- Newbury Park, California
-
Mt. Boney in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, from a Newbury Park trailhead.
New home construction in the Rancho Conejo Village community, along Wildwood CanyonThe community of Newbury Park, California is located in the western portion of the city of Thousand Oaks and Casa Conejo, an unincorporated area of southeastern Ventura County's Conejo Valley, which is also in the northwestern Greater Los Angeles Area. Newbury Park abuts the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, with main entrances at the northern edge of the park at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa.
The Conejo Valley is one of the most affluent areas in the country. It was ranked as one of the top 100 places to live in the country by Money Magazine.[1] Also, it has the 11th highest per capita income and the 4th highest median household income in the nation (against all other cities with a population of 50,000 or more).
The community is served by the Thousand Oaks Library System with two libraries, the Grant R. Brimhall Library, the largest in the region, and the Newbury Park Branch Library. The ZIP Code is 91320, and the community is inside area code 805.
Contents
History
Hidden Valley, Dos Vientos RanchThe area was inhabited by the Chumash beginning about 7,000 years ago. Newbury Park contains many ancient burial sites, most near the Santa Monica Mountains in the Southern portion of the community. Many artifacts have been discovered in the area.
Newbury Park is named after Egbert Starr Newbury, who owned thousands of acres of land in the Conejo Valley in the 1870s.[2] John Edwards,[3] Howard Mills,[4] and Egbert Starr Newbury[5] bought Rancho El Conejo land. Newbury and his wife Fannie moved to California from Michigan for health reasons in 1871. He became the first postmaster in the Conejo Valley in 1875. The post office was near their house which was located at the current location of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. The historic Stagecoach Inn was used by travelers between Los Angeles in the south and Santa Barbara to the north as a stagecoach station.
Along with Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park was part of a master planned community by the Janss Investment Company. Most of Newbury Park, along with the parts of Westlake Village located in Ventura County, became part of the City of Thousand Oaks sometime between the 1960s and 1970s. The annexed area was formerly controlled by Ventura County, but after a community vote, all but Casa Conejo became part of Thousand Oaks.
Newbury Park has had an increasing population due to the presence of biotechnology firms and technology corporations of the area, such as Amgen (world headquarters), Baxter, as well as numerous other tech businesses.
Housing
The community contains two major new residential areas, Rancho Conejo Village (built on the site of the former Rancho Conejo Airport, where portions of the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World were filmed[6]) and Dos Vientos Ranch. Rancho Conejo Village is still being developed by S&S Homes, while the master planned community of Dos Vientos Ranch has approached build out. The first planned community in Newbury Park is census designated place Casa Conejo, located in a roughly square-shaped unincorporated area, is the only remaining part of Newbury Park not governed by the City of Thousand Oaks.
Real estate prices in Newbury Park increased over 250% during the 1995-2005 ten year period.[citation needed] Typical single family house prices in the area and surrounding communities range from around $500,000 to $2.2 million in parts of the valley. Starting in 2006, real estate prices have started to drop due to the credit crunch affecting mortgage financing, and also reflecting the exuberant and irrational price run-up in the prior decade. As an example, a newer 2,380 sq ft (221 m2) house in the gated Rancho Conejo community that sold for $880,000 in the summer of 2005 at the peak of the housing boom, would have fetched no more than $790,000 in the summer of 2007, about $700,000 in mid March 2008, $685,000 in January 2010, and about $665,000 in October 2010. Although sales activity and prices improved slightly in the Spring and early Summer of 2010 due to government incentives and tax credits, the downward trend has resumed, albeit at a slower pace, suggesting that prices may be reaching a stable level from which sustainable appreciation is feasible.[citation needed]
Economy
The community is part of the City of Thousand Oaks, whose economy is based on a small range of businesses, with biotechnology, electronics, automotive, aerospace, telecommunications, healthcare, and financing occupying most of Thousand Oaks' employment sector. The global headquarters of the industrial design and styling department of BMW, DesignworksUSA is located in the community, as are offices for Amgen, Bank of America, Baxter International, General Dynamics Corporation, Jafra Cosmetics, J.D. Power and Associates, and Skyworks Solutions offer many high-tech jobs and have corporate headquarters in the city, while Bank of America, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, Volkswagen, Audi, General Motors, and WellPoint manage regional offices. The city was also the former home to the corporate offices of Wellpoint and GTE, which later became Verizon, which relocated in the last decade. As the city is usually considered a suburb, many residents also commute to neighboring Los Angeles. Although some of these businesses are not located in the Newbury Park section of the city, many of its residents are employed through these companies.
Demographics/affluence
The most recent figures indicate that only the community of Newbury Park, not including Thousand Oaks, has a median household income of $83,615.[7] For Newbury Park included with the rest of Thousand Oaks, as of 2005, according to the US Census Bureau, the median household income was $90,503, while median family income was $104,885.[8] According to Money Magazine, median family income as of 2006 was up to $97,372.[9]
Climate
The region has a mild, year-round Mediterranean Climate or Dry-Summer Subtropical zone climate, with warm, sunny, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. Vegetation is typical of Mediterranean environments, with chaparral and grasses on the hillsides and numerous western valley oaks. Its elevation ranges from about 500 to 900 feet(excluding hills). The area has slightly cooler temperatures than the surrounding areas, as it receives cooler air from the ocean through various hill and mountain passes.
