Tarzana Ranch and Town
For four years I have lived on my ranch which stretches
from Ventura Boulevard to the top of the Santa Monica Mountains -- some
550 acres lying within the city limits of Los Angeles. It is a beautiful
site and I love my home which stands on a low hill just half a mile from
the Los Angeles-San Francisco highway.
click
Now
I want others to enjoy this glorious country with me, so I have selected
about 100 acres, rolling from my home to the highway, which I have divided
into acre residential sites -- each one as large as six ordinary city lots
-- and it is in this favored place that I invite you to choose your home
site and become my neighbors.
The new town is called TARZANA, and a number of fine business
lots stretch along the highway, where all the conveniences and necessities
may be purchased. If you are more interested in the business possibilities
than in a home. I want you to come out and study the situation here.
TARZANA will be a town where we will each live our own
life in our own way -- the way we have always WANTED to live it -- free
from conventionalities and restrictions of cities, yet with all the comforts
and luxuries to which we have been accustomed.
I should like to see come to TARZANA you folks who are
seeking new interests, possibly in old things and certainly in new things
if you so prefer. Somewhere there is a retired merchant who wants to get
b back in business in a small way; there is the man or woman who always
wanted to raise some sort of fancy dog or cat; there are those who want
to do something beautiful, fascinating and lucrative such as the culture
of flowers. For all these -- for every one with an artistic soul and the
desire to express it unhampered --TARZANA -- has a place.
Every Advantage for You
To come to TARZANA does not mean that you will lose anything
the city has to offer, for the broad, smooth highway leads directly into
town -- and so close that one may spend an evening at the theater and yet
retire at a reasonable hour.
For those who love golf and tennis, the Hollywood Country
Club lies but fifteen minutes drive; just over the mountains, through Topango
Canyon you will find the ocean with its fishing and surf bathing, while
the winding trails of the foothills offer unlimited opportunities for hiking
and horseback riding.
The many advantages of Hollywood -- the famous Bowl, the
Pilgrimage Play -- the Clubs and Theaters -- are close at hand, for the
road from Los Angeles to TARZANA lies through Hollywood, over Cahuenga
Pass and along Ventura Boulevard.
For those with children there is the advantage of an excellent
school with bus service, and out of school hours, the clean, healthful
out-of-doors in which to romp and play and build up splendid specimens
of manhood and womanhood.
I
have written a little book about all these advantages and opportunities,
which I have called "THE
STORY OF TARZANA." If you will come out and see this new town today
or some time this coming week, I shall be delighted to hand you a copy.
For those of you who do not find it convenient to motor out in the near
future I will b glad to mail a copy if you will fill and send me the coupon
below.
I have but a limited number of home sites and business
lots remaining unsold, so I cannot too strongly urge you not to put off
your inspection of TARZANA. I feel certain that when you have seen it you
will fall as much in love with the location as I have and that if your
visit is delayed until the most desirable locations are sold you
will feel a keen regret. Come out and meet me today.
Only 70 Residential Acres and 50 Business Lots Remain
Unsold!
Easy Terms Arranged to Suit Your Convenience
Edgar Rice Burroughs - Reseda, Cal.
TARZANA BROCHURE ~ 1924
By Edgar Rice Burroughs
TARZANA
Several months ago our agent ws called East and the sale
of remaining lots reverted to us. Knowing the nature of proposed developments
around Tarzana, and realizing the bearing they had on values, we took the
tract off the market until the developments had progressed to completion,
or to a point where completion was assured.
We are, therefore, now offering the remaining lots and
acres of Tarzana to the public at greatly increased values, but temporarily
without increase in price, and upon vastly improved terms.
Mulholland Drive, now completed and in daily use from
Hollywood to Calabassas, has greatly increased the value of Tarzana property.
Let us see why this is true.
INCREASED VALUES
Avenida Oriente, the name of which will shortly be changed
to El Caballero Drive, which traverses the full length of the tract, is
one of the three major arteries proposed by the City Planning Commission
to connect the Valley with Mulholland Drive and the sea. It is already
available to Mulholland Drive along a temporary route. When completed,
it will run direct from Tarzana to Santa Monica, drawing its traffic from
east and west by Ventura Boulevard, and from the north along Reseda Avenue,
which connects Tarzana with San Fernando, Newhall Pass, Chatsworth and
Santa Susanna Pass.
It is obvious, therefore, that a considerable and
ever increasing traffic will develop along this lateral, bringing a constant
stream of cars long two sides of Tarzana and up every street of the subdivision.
