West Hills, Los Angeles, CA

West Hills takes up the San Fernando Valley's far western corner, where the flat Los Angeles grid runs out against the Simi Hills and the open ridges behind El Escorpion Park. Most of the housing is single-family. A few older estates date to the 1920s through the 1940s, but most streets are postwar and 1960s ranch houses on generous lots, with larger homes on the curving roads that climb toward Valley Circle Boulevard. El Escorpion Park and the Castle Peak trailhead off Vanowen Street lead up to rocky outcrops with views across the Valley, and from the southwest corner the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve reaches the Santa Monica Mountains. Restaurants cluster in a handful of centers. Pho So 1 on Vanowen Street is a local branch of the pho spot critics rank near the top in the Valley, and Alessio Bistro in the Platt Village center is the sit-down Italian option. The Rabbit Hole on Roscoe Boulevard is the neighborhood dive bar. A car is close to essential. Valley Circle Boulevard runs south to the 101, and Metro G Line stations sit a few miles east in Canoga Park and Chatsworth. Most homes are a drive from anything commercial, and West Hills has no real main street to walk. Many West Hills streets end at a trail or a fence line with brush and oaks behind it, which is why the hills feel like part of the backyard rather than a view from the freeway.