Warner Center, Los Angeles, California
Encyclopedia
Edge city
"Edge city" is an American term for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional urban area in what had recently been a residential suburb or semi-rural community...
in the Woodland Hills
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
Woodland Hills is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California.Woodland Hills is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, east of Calabasas and west of Tarzana, with Warner Center in its northern section...
district of Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. It was built to relieve traffic to/from downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
, as well as generate jobs in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
. It was first envisioned in the 1970s and considered complete in the mid-1990s.
Overview
It contains many low rise office buildings, as well as several high rise skyscrapers, notably three that are all in the same lot of land (all three being zoned out for commerce). There is also some residential and industrial, as well as some retail such as the Westfield PromenadeWestfield Promenade
The Westfield Promenade is a large shopping mall owned by Westfield Group and located on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in the Woodland Hills district of Los Angeles...
. The western-most stop of the Orange Line Transitway ends at the transit hub of the same name on Owensmouth Street, in between Erwin and Oxnard streets. The transitway opened on October 29, 2005. Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Pierce College, also known as Pierce College, Pierce, is a community college that serves more than 23,000 students in the northern Chalk Hills of Woodland Hills, a community within the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California.The college began with 70 students...
(a community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
) is located east of the Center.
American International Group
American International Group, Inc. or AIG is an American multinational insurance corporation. Its corporate headquarters is located in the American International Building in New York City. The British headquarters office is on Fenchurch Street in London, continental Europe operations are based in...
at the top. They are owned by Douglas Emmett Properties, which has an overview of these towers at their website.
The skyline of Warner Center is visible from the 101 freeway, with the farthest view of the entire skyline being visible to the west from the off-ramp of Parkway Calabasas Road, in the city of Calabasas
Calabasas, California
Calabasas is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California in the western United States. It is located in the hills in the southwestern San Fernando Valley and the Santa Monica Mountains between Woodland Hills, Agoura Hills, West Hills, and Malibu, California. As of the 2010 census, the city...
, and with the closest western view being shortly after the Fallbrook Avenue off-ramp in Woodland Hills. The farthest eastern view is unknown at this time, but, on the clearest of days, can probably be seen from Van Nuys.
Warner Center is named for Harry Warner
Harry Warner
Harry Morris Warner was an American studio executive, one of the founders of Warner Bros., and a major contributor to the development of the film industry. Along with his three brothers Warner played a crucial role in the film business and played a key role in establishing Warner Bros...
, the eldest of the Warner Brothers, who had owned the land since the 1940s as a small part of his 1100 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
(4.5 km²) horse ranch. Robert Voit led the commercial development of the land after it was sold in the late-1970s. As of 2003, the area employed 40,000 with only 10,000 residents.
The Harry Warner family donated 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) of land in 1967 that became the Warner Center Park (also known as the Warner Ranch Park). Today it is adjacent to the central, high rise buildings of Warner Center. Apart from picnic table
Picnic table
A picnic table is a modified table with attached benches, designed for eating a meal outdoors .-Uses:...
s, the park features the US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1.3 million Lou Bredlow Pavilion, which is the permanent home to the Valley Cultural Center's Concerts in the Park. These free, outdoor concerts play on Sundays starting in June until Labor Day
Labor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...
annually.
Warner Center is home to several large businesses, including Health Net, Inc., a Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
company, and Zenith Insurance
Zenith Insurance
Zenith National Insurance Corp. is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. Zenith National Insurance Corp. is the holding company for Zenith Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, including ZNAT Insurance Company .Since 1977, Zenith Insurance Company has been a...
, a national workers' compensation insurance company.
Fire service
Los Angeles Fire DepartmentLos Angeles Fire Department
The Los Angeles Fire Department is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles....
Station 84 (Woodland Hills) and Station 72 (Canoga Park) serve Warner Center.
Police service
Security guards employed by Universal Protection Service continuously monitor and patrol all buildings, parking structures, and loading docks.Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
operates the nearby Topanga Community Police Station.