THE WORLD'S GREATEST PLAYGROUND
Nor is this all. Tarzana lies at the exact center of
the great country club development that is rapidly making the Santa Monica
Mountains the most famous playground in the world. East of us lie the Hollywood
Country Club, the Whitley Park Country Club and Encino Country Club. At
our own doors is El Caballero, the finest of them all, and to the west
-- the Chalk Hill Country Club and The Girard Country Club.
These Clubs will bring thousands of well-to-do and wealthy
men and women by our doors weekly -- they will give employment to hundreds
of men and women who must live close to their work, and therefore become
prospective renters and purchasers of our residences and lots. They will
spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Valley annually, increasing
the prosperity of all and especially of the merchants closest to them.
Rabbits, chickens, eggs, vegetables and small fruits will find a
ready market at the hands of the stewards of these great clubs.
Never before has the immediate future of Tarzana been
so bright; never again can such property be bought at the prices now in
force or at the low and easy terms we are able to make, now that we are
selling direct instead of through an agent.
EL CABALLERO COUNTRY CLUB
El Caballero Country Club is now rapidly approaching
completion. At this writing more than sixty men and thirty horses are at
work daily putting the finishing touches on the golf course, which experts
unanimously agree will be the finest in the West, if not in the whole country.
El Caballero will represent an investment of almost one
million dollars. Its property adjoins Tarzana along the entire southern
line of the tract, while its club house and beautifully landscaped grounds
form a background that has always been a part and parcel of Tarzana --a
lovely park at our doors.
It does not require much business acumen to realize the
effect that the development of this Club will have upon Tarzana values.
HOW DO YOU DO IT
Tear off and mail back-cover, stating that you are interested
and will go and look at the property. I will then mail you a map of the
tract, prices and terms. Go out and select the lot you want -- then
come in to my office and close. All lots are plainly marked.
Or, if you cannot go out tell me what sort of lot
you want and I will select it just as carefully as though I were selecting
it for myself. There will be no reservations and no favorites --
there is only one ground floor and I am inviting you in on that. My prices
and terms are plain and simple an d they are the same for everybody.
Tarzana is held in trust, for your protection and mine,
by the Title Insurance and Trust Company. They handle your money and guarantee
title.
The property is increasing in value every day.
Those who act now will buy it cheaper than it ever can
be bought again. There is another big real estate movement about ready
to break along Ventura Boulevard, as you probably know as well as I. When
it does prices will go up and so I make this offer and submit my present
prices subject to change without notice.
PRICES AND TERMS
Notwithstanding greatly increased values, the prices
on Tarzana acres and lots have not yet been increased , while the the terms
have been modified and the time of payments lengthened.
As there is now no agent who must derive his profits and
reimburse himself for his expenses as quickly as possible, we are able
to offer terms that will suit any purchaser in one of our three plans,
as follows:
Plan No. 1. -- Cash, 5% Discount
Plan No. 2. -- 25% down, balance in three years, interest,
at 7%, and principal payable quarterly.
Plan No. 3. -- 10% down, balance 2% monthly, over a period
of five years.
These monthly payments include interest and in some cases
are as low as $13.00 per month.
Address:
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, INC., 206 Hill Street Bldg., Los
Angeles, Calif.
at intersection of Ventura Boulevard with Reseda Avenue
and El Caballero Drive.
Telephone: TRinity 4155
ADJACENT DEVELOPMENT
The sale of the Woodrough property to the west of Tarzana
means the immediate subdivision of this great tract of over three
thousand acres and the bringing of thousands of new settlers into
the hills beyond us. with a corresponding increase in all land values between
Ventura Boulevard and Mulholland Drive.
There has never been a time in the marvelous development
of Ventura Boulevard when so great and varied activities were in process
of consummation as now.
The last large, undeveloped unit passed into the hands
of subdividers recently when Bundy & Albright purchased the General
Sherman Tract. The very fact that a firm so experienced and successful
in the development of Ventura Boulevard property gladly paid a record
price for this extensive acreage is the best assurance that any buyer can
have of the safety and profit to be found in a tract like Tarzana, located
as it is at one of the only two natural and logical points for town
site development between Hollywood and the Ventura County line -- the intersection
of Ventura Boulevard and Reseda Avenue carrying the coast traffic between
Los Angeles and the north and El Caballero Drive carrying the traffic between
the valley and the beach towns by the most direct route over a low saddle
through the Santa Monica Mountains.
