The following article was furnished courtesy of Della Carroll of the Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce. It was copied from an article appearing in the Friday, July 15, 1949 issue of a Granada Hills newspaper (name as yet unknown). Office on 17645 Chatsworth St., Granada Hills, Publisher, Richard Stewart. The newspaper was borrowed from Walter S. Smith.

The area now known as Granada Hills was acquired in about 1881 by George K. Porter, a pioneer of the north San Fernando Valley and one of the founders of the city of San Fernando. The land was used principally for farming, beans and wheat being among the usual crops.

In 1917 the land between Balboa and Zelzah Avenues, north from San Jose Street into the hills was bought by J.H. Moshier, a wealthy oil man from Oklahoma. Mr. Moshier built a large house, dairy barns, silos and other buildings at the foot of the hills and named his property the Sunshine Ranch. Most of the ranch buildings still remain, and several had been converted into residences. Between 1917 and 1924 over 2000 acres of the ranch were planted with citrus of various kinds. In 1925 however, Mr. Moshier tired of his project, and the Sunshine Ranch was offered for sale. It was bought by Suburban Estates, Inc. which was a holding company organized by Edwards and Wildey Company, prominent subdividers of that time, who already subdivided the town of Eagle Rock, part of Glendale, and several large districts in Los Angeles.

The lower section of the ranch was subdivided into large lots as tract 9317 in 1926. The lots varied in size up to 7 acres, and the tract office was built at 17645 Chatsworth St which has been used continually as a tract and real estate office ever since. Since 1927 it has been the office of Thurlow S. Culley. No, it never was a residence as many assume from its appearance.

The large lots did not sell as anticipated, so in 1927 about half of the original tract was subdivided into smaller residence and business lots as they exist today, and the present streets were laid out. A large pavilion was built just east of the tract office, and people by the bus load were given free trips from Los Angeles, complete with lunch, so that they might see and hear about the great opportunities that existed in Granada. As an added inducement Granada was promoted as a rabbit raising colony, and most of the eighty houses that were built for the first Granada residents in 1927 had barns suitable for rabbitries.

The first house in Granada Hills was built by Captain and Mrs. J.L. Miller on the corner of Kingsbury St. and White Oak Ave. Prior to coming to Granada, Capt. Butler was chief of Police in Los Angeles under Mayor Woodman. His house is at present the home of Mr. & Mrs. Walter Smith. The home of Mr. & Mrs. Klissner, next door to that of Capt. Butler, was coming along so slowly that they feared the baby would arrive before the house was finished. Mr. Wildey came to the rescue, however, and transferred workmen from the other houses so that the Klissner home could be finished in time. When the little girl arrived she was named Granada Klissner and was presented with $25 worth of stock in the Granada Mortgage Co. as a reward for being the first child born in Granada.

Having already built the service station at the corner of Chatsworth and Shoshone, the subdividers decided, in the fall of 1927, that it was time to launch the Granada business district. To start the ball rolling, they built a two story Spanish style store building on the corner of Chatsworth and White Oak in the hope that others would soon follow. (Others did follow - in 1946). Riddle's Market was immediately opened in the store now occupied by Nesbit's Feed Store and was soon over-expanded to include the middle store also, with the result that a few months later Granada Hills had no market.

In 1927 the Granada Women's Club was organized largely through the efforts of Mrs. Butler. During the same year the Los Angeles Board of Education bought a five and one half acre school site for $11,000. Three bungalows were built, and the school opened in the fall of 1928. On March 4, 1928 the Granada Chamber of Commerce was organized with W.G. Nelson as president, C.F. Condon as vice-president, and Thurlow S. Culley as secretary-treasurer. One of the first successful projects of the Chamber of Commerce was the securing of street lights for the community- the ones which still serve us.
The Granada pavillion served as a meeting place for the Chamber of Commerce, Women's Club and the Granada Rabbit Association, the organization for publicizing the "Granada Rabbit", which soon became recognized for its excellent meat. Almost immediately after it was organized the Granada Chamber of Commerce joined the West Valley Associated Chambers of Commerce in which it has held a membership ever since.

By 1929 the picture of Granada had begun to change somewhat from the optimistic outlook of 1927. Mr. Edwards had died in the meantime, and many of the residents did not like Mr. Wildey's management of the subdivision. Others found rabbit raising not nearly as profitable as they had anticipated. Furthermore, many people considered it too far to drive to work in Los Angeles since the much sought after transportation had not materialized.

The subdividers realized that they were pioneering in territory beyond their experience, but they put up a bold front and continued intermittently with street and utility improvements through 1931. When they were finished they had laid over fourteen miles of paved streets with curbs and sidewalks. Water, gas and power lines were in. Today we can thank them for one of the best paved subdivisions in the San Fernando Valley, and it was built at the expense of the company.

Suburban Estates, Inc., went into receivership in 1932 and was taken over by the California Trust Co., which had furnished much of the money for the development of the community. This company set up offices in the corner store of the Granada Building, operating there until all the lots were sold in 1940.

In 1931 the residents were giving serious consideration to changing the name to something other than Granada. There was confusion with a town of Grenada in Northern California. Furthermore, the residents were dissatisfied with the mail service from the San Fernando Post Office. They wanted mail delivery from North Los Angeles (now Northridge). The two Chambers of Commerce even considered merging the two communities and calling the entire area North Los Angeles. Before any definite action was taken, however, the Granada tract was taken over by the California Trust Co. Edward and Wildey went into bankruptcy, and the San Fernando Post Office improved the mail service. A "wait and see" attitude was adopted by the residents which caused the whole idea to die an natural death.

The Granada school closed in 1932, and the children were transported by bus to the O'Melveny School in San Fernando. After the earthquake of 1933, the school bungalows were moved to Long Beach and Venice to replace school buildings destroyed there.

Although two markets had failed in the Granada Building, Mr. A.G. Rowlands built a market on the corner of Devonshire and Zelzah early in 1933. This grocery store has changed hands several times, but has been in continuous operation since its opening.