The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 246

4 ZotogmrtlftfTEtmerf Vx JJ vSAl it 4 1. Wis mm 1 J- 1 I 1 i I I i 1 ii ornLm I r1-" m. I -J jlA Jf 1 HIGH-PRICED LOTS When the tract office opened in Van Nuys the lots sold for the outrageous price of $350 here at the corner of Van Nuys Blvd. ond Sherman Way. Of course, buyers got a 25' discount if they started their building within three months.

1 Hit, I a FUTURISTIC Fast-growing Van Nuys is continually moving forward with" an eye on the future. Pictured above is the modern Valley Presbyterian Hospital. Atomic Age Industries Spur Van Nuys Growth BETWEEN BOOMS Van Nuys shown above In the spring of wasn'tfluite ready for traffic lights although street lights had just been installed. The lots were really high priced at this juncture, some of them going for as much as an exhorbitant $900. BY WALT SECOR Van Nuys is a community on the rise.

The fast growing community of Van Nuys has a population at last count of 123,700. Its significant growth, both in population and industry, is continuing and Los Angeles city planners estimate Van Nuys will have 170,000 residents by 1980. This year is the 52nd anniversary of 5ta fminHi'ncy ariH fr mnva fKan a half ings and apartments has begun. "It appears Van Nuys is just on the brink of another big expansion," said Arthur D. Aston, chamber president.

"This expansion will take place both in commercial and industrial enterprises, in my opinion. High-rise buildings are beginning to show up in the Van Nuys area. There will be considerable upgrading of older buildings." Aston, who is an executive of a sav ings and loan association, said that a the City Airports Department to issue V. revenue bonds, would bring needed lm- provements at Van Nuys Airport. "The Valley Administrative Center is moving at a very fine pace and state and federal governments are now interested in establishing branch offices there," Aston said.

centurj' the community has had continuous, uninterrupted progress. Van Nuys ranks high as a center for research, development and production in the aerospace and electronic fields. Automobile assembling, wholesale and retail trade and service industries aid in maintaining a stable, diversified economy. Its residential and industrial growth has kept construction industries busy. Migration Core This community is the core of the greatest migration in history to the new west.

Thousands of residents have poured into Van Nuys. They came into the community to expand, to build, to prosper. One organization, the Van Nuys Cham "When all these factors are considered, it appears we have a big job to do. Van Nuys has very bright prospects for a tre- I Population Soars In 1930 Van Nuys had climbed to a population of 11,266, a decade later had 20,298 residents. Then came the great migration to the Valley and in 1950 Van Nuys1 population was 57,053 and this I 1 tt fes to? ber of commerce, founded just one year after the community was started, has just about doubled in the next 10-year done everything possible to promote thi3 dvnamii mvwirtVi I PcnOU.

(the winter of 1926-27) with paved streets, streetcar tracks and a bustling business district after a decade and a half of progress. BUSTLING BOULEVARD The shot, looking north on Van Nuys Blvd. from Calvert shows much growth in the next 16 years It helped build Van Nuys. As tA.st0J 1futur develop- Now it is helping it rebuild as. the meQt ia Vaa Nuvs wlU upward.

The trend toward high rise business build- Please Turn to Pf, 10, Col. 4 ONCE HUGE RANCH Van Nuys Traces Roots to Farm Era VAN NUYS The roots of this surging, busy communl ty go back to the sheep raising and dry farm wheat growing days in the past cenitury to a lonelyk sprawling ranch owned by one of the early developers of the then given over to dry wheat farming, including the Van Nuys ranch. Three townsites were laid out. These included Van Nuys. Marian, now Reseda, and Owensmouth, now Can-oga Park.

In 1911 the development of Van Nuys began. William Paul Whitsett purchased a half interest in the townsite and took charge of its sale3 and promotion. Van Nuys was born and has been growing ever since. Valley, Isaac Newton van Nuys. In the late 1860s the southern half of the Valley came under the control of a r- 1 i Ii Tj? Ii Tf 1 -I --I j-ii V' -i Ur I r4lrli 'if group of men from Northern California.

Among this group were I. N. Van Nuys of Napa County and Isaac Lankershim of San France co. These two men, who had been associated in business in the north, began raisin sheep and cattle. But after two years of drought led to the death of 40,000 stieep they turned to wheat growing, largely through the influence of Van Nuys whose interests were in farming.

Vast Ranch One of the major ranches 1 )'v- was that of Van Nuys which covered moat of what today is the community of Van Nuys. The vast wheat ranch supplied markets as far away as Liverpool, tng. In 1910, a group of Los Angeles men decided that the Valley was the logical FLYING FUTURE Operators of the control tower at the busy Van Nuys airport watch as a huge Air Force cargo plane gets airborne. This bustling municipal air base is one of the largest in the nation and more expansion is being planned. AND STILL GROWING The late I.

N. Van Nuys might find it difficult to believe what they've done to his wheat field today but he might surprise the people of Van Nuys too. The above shot shows the modern library in Civic Center. area for future growth and W. P.

Whitsett Ipurchased the 47,500 acres..