North Hills, Los Angeles

The Mexican armed resistance to the American intervention ceased in the beginning of 1848 and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded the California Territory to the United States. The Treaty provided that the Mexican land grants would be honored and American officials acquired Spanish and Mexican records to confirm titles.[3] The rancho land grant was patented to Eulogio de Celis in 1873.[4] De Celis sold the southern half of the rancho, south of what is roughly now Roscoe Boulevard to Andrés Pico in 1854; Pico had sold his half-interest in the rancho to his brother Pío Pico in 1862, retaining 2,000 acres (8 km²) called the Pico Reserve around the old Mission. In a 1871 plat of the rancho, the North Hills area is shown to be relatively undeveloped land just south of the Pico Reserve with a road from the Mission to the Rancho Los Encino crossing the land diagonally and a sheep camp located just north of the ranch partition line to the west of the Pacoima Wash.[5] De Celis died in 1869 and his son Eulogio F. de Celis sold the northern half, which includes what is now North Hills, to Charles Maclay, George K. Porter and Benjamin F. Porter in 1875.[6]

The Porter cousins' land lied to the west of present-day Sepulveda Boulevard and the Maclay land lied to the east.[7] In 1881, the Porter cousins split their holdings and George received the portion between Sepulveda Boulevard and Aliso Canyon. In 1882, the Porters received one-third of the Maclay land; with this purchase, the Porter's land covered all of current North Hills land. In 1887, George K. Porter subdivided the land and established the Porter Land and Water Company to take advantage of a land sales boom.[8] John B. Baskin, a partner and sales agent of the company began an extensive marketing and promotional campaign for the land subdivision; a frequent motif of the marketing is the remains of the mission which was surrounded by the tract. Baskin also hired California State Engineer William Hammond Hall to develop an irrigation plan for water derived from the local springs and arroyos like the current Pacoima Wash. The boom began to fade by the end of 1888 and went bust the next year with internal company problems and declining national and local economies which preceded the Panic of 1893; the decline would also be excacerbated by severe droughts in the 1890s. In October of 1903, Porter sold his firm and transferred remaining lands to a syndicate led by Leslie C. Brand which was incorporated as the San Fernando Mission Land Company in 1904.[9][10][11]

Mission Acres was an agricultural community made by early developers who created 1 acre plots for agricultural activities, with irrigation supplied by the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913.[12] The community was a stop for the Pacific Electric railway streetcars that transported passengers from downtown Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley.[13]

Residents of Mission Acres renamed the area Sepulveda in 1927.[2][13] The Californio Sepulveda family, going back to the founding of the Pueblo of Los Angeles,[14] is the source of various Los Angeles place-names, including the post-war community of Sepulveda. Sepulveda Boulevard is the primary north–south street through North Hills, crossing Sepulveda Pass to the south. The community saw significant growth between the 1930s and the 1950s.[2]

In 1937, councilman Jim Wilson offered a resolution that instructed the city's real estate agent to make the right of way cost appraisal for diverting flood waters from Wilson and East Canyons into Pacoima Wash to protect the community of Sepulveda from floods that occurred during heavy storms.[15]

The area remained mostly rural through the 1940s, urbanization initiated during the 1950s during which the entire San Fernando Valley was experiencing a transition from semi-rural and agricultural uses into suburban development patterns. Multi-family residential units began to be developed in the 1960s.[16]

In 1991, residents of the western half of Sepulveda, west of the San Diego Freeway, voted to secede from the eastern section to form a new community named North Hills. The City of Los Angeles soon changed the name of remaining Sepulveda to North Hills also.[17] The city then formed a new sub-neighborhood of "North Hills West" which begins west of the 405 freeway and goes to Bull Creek Wash/Balboa Blvd. and from Roscoe Blvd. to Devonshire St.[18][19] The eastern section became the sub-neighborhood of North Hills East.[20]

North Hills East boundaries are east of the 405-San Diego Freeway, along the Pacoima Wash, South of Lassen, and North of Roscoe.[21]

In June 1999, a damaged airplane landed safely on Hayvenhurst Avenue on its way to Van Nuys Airport.[13]

As of 2020, about 242 (1.3%) of the approximately 17,977 occupied structures in North Hills were built in 1939 or earlier, 34.9% were built from 1940 to 1959, 3.4% from 1960 to 1979, 5.2% from 2000 to 2009, 0.9% from 2010 to 2013, and 1% from 2014 or later.[22]

North Hills is governed locally by the City of Los Angeles and is represented in the Los Angeles City Council by the members elected for districts 6, 7 and 12; each district includes three different sections of the neighborhood.[23]

Both North Hills East and North Hills West Neighborhood Councils work together to improve the overall quality of life in North Hills communities.

North Hills West Neighborhood Council was certified in 2003.[24] Their slogan is "Fostering Community," and its logo is of a green tree in the city.[24] The 2012-2014 North Hills West Neighborhood Council was seated into office on September 20, 2012.[25] A northwestern section became part of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council in 2013.[26]

North Hills East Neighborhood Council was certified in 2010.[27] It has a growing, multicultural group of neighbors dedicated to service and community activism. In early 2014, North Hills East Neighborhood Council was approved as an Official Certifying Organization for the President's Volunteer Service Awards program, which is an initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the same organization responsible for AmeriCorps and Senior Corps. This status as an Official Certifying Organization has enabled the North Hills East Neighborhood Council to verify hours and eligibility for volunteers to receive an award, which, depending on number of hours worked can range from a pin to a personalized letter from the President of the United States. More about the awards can be found here: www.presidentialserviceawards.gov Volunteers do not have to be a resident or stakeholder of North Hills East to qualify for a President's Volunteer Service Award.

The neighborhood is represented federally by the congress member elected for California's 29th congressional district and both senators from California. On the state level, it is represented by the state assembly member elected for California State Assembly District 46 and the state senator elected for California State Senate District 18.

The community is served by schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.[29]

Gledhill Street Elementary School, Langdon Avenue Elementary School, Mayall Street School, and Parthenia Street School serve North Hills.[30]

Most students attend Sepulveda Middle School.[31] Those students residing west of Woodley Avenue attend Holmes Middle School.[32]

North Hills high school students attend James Monroe High School.[33]

There are magnet programs in some schools, such as the Sepulveda Middle School which has a Gifted / High Ability Magnet, and Kennedy High School which has an Architecture/Digital Arts Magnet. A school bus is provided if pupils are more than 5 miles away from the school. North Hills West is also served by charter schools of all grades.

The private and parochial schools in North Hills include Valley Park Baptist, Valley Presbyterian School, Heritage Christian, Our Lady of Peace, and Church of the Living Word. Los Angeles Baptist High School also serves the community and in 2012, was combined with Heritage Christian High School.

Several North Hills residents serve as host families to international students studying in the US. As of early 2014, about 50 foreign exchange students are attending school in the North Hills area. Host families get to share their way of life and culture with the students, and at the same time learn more about the students and their home countries.

The Los Angeles Public Library Mid-Valley Regional Branch, one of the biggest in the San Fernando Valley, is located on Nordhoff Street at Woodley Avenue in North Hills.[41]