Encino Ave, Granada Hills

Granada Hills, south of the Ronald Reagan freeway, is much flatter than its northern half. You don’t get the hiking trails, and historic home architecture that you get in its hilly section either. What you do get are several wide tree-lined streets and avenues. Homes tend to get larger and newer as you approach the freeway to the north, while to the south, the newer structures tend to be leafy apartment complexes that seem an outgrowth of the vast number of such living spaces in Northridge. You will also find some retirement communities mixed in here and there.

The prettiest streets in Granada Hills are the shady ones. Like Sylmar, this tends to be a very sunny, somewhat dusty area of the valley, with some unpaved sidewalks. It is not unusual to see trucks pulling horse-trailers in Granada Hills, and just past the freeway is Zelzah Park where you have good riding trails.

The commercial aspects of Granada Hills South are extensive but old and unremarkable. Granada Hills has a shopping center, but it pales in comparison to the nearby goliath, the Northridge Mall. Storefronts along Chatsworth Blvd., the major east west thoroughfare through Granada Hills tend to be much as they were thirty to forty years ago, with vacuum repair shops and greasy spoons. You have all the usual suspects in Granada Hills when it comes to eateries and shops. You have access to supermarkets and fast food establishments. You can find whatever you need for your home. But if you want more than a burger or pizza and desire to have a memorable night out, you will definitely have to go beyond the city limits. I don’t know of any destinations for anyone who might enter Granada Hills looking for a good time beyond the sort of movie theater you can find in every other San Fernando Valley city.

That said, Granada Hills is just the sort of quiet, stable neighborhood that makes for a great place to raise kids. The urban problems that plague so many areas seem far away in this neighborhood. Granada Hills High School is known as a solid school in academics with a good athletics program. Denver Bronco great John Elway was a student here and lead the school to city championship in the late seventies—but not in football, he was pitcher then (though he also played for the football team, of course). The football stadium has been renamed for him. That same sort of all American spirit that surrounds Elway pervades Granada Hills as well—a bit dull, but solid.