Climate data for Newbury Park, California Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °F (°C) 92
(33)92
(33)96
(36)105
(41)102
(39)106
(41)105
(41)105
(41)109
(43)108
(42)99
(37)99
(37)109
(43)Average high °F (°C) 68
(20)69
(21)70
(21)74
(23)74
(23)78
(26)81
(26)82
(28)81
(27)78
(26)73
(23)69
(21)74.75
(23.83)Average low °F (°C) 41
(5)42
(6)43
(6)46
(8)49
(9)53
(12)56
(13)57
(14)55
(13)50
(10)44
(7)41
(5)48.08
(9)Record low °F (°C) 25
(−4)26
(−3)25
(−4)30
(−1)35
(2)37
(3)42
(6)40
(4)40
(4)32
(0)28
(−2)25
(−4)25
(−4)Precipitation inches (cm) 4.18
(10.62)4.65
(11.81)3.57
(9.07)0.80
(2.03)0.30
(0.76)0.05
(0.13)0.01
(0.03)0.08
(0.2)0.32
(0.81)0.52
(1.32)1.45
(3.68)2.48
(6.3)18.41
(46.76)Source: weather.com[10] On March 10 and 11 of 2006, snow fell on the peak of Boney Mountain, the first snow to fall in the area in about 10 years.
Education
Newbury Park High School has over 2600 students and a newly refurbished multi-sport stadium. Intermediate schools include Sequoia Middle School and the recently constructed Sycamore Canyon School in Dos Vientos Ranch. All are part of the Conejo Valley Unified School District
Timber School, now known as Conejo Valley High School, is the first of the existing schools, having been built in 1924 to replace the first one-roomed schoolhouse that was built in 1889. Recent additions to the school were made in the late 1940s and 1950s. Newbury Park Adventist Academy is the second of the existing schools in Newbury Park, founded in 1947.
- Conejo Valley Unified School District
- Newbury Park High School
- Redwood Middle School
- Sequoia Middle School
- Sycamore Canyon Middle School
- Newbury Park Adventist Academy
- Conejo Adventist Elementary School
- Manzanita Elementary School
- Walnut Elementary School
- Earths Elementary School
- Banyan Elementary School
- Cypress Elementary School
- Maple Elementary School
Notable residents
The community is home to many famous and notable people. See full list on the bottom of the City of Thousand Oaks or Westlake Village page.
Swing bandleader and clarinet player Artie Shaw lived in Newbury Park from 1978 until his death in 2004.
Comic book legend Jack Kirby lived in Newbury Park for at least his last two decades.
The first quadruplets in Orange County live in Newbury Park.
Carah Faye Charnow of the band Shiny Toy Guns.
References
- ^ "Best places to live 2005 Top 100". CNN Money. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2005/top100/top100_3.html. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
- ^ Durham, David (2000). Durham's Place Names of Greater Los Angeles. Quill Driver Books. p. 119. ISBN 1884995284. http://books.google.com/books?id=IYAuXvk2sIYC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=egbert+newbury+park.
- ^ John Edwards
- ^ Howard Mills
- ^ Egbert Starr Newbury
- ^ History of Rancho Conejo Airport
- ^ "Best places to live 2005: Newbury Park, CA snapshot". CNN Money. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2005/snapshots/43869.html. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
- ^ "Thousand Oaks city, California". U.S. Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=16000US0678582&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_DP3&-gc_url=&-ds_name=&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
- ^ "Best places to live 2006: Thousand Oaks, California". CNN Money. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/snapshots/PL0678582.html. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
- ^ "Average Weather for Newbury Park, CA - Temperature and Precipitation:". http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/91320?from=36hr_bottomnav_business. Retrieved December 23, 2007.
External links
- Newbury Park @ The Official Conejo Valley Website, a Web site with local history, events, and community information.
- Conejo Valley Guide - Activities and Events in the Conejo Valley
- Conejo Valley Unified School District
Coordinates: 34°11′03″N 118°54′35″W / 34.18417°N 118.90972°W
Municipalities and communities of Ventura County, California Cities Camarillo | Fillmore | Moorpark | Ojai | Oxnard | Port Hueneme | Santa Paula | Simi Valley | Thousand Oaks | Ventura
CDPs Bell Canyon | Casa Conejo | Channel Islands Beach | El Rio | Lake Sherwood | Meiners Oaks | Mira Monte | Oak Park | Oak View | Piru | Santa Rosa Valley | Santa Susana | Saticoy
Unincorporated
communitiesBardsdale | Buckhorn | Casitas Springs | Dulah | Faria | La Conchita | Newbury Park | Point Mugu | Sea Cliff | Somis | Upper Ojai
Categories:- Thousand Oaks, California
- Populated places in Ventura County, California
- Cuisine of the Western United States
- Cuisine of the Southwestern United States
- Unincorporated communities in California
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