Thousand Oaks is a beautiful suburban community located along the 101 freeway between Westlake Village and Newbury Park. It is the second largest city in Ventura County. Located about 45 minutes to Santa Barbara and an hour to Los Angeles, Thousand Oaks is in a wonderful location.
Thousand Oaks was named after the many oak trees that grow in the area. The Spaniards named it Conejo Valley or Valley of Rabbits. It was home to a Norwegian community in the late 1890s and early 1900s, now home to California Lutheran University. Thousand Oaks was incorporat3ed in 1964. Two-thirds of neighboring Westlake Village and most of Newbury Park were annexed by the city during the late 1960s and 1970s.
Jungleland USA was a private zoo and animal theme park on the current site of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. It put Thousand Oaks on the map in the 1920s and helped attract Hollywood producers to the city. Hundreds of movies have been filmed in Thousand Oaks. Some of the first films to be made here were The Birth of a Nation (1915) at Jungleland USA and Roaring Ranch (1930) at the Stagecoach Inn.
It was ranked the 4th safest among cities with a population greater than 100,000. The population is approximately 130,000.
Thousand Oaks has very comfortable year-round temperatures.
Thousand Oaks schools rank highly on www.GreatSchools.org. Many people move to the Conejo Valley area for the schools, especially the Lang Ranch subdivisions.
There are approximately 50 Thousand Oaks parks with a variety of amenities including picnic pavilions, ball fields, soccer fields and tennis courts.
Thousand Oaks has a couple of golf courses: Los Robles Greens and Sunset Hills Country Club, There are some great hiking trails in the Wildwood area of Thousand Oaks and near the library.
Amgen is the largest employer in Thousand Oaks with over 5000 employees. Other top employers are The Oaks Mall, Conejo Valley Unified School District, Los Robles Hospital, Cal Lutheran University, Baxalta, Anthem, Skyworks and Sage Publications. While the city was home to 1,700 businesses in 1970, Thousand Oaks had 11,000 businesses in town by 1988.
Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is home to two theaters: the 1,800-seat Fred Kavli Theatre and Ray Scherr Forum Theatre. Conejo Players Theatre has over 200 active members and was established in 1958. Hillcrest Center for the Arts is home to Gothic Productions, Young Artists Ensemble, Thousand Oaks Actors Guild and other groups.
Some of the annual events in Thousand Oaks are Rotary Street Fair, Conejo Valley Days, Touch-a-Truck, CLU Scandinavian Festival, Janss 4th of July Fireworks, Conejo Food & Wine Festival and BrewFest.
Some favorite restaurants in Thousand Oaks are California Pizza Kitchen, Cheesecake Factory, Cho Cho San, Lazy Dog Café, Mastros Steakhouse, Outback Steakhouse and PF Changs.
The Oaks Mall is the largest shopping center in the Conejo Valley with anchor stores like Nordstrom, Macys and JC Penney. Restaurants in the Oaks Mall include Lazy Dog Café, Red Robin, Cheesecake Factory and Stacked. Janss Marketplace has Toys R Us, Old Navy, Burlington Coat Factory and a Regal movie theater with reclining seats. Restaurants there include Sunset Terrace, Panera Bread and Buca di Beppo.
Some fun places to hang out in the evenings are Borderline for line dancing, Draughts, Sunset Terrace, We Olive & Wine Bar and Alma Sol Winery.
Thousand Oaks homes for sale: Lang Ranch Homes for Sale (Brock Collection, Cobblestone, Eagleridge, Hidden Creek, Oakcrest, Oakcreek & Verdigris Homes for Sale), Chanteclair, Kevington, Lynn Ranch Homes for Sale, Lynnmere, Sunset Hills and Wildwood. Thousand Oaks Homes for Sale.
