“Sunland” – an obvious nod to the SoCal climate – began as the name of a post office set up in 1887 to serve Sherman Page’s short-lived town of Monte Vista. (Why the P.O. wasn’t dubbed “Monte Vista” is a mystery to me.) As time went by, the surrounding neighborhood adopted the Sunland sobriquet. Sunland Boulevard itself was born in 1907 as Hansen Street, named by Dr. Homer Alfred Hansen (1872-1960) on his Hansen Heights tract. A native of Logan, OH, Dr. Hansen practiced medicine for some years in Nebraska before coming to Los Angeles in 1903 for his health – and to help care for his brother Charles, who died months later. Hansen gave up medicine and made it big in land development across California, including Thousand Oaks in 1922. Some of his property here became the site of Hansen Dam, first name-checked by the press in 1930 and officially dedicated ten years later. Hansen Street was changed to Sunland Blvd. in 1929 but other streets honoring Hansen’s family remain: see McBroom Street for the list.
Find it on the map:
