So you want to live in a valley between two mountain ranges in Southern California. You want to live in a city that gave us actor Kirk Cameron, musicians Linkin Park, and comedian Ray Romano. It’s a lucky thing, then, that Agoura Hills movers A&A Moving Company are leading you in that direction.
The city sits on the border of Los Angeles County and Ventura County between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains. Moving to Agoura Hills will position you about 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Almost 21,000 people live on nearly eight square miles of land, so you’ll have plenty of nice neighbors.
The Basics
You’ve already sussed out real estate Agoura Hills, or you wouldn’t be driving behind Agoura Hills movers A&A Moving Company. You’ve made sure the kids will be in good schools in the city. You researched after-school clubs to keep the kids busy until you return from your new job. What else should you know about your new home?
The nearest big towns to Agoura Hills are Thousand Oaks, Oak Park, and Lake Sherwood, all two miles away.
Most people work in the professional and technical industries, retail, and manufacturing.
The climate is moderate, with temperatures between 55 and 85 degrees, and not a lot of rain, wind, or humidity.
Three shopping centers, one library, and five parks will afford you some relaxation therapy.
A Little History
When the Spanish king sent explorers into what would become California, they found wide open spaces rich with oak trees and water. Christian missions were set up all over California and Mexico. The native Indians were the missions’ first converts to Christianity.
The acreage that would become your new city began as a land grant of 17,000 acres belonging to Frenchman Pierre Agoure. He was a rancher, and cattle and sheep ranching were born. Fruit, vegetables, and wheat were also grown on vast tracts of land.
Water became scarce in the early to mid-1900s, so, as ranching died, the city offered its land for movie-making. However, in the latter part of the century, water from the Colorado River was piped in. The advent of the Ventura Freeway right through town brought prosperity in the form of housing, malls, schools, business, and industry.
Agoura Hills Attractions
Los Angeles has Disneyland and the movie industry to tour, but your new city has a few surprises, too. Take the kids along to enjoy:
The Set Of M*A*S*H
The iconic show defined a generation, but is enthralling a new one by way of cable channel TV Land. It was shot on a ranch in the Santa Monica hills owned by movie company 20th Century Fox. Following the series end, the ranch was donated become part of the Malibu Creek State Park.
In the mid-2000s, the equipment and props were cleaned up and repaired. While you’re hiking to the site, which is a good ways into the park (bring good, sturdy hiking shoes,) you can enjoy the stunning beauty of the hills as well as the poignancy of the M*A*S*H set.
Peter Strauss Ranch
When the original owner, Harry Miller, built the ranch, he built some odd structures. One was a watch tower used to keep watch for cops during Prohibition. Miller owned an automobile manufacturing facility in L. A. and used the ranch for relaxation.
The ranch house is further into the park with an aviary nearby. When Miller sold the ranch due to the Great Depression, the aviary lost its feathered beauties, housing art collections instead.
Several amusement parks bought the ranch, leaving behind the ruins of a gigantic pool as well as a stage and dance floor. Country music legends Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson performed on that stage. The ruins of a dam can still be seen, one which formed “Lake Enchanto” for people to swim and fish.
Actor Peter Strauss bought the ranch in 1976. When he died, it was sold to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy ten years later.
The Old Place Restaurant
Have you ever wondered what those old Western movie places looked like? Now you can visit one for lunch or supper. It wasn’t around in the heyday of actual cowboys, but it wasn’t far off.
In the 1960s, Tom Runyon took an old post office/general store hidden in the hills and turned it into a restaurant. The wood he brought in from actual wild west places like Virginia City, Nevada. The original post office is still there, now a dining room.
The restaurant went through another incarnation in the ’70s as a place for actors appearing in Westerns to gather. Runyon himself sometimes played a bartender in Western films, alongside actors like Steve McQueen.
A&A Moving Company would personally like to thank you for moving to Agoura Hills and sharing all this wondrous beauty with us.