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, FAMED
NOVELIST,
IS REAL ESTATE OPERATOR ON VENTURA
BOULEVARD;
LAUDS ITS ADVANTAGE
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Van Nuys News ~ September 30, 1927
The home of the late General Harrison Gray Otis, which
stands on the summit of the knoll, one-half mile south of Ventura boulevard,
at the end of Reseda avenue, has been one of the landmarks of the Coast
Highway and San Fernando valley for many years.
When I acquired this property with its 550-acres of pasture
and hill land some nine years ago, I believed that in the course of fifteen
or twenty years it might represent a valuable property for my children.
NO TRAFFIC JAMS THEN
In those days, we often drove the entire distance from
Lankershim boulevard to Tarzana without meeting a single automobile and
there were only three or four residences along this entire stretch of Ventura
boulevard and not a single hot dog stand. I often wonder how e survived
this lonely ride with starvation constantly staring us in the face. Perhaps
we were a hardier race in those days but however that may be, the fact
remains that we managed to get along fairly well without the partaking
of food at every lamp post as would appear to be the custom of the present
generation, if one may judge by the number of eating places dotting this
great thoroughfare.
THEY TELL OF GROWTH
But all these restaurant and hot dog stands and grocery
and market and egg and fruit and vegetable stands point more truly to the
tremendous growth of Ventura boulevard than any other index, for they reveal
the remarkable influx of home makers that have poured into the Valley and
settled on each side of Ventura boulevard, as well as the tremendous traffic
that has developed along this artery of California's great system of highways.
There are many reasons for this outside of the caterwauling
of real estate salesmen, the principal one being that San Fernando Valley
along Ventura boulevard is a mighty good place to live.
OUR CLIMATE "IDEAL"
The myths of terrific heat have long since been exploded
and while during a couple of months each year we have hot weather for four
or five hours each day, this fact is more than offset by our cool and delightful
evenings and nights and by the absence of continuous fogs and high winds,
and particularly because of its freedom from fog this district is constantly
attracting more and more home builders.
The future of this district, and I am speaking of everything
along Ventura boulevard from Cahuenga Pass to Calabasas, is by far the
brightest of any section of the city of Los Angeles for the reason that
we are blessed with a marvelous climate, rich soil and a delightful outlook
regardless of location.
For many years I have felt that the only logical line
of growth for a high class residential district is along the Santa
Monica Mountains and with Mulholland Drive as the main artery of such a
district, the Ventura boulevard side of the hills offering, as it does,
freedom from fogs and continuous winds must prove highly desirable in the
eyes of those who are looking for locations for pleasantly situated, delightful
home sites.
The values, too, will never again be as low as they are
today. Business lots that we sold here at $500 four years ago are now quoted
at $2500 and I predict that in two years these business lots will be worth
$5000 apiece. Similarly, though in a lesser degree, this holds true for
residential property, a great deal of which is now available all along
Ventura boulevard at what will seem in two or three years ridiculously
low prices.
VALUES HAVE JUMPED
Property that I could have bought nine years ago for
$500 an acre is now being held for $10,000 and some raw hill land that
I could have purchased for $300 an acre three or four years ago sold recently
at $1,500 an acre.
For reasons such as these, I feel that this district offers
more to the prospective home owner than any locality of which I have any
knowledge, since he may find here not only ideal living conditions but
an almost positive assurance of a substantial increase in the value of
his investment.
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS SEES VALLEY
AS WORLD MECCA FOR MEN AT PLAY
The Van Nuys News ~ February 17, 1928
Edgar Rice Burroughs, famous author of "Tarzan of the
Apes" and thirty-one other novels, which have been translated into nineteen
different languages, in discussing the $25,000,000 San Fernando Valley
development program now under way for the construction of highways, development
of new communities, golf courses, bridle trails, parks and increased transportation
facilities to meet the future requirements of areas of denser population,
yesterday declared the san Fernando area to be the great playground of
Los Angeles. Mr. Burroughs' home is at Encino and his world-read stories
are written there. Mr. Burroughs voice his sentiment in a story written
especially for The News.
"with our freedom from persistent fog, with ten months
without high winds, with our ideal winter climate, the only danger that
I can see menacing lies in the possibility, which is by no means a remote
one, that San Fernando Valley may eventually become as over-populated as
are many of the districts that were formerly the playgrounds of Los Angeles,"
Mr. Burroughs declared.
