Encino (Spanish for "Oak") is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Specifically, it is located in the central portion of the southern San Fernando Valley. It derives its name from the Rancho Los Encinos (Ranch of the Oaks), a parcel of land given to three Mission Indians by the Spanish government following its abandonment of the California missions in the early 1800s. Rancho Encino was established in 1845.
Geography
Encino is bordered by Tarzana on the west, the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area on the north, Sherman Oaks on the east, and the Encino Reservoir of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on the south. The district's boundaries are roughly Mulholland Drive on the south, Lindley Avenue on the west, Victory Boulevard on the north, and the San Diego Freeway on the east. Major thoroughfares include Ventura, Magnolia, and Burbank Boulevards, as well as White Oak Avenue, Balboa Boulevard, and Hayvenhurst Avenue.
Demographics
As of the 2000 Census, the population of Encino was 40,946, with a population density 3,864.9 per square mile.
Notable attractions
The Encino Velodrome has provided an outdoor oval bicycle racing track since 1963.
The Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area is a large area in Encino with multiple golf courses, tennis courts, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, bike paths and a lake bordered by about 2,000 Pink Cloud Cherry Trees that blossom in the Spring and were donated anonymously.
For over a millennium, the area known as Encino was the home of a massive California Live Oak Tree known as the Encino Oak (a redundancy as Encino means Oak in Spanish). It is possible that Encino is named because of this particular tree. It was known for both its size and longevity. The tree died on February 7, 1998 after an El Niño Storm felled it. Today there is a monument to the great tree at the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Louise Avenue where the Encino Oak once stood.
Encino is home to L.A.'s largest Earth Day festival held annually at Woodley Park.
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