Our Story
Westlake Hills is one of the original neighborhoods of Westlake Village, a community with deep roots in the Conejo Valley and a story that stretches back many years before the first home was ever built here. We sit in the northern foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles County. The community is nine miles inland from the Pacific Ocean and 38 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, averaging 900 feet above sea level, framed by the Simi Hills to the north and the Santa Monica Mountains to the south. Drive 20 minutes through the canyons and you're at Zuma Beach. Step out the back door and you're surrounded by hiking trails, horse paths, and Coastal breezes sweeping through the canyons, often leaving us up to 10 degrees cooler than the nearby San Fernando Valley in summer.
People have lived on this land for a very long time. The Chumash inhabited the Conejo Valley for many of those years. Their village of Hipuk sat in what is now Westlake Village, near the same springs and oak groves that still shape the character of our hillsides today. When Gaspar de Portolá's party passed through in January 1770, Father Juan Crespí wrote in his diary: "We are on a plain of considerable extent and much beauty, forested on all parts by live oaks and oak trees, with much pasturage and water."The land later became part of the Mexican land grant Rancho El Conejo, then the Russell Ranch in 1881, and eventually a working cattle and movie ranch. Episodes of Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Tarzan, and Buck Rogers were all filmed in the area, along with dozens of feature films. In 1963, the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company purchased the 12,000-acre ranch and, in partnership with Prudential, commissioned A. C. Martin and Associates to design a "city in the country" with cohesive neighborhoods, interconnected greenbelts, and hundreds of preserved mature oak trees.
The community now encompasses individual neighborhoods, each with an active homeowners association responsible for maintaining quality and character. Westlake Hills was one of the first. Built in the late 1960’s, the neighborhood was laid out as a series of concentric circles with its own park and elementary school at the center, with tree-lined streets that have only grown more beautiful with time.
The Westlake Hills POA represents homeowners across the neighborhood. Our job is to preserve what makes this place worth coming home to: the open spaces, the mature landscaping, the architectural standards that have held up for half a century, and the kind of neighborhood where people still wave from the driveway. We work to keep residents informed about community business, local issues, and the things that affect property values and daily life here. We coordinate with the City of Westlake Village, neighboring associations, and homeowners on matters that touch the neighborhood. Whether you have lived here for decades or you just unpacked the last box, this site is where you will find what you need to stay connected, informed, and involved. Meeting information, community updates, contact details, and resources for homeowners all live here.
We are glad you are part of Westlake Hills.