"The first impressions of Los Angeles that I can recall
and which were received long before I made my first visit to Southern California
in 1913, led me to think of it then, and for many years thereafter, as
a sort of heaven on earth where tired souls went after they had acquired
enough worldly goods in the humdrum, sunless purgatory that lies beyond
the borders of this earthly paradise to permit them to retire from a life
of drudgery and enjoy the rewards of the hereafter without actually dying
a physical death.
Ideal Existence
"In my mind Los Angeles was a playground at that time,
and when I eventually came here to live some years ago it was still little
more than a vast playground with plenty of places to play, to enjoy peace
and happiness -- to lead an ideal existence; and then came the period of
our tremendous industrial development and in a few years hundreds of thousands
of people swarmed into and spread over our garden of the gods until it
trembled to the tramp of countless feet, its peace shattered by the honking
of myriad automobile horns, factory whistles and other nerve destroying
factors in the march of progress.
Home Overlooks Valley
"I was glad then, and I have continued to be glad since,
that when I came here to live I had chosen a homesite in the foothills
of the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking the broad and beautiful San Fernando
Valley, for here the spirit of peace and happiness and play is making its
last stand against the raucous din of overwhelming prosperity, and while
San Fernando Valley is joining in that prosperity it has done so in such
a way as to insure that it shall be forevermore the playground of Los Angeles.
"It is a good place to work -- during the past ten years
I have discovered that -- but it is primarily a good place to work because
it is a good place to play, for to my mind the two move forward to perfect
success only when they go hand in hand.
Roams Hills
"For ten years I have roamed these hills with my family,
both afoot and on horseback. I have watched my children grow to a sturdier
health, achieving cleaner minds and morals because of their close companionship
with nature, and when, one after another, the country clubs and golf courses
sprang into existence upon our side of the mountains, until now they stretch
almost uninterruptedly for nearly fifteen miles along Ventura boulevard,
I was more than delighted for I felt that this meant that the San Fernando
Valley was going to be dedicated for all time to the pursuits of play and
peace and happiness."
ERB, Inc. Office ~ Ventura Boulevard
TARZANA
ARTICLE EXCERPTS
Dignity
Complex: Author's Foe
By Seth T. Bailey ~ Oakland Tribune
Magazine, June 3, 1923
ERBzine
1265
"Tarazana" (sic) is the home of Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator
of Tarzan of the Apes. This estate lies some twenty-five miles northwest
of Los Angeles on the Coast Highway to San Francisco. It extends from the
road far back into the hills of the Coast Range where wild cats and mountain
lions still stalk their prey.
California's mild winters attracted Mr. Burroughs and
his family for several consecutive years beginning with 1913. Then in 1919,
after one of Chicago's unusually severe winters, the family journeyed to
California with the intention of making it their permanent home. In the
early spring of that year, Mr. Burroughs purchased the estate which later
became known as "Tarzana." This estate was the home of General Otis, a
hero of the War in the Philippines and founder and manager of the Los Angeles
Times until his death. The palatial white stucco residence crowning one
of the hills, was the General's home. It was occupied by the Burroughs
family for several years after their purchase of the land, but now it has
been converted into a country club and is a playground of the well-to-do.
The author's family now occupies a modest bungalow at the foot of the hill
near the highway.
The master of "Tarazana" allows no hunting on his estate.
Furthermore, he secured an appointment as a deputy game warden in order
that he might better protect the wild creatures that live on his land.
Two pools in the garden near the house supply clear fresh
drinking water for the wild things. As a result oF this care and protection,
the grounds are alive with small animals, quail and other birds. But the
mountain lions and wild cats cannot be tempted to venture so near to civilization.
Mr. Burroughs neither hunts nor fishes. His keen
sense of justice prevents his finding any fun in killing. He would kill
for food or in self-defense, but not for sport. But he gets a keen joy
out of hunting with a camera.
Of all animals, Mr. Burroughs loves horses best. He keeps
several mounts and finds keenest joy in the saddle. Riding is another of
the subjects in which Mr. Burroughs instructed the students at the Michigan
Military Academy, and he was in the cavalry division of the United States
Army for several years thereafter. But Mr. Burroughs' chief pride
is his family. Two sons and a daughter have just blossomed into maturity.
TARZANA
EXCERPTS FROM
THE
ERB TIMELINE BIO
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS'
TARZANA PHOTO ALBUM
Rare Burroughs Family Photos from the McWhorter
Memorial ERB Collection ~ University of Louisville
