About Thousand Oaks

Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, part of the Greater Los Angeles Area in the United States. The city is located approximately 14 miles from Los Angeles County, and 35 miles to Downtown Los Angeles. It was named after the many oak trees that graced the area, and the city seal is adorned with an oak.

The city forms the most populated part of a regional area called the Conejo Valley, which includes Thousand Oaks proper, Newbury Park, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, and Oak Park. The Los Angeles County/Ventura County line crosses at the western city limits of Westlake Village. The population was estimated to be 128,374 in 2012, up from 126,683 at the 2010 census.

Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park were part of a master planned city, created by the Janss Investment Company in the mid-1950s. It included about 1,000 custom home lots, 2,000 single-family residences, a regional shopping center, 200-acre (0.81 km2) industrial park and several neighborhood shopping centers. The median home price is around $673,000. It is located in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. In 2006, the city was named one of Money magazine's Best Places to Live.

The area was once occupied by the Chumash people, and 2000-year-old cave drawings may still be seen at the Chumash Indian Museum, 3290 Lang Ranch Parkway, in the Lang Ranch section of the city. The Chumash village was known as Sap'wi, which means "House of the Deer."

The area's recorded history dates to 1542 when Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo landed at Point Mugu and claimed the land for Spain. It eventually became part of the 48,671 acres (196.96 km2) Rancho El Conejo land grant by the Spanish government, thus becoming the basis of the name Conejo Valley (conejo means "rabbit" in Spanish, and there are many in the area). It served as grazing land for vaqueros for the next fifty years.

The City of Thousand Oaks was incorporated on October 7, 1964, the first incorporated city in the Conejo Valley. It is known for being entirely a planned community, as the city is one of few that have actually stayed with the master plan. As a result, the city has fewer of the problems of other cities of similar size, such as traffic congestion and pollution, although increased development in Moorpark and Simi Valley in the late 1990s and early 2000s caused the Moorpark Freeway (Highway 23) to become heavily congested during both morning and afternoon rush hours. A major widening project began in 2008 to alleviate most of this congestion. Because of its desirable environment and location, property values have appreciated more than 250% in less than ten years, primarily during the mid-90s to early 2000s.