Encino Real Estate

As the first Europeans to see inland California, the Spanish Portolá expedition traveled north through Sepulveda pass into the San Fernando Valley on August 5, 1769, and stayed two nights at a native village near what is now Los Encinos State Historic Park. During the expedition, Franciscan missionary Fray Juan Crespi named the valley El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bolonia de los Encinos (The Valley of St. Catherine of Bologna of the Holm Oaks).

Three Mission Indians were granted land from the former Mission San Fernando in 1845, establishing Rancho Los Encinos (Ranch of Holm Oaks). In 1834, the California missions were secularized, resulting in the creation of ranchos. The name Encino is derived from the ranch.

Encino is a 9.5-square mile (25 km2) neighborhood in Los Angeles with 41,905 residents. Its population density is 1,703 people per square mile (4,411 people per square mile), one of the lowest for the city but average for the county. Approximately 44,581 people lived in the city in 2008.

Among county residents aged 50 and older, the ratio was among the highest in the county; the median age in 2000 was 42, considered old for city and county neighborhoods.

Los Angeles considered the neighborhood to be “not particularly diverse” ethnically, with a high proportion of white residents. 80.1% of the residents were white, 8.5% were Latino, 4.9% were Asian, 2.4% were black, and 4.1% were from other countries. The most common places of birth for Los Angeles’ 32.8% of residents born abroad were Iran (30.1%) and Russia (6.4%).

In 2008, the median household income was $78,529. For Los Angeles County, the percentage of households earning $125,000 or more was high. In comparison to the rest of the city and county, the average household size was 2.3 people. The housing stock was occupied by 38.4% of renters and 61.6% by owners.

The county has one of the highest percentages of divorced and widowed residents. In 2000, military veterans comprised 10.6% of the population, a high rate for the county.

District 3 of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and district 5 of the Los Angeles City Council comprise Encino. Additionally, the Encino Neighborhood Council is an advisory body under the auspices of the Los Angeles Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.

USPS operates the Encino Post Office at 5805 White Oak Avenue and the Balboa Van Nuys Post Office at 4930 Balboa Boulevard.

A high percentage of Encino residents aged 25 and older earned a four-year degree by 2000, both for the city and the county. The county had a high percentage of residents with master’s degrees or higher.

Public

Encino is served by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

• Hesby Oaks Leadership Charter School (K-8 school)^[13]
• Encino Charter Elementary School^[14]
• Emelita Street Elementary School
• Fred E. Lull Special Education Center
• Lanai Road Elementary School^[15]

As of 2009, there were no public high schools in Encino. Public high schools serving portions of Encino were Birmingham High School in Lake Balboa, and Reseda High School in Reseda.^[16]

In 1982 the board considered closing Rhoda Street Elementary School in Encino. In April 1983 an advisory committee of the LAUSD recommended closing eight LAUSD schools, including Rhoda Street School.^[17] In August 1983 the board publicly considered closing Rhoda, which had 262 students at the time.^[18] In 1984 the board voted to close the Rhoda Street School.^[19]

Private

• Sage Academy, elementary, 5901 Lindley Avenue
• Westmark School, 5461 Louise Avenue
• Holy Martyrs Armenian High School/Ferrahian, 5300 White Oak Avenue
• Crespi Carmelite High School, 5031 Alonzo Avenue
• Our Lady of Grace School, elementary, 17720 Ventura Boulevard
• Los Encinos School, elementary, 17114 Ventura Boulevard
• Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, elementary, 4650 Haskell Avenue
• Valley Beth Shalom Day School, 15739 Ventura Boulevard
• International School of Los Angeles (Lycee International de Los Angeles), 5933 Lindley Avenue

Los Encinos State Historic Park is operated by California State Parks in Encino. There are nine original rooms of the Ossa Adobe, the Garnier Building, a blacksmith shop, a pond, and a natural spring in the park.

Woodley Worel/Magnus Cricket Complex, part of Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area in Encino, contains four of the nation’s best grass cricket pitches. Celebrating the origins of cricket in Los Angeles from 1888, host to many famous stars and games. A total of 36 golf holes are located in the Encino and Balboa golf courses in the basin. In 2008, Steve Timm lengthened the Balboa Municipal Golf Course, which had been a short golf course. A banquet room, nine-hole back nine, renting clubs, carts, lighted driving range, lounge, and facilities for chipping and putting are available on the Balboa course. In 1957, William P. Bell and Sons designed the Encino Municipal Golf Course, the second of two Sepulveda Dam courses. Encino Municipal Golf Course is a medium-length course. It has a large, tree-lined fairway. It shares many features with the Balboa course.

There is an indoor basketball court, a lighted football field, a lighted handball court, a children’s play area, a community room, an unlighted soccer field, lighted tennis courts, and lighted volleyball courts at the Balboa Sports Complex in Encino. There is a dog park in Encino called Sepulveda Basin Off-Leash Dog Park. A leash-free dog area measures 6.5 acres, and a small dog area measures 0.5 acres. There is an on-leash picnic area, 100 parking spaces, and public phone service. Garden plots total 420 at Sepulveda Garden Center, an Encino community garden.