Tarzana
—  Neighborhood of Los Angeles  —
Tarzana Location within Los Angeles/San Fernando Valley
Coordinates: 34°10′24″N 118°33′11″W / 34.17333°N 118.55306°W / 34.17333; -118.55306
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.

Geography[link]

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.

Overpass in Tarzana

Early history[link]

The area now known as Tarzana was occupied in 1797 by Spanish settlers and missionaries who established the San Fernando Mission. Later absorbed by Mexico, the land was ceded to the United States in 1848 by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following the Mexican-American War. Under US rule it evolved into a series of large cattle ranches owned by local elites. Investors took over in the 1870s, turning grazing into large-scale wheat farm operation.

The area was purchased in 1909 by the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company. LA Times founder and publisher General Harrison Gray Otis both invested in the company and personally acquired 550 acres (2.2 km²) in the center of modern-day Tarzana.

In 1915 or 1919, author of the popular Tarzan stories Edgar Rice Burroughs purchased Otis’s tract and established Tarzana Ranch. Burroughs subdivided and sold the land for residential development, neighboring small farms following suit. In 1927 or 1928, local residents renamed the town Tarzana in honor of Burroughs and his famous storybook character.

Residents[link]

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]

Providence Tarzana Medical Center

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:

• Abraham Laboriel - jazz musician
• Blake Lively - actress/model
• Carlos Mencia - comedian
• Charlie Tuna - Hall of Fame radio personality; serves as honorary mayor of Tarzana
• Chris Tucker - comedian/actor
• Colbie Caillat - singer
• Crystal Ray - porn star
• Dariush Eghbali - Persian singer
• Eva Longoria - actress
• Hank Baskett - football player/TV personality
• Jacquie Phelan - Mountain bicycle pioneer attended two Tarzana schools: Wilbur and Portola. She attended Taft High, which is in Woodland Hills, to the West.
• Jamie Foxx - comedian/actor/singer
• Jean Jacques Machado - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner runs an academy in Tarzana, where his top student, Eddie Bravo, trained.^{[citation needed]}
• Jeff Dunham - comedian
• Jeremy Hotz - comedian
• Jim Rome - sports radio host and host of Jim Rome is Burning was born in Tarzana.
• Kendra Wilkinson - TV personality/model
• Kevin Ryder - KROQ-FM radio personality
• Kevin Federline - dancer
• Khloé Kardashian - TV personality/businesswoman
• Lamar Odom - basketball player
• Lisa Kudrow - actress
• Maya Rudolph - actress/comedienne/singer
• Meilen Tu - tennis player
• Michael J. Fox - actor/author/activist
• Paul Thomas Anderson - filmmaker
• Randy Jackson - American bassist/singer/record producer/entrepreneur/television personality (American Idol judge)
• Ron Masak - actor
• Slash - musician
• Steve Martin - comedian/actor
• Troy Glaus - Major League Baseball player was born in Tarzana
• Will Weisenfeld - electronic musician, also knows as "Baths"
• Wilmer Valderrama - actor

Education[link]

Primary and secondary schools[link]

Public schools[link]

Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies

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:

• Wilbur Avenue Elementary School
• Nestle Avenue Elementary School
• Vanalden Elementary School
• Tarzana Elementary School

Zoned middle schools include:

• Portola Middle School

Zoned high schools serving Tarzana include:

• Birmingham High School in (Lake Balboa area)
• Reseda High School (in Reseda area)
• Taft High School (in Woodland Hills area)

Private schools[link]

Woodcrest Elementary School is a private preschool-5th grade school in Tarzana.

Public libraries[link]

Encino-Tarzana Branch

The Los Angeles Public Library operates the Encino-Tarzana Branch along Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana.^[5]

Parks and recreation[link]

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]

Filming location[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

• Portola Middle School in Tarzana was used as a location for the films Thirteen, The Karate Kid and Akeelah and the Bee.
• Rocko's Modern Life was animated in Tarzana.
• Tarzana Armenian Deli in Tarzana was used as a location for the HBO TV show Six Feet Under. David and Keith have coffee, sandwiches and frank conversation at the eatery.
• Tarzana was the home of John Denver's character (Jerry Landers) in the 1977 film Oh, God!
• Season 2 of Bad Girls Club was filmed in Tarzana.
• Some episodes of A&Es Intervention TV Series featured Tarzana Treatment Centers.

Season 1 and mid-season 2 of Khloé & Lamar was filmed here

References[link]

External links[link]

Los Angeles portal

• Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzana, California
• Tarzana, California Community Profile
• Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[Tarzana:] A hilly haven in the jungles of the Valley" (29 Feb 2004)

Coordinates: 34°10′24″N 118°33′11″W / 34.17333°N 118.55306°W / 34.17333; -118.55306

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