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Perched on the western edge of Los Angeles County in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, Agoura Hills is located just forty-five minutes from busy downtown Los Angeles, but is nevertheless rich with undulating hills and inspiring canyons. For many centuries the area that would become Agoura Hills was familiar territory for Native Americans who wandered inland from their haunts along the sea in search of game and other food. The permanent arrival of the Spanish in the late 1700s banished the Indians from their homes and introduced a ranching culture that would linger into the early twentieth century. In the 1900s, vast cattle and
sheep ranches conceded ground to rows of lettuce and celery, orchards,and wheatfields. Ranching and agriculture eventually diminished in importance. Ranchers began dividing up their property and selling individual tracts for housing. From the outset, ranchers and farmers had worried about water supplies and these concerns were shared by the citizens of Agoura Hills into the mid 1950s. Then, provision of outside sources of water helped ensure the growth of the community, aided by the new highways which acted as a conduit for fresh faces and commercial development and contributed to the maturation of Agoura Hills.

Print Sources:

• Miller, Patricia Russell. Tales of Triunfo. P.R. Miller, 1985.
• Gaye, Laura B. Last of the Old West: A Book of Sketches about the Calabasas Area. Illustrated by L. Liska. Bar-Kay Enterprises, 1965.

Images:

• Ventura road facing west from Las Virgenes Road, c. 1908
  [Courtesy of the Calabasas Historical Society]
• Vegare Station in Agoura, c. 1907. The center part of the building is adobe.
  [Courtesy of the Calabasas Historical Society]
• Agoura, 1950s
  [County of Los Angeles Public Library]
• Aerial view of Agoura Hills, c. 1990
  [County of Los Angeles Public Library]

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