project supplied these Tarzana neighborhood statistics: population: 35,502; median household income: $73,195.[1]
Tarzana features a burgeoning Iranian-American population, and the community is well known for its Persian restaurants, booksellers, and language training institutes. A thriving and long-established Jewish community attends four synagogues and provides the customer base for the second branch of the Hebrew language bookselling chain Steimatzky constructed outside of Israel. A number of popular and well-regarded delicatessens can be found in Tarzana, such as the Tarzana Armenian Grocery and Mort's Deli. Historic recording studio Can-Am Studios resides in Tarzana.
Notable residents include actors Jamie Foxx, Chris Tucker, Wilmer Valderrama, Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett, Michael J. Fox, actresses Blake Lively, Lisa Kudrow, and Maya Rudolph, tennis player Meilen Tu, musician Slash, filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, jazz musician Abraham Laboriel, dancer Kevin Federline, actor Ron Masak, KROQ-FM's Kevin Ryder, pornstar Crystal Ray, comedian Carlos Mencia, actor Steve Martin, actress Eva Longoria, comedian Jeff Dunham, basketball player Lamar Odom, reality television personality Khloé Kardashian, Persian singer Dariush Eghbali. Major League baseball player Troy Glaus was born in Tarzana. Mountain bicycle pioneer Jacquie Phelan attended two Tarzana schools: Wilbur and Portola. He attended W.H. Taft high, which is in Woodland Hills, to the West. Hall of Fame Radio Personality Charlie Tuna serves as honorary mayor of Tarzana. Jim Rome Sports radio host and host of Jim Rome is Burning was born in Tarzana.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner Jean Jacques Machado runs an academy in Tarzana, where his top student, Eddie Bravo, trained.
Tarzana residents are zoned to schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.[2] The area is within Board District 4.[3] As of 2011, Steve Zimmer represents the district.[4] Zimmer's current term ends in 2013.
Zoned elementary schools include:
Zoned middle schools include:
Zoned high schools serving Tarzana include:
Woodcrest Elementary School is a private preschool-5th grade school in Tarzana.
The Los Angeles Public Library operates the Encino-Tarzana Branch along Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana.[5]
The Tarzana Recreation Center is in Tarzana. The center has a gymnasium that also is used as an auditorium; the building's capacity is 600. The park also has barbecue pits, a lighted baseball diamond, lighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, an indoor gymnasium without weights, picnic tables, and lighted volleyball courts.[6]
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