Newbury Park, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The community of Newbury Park, California is located in the western portion of the City of Thousand Oaks and Casa Conejo, an unincorporated area of southern Ventura County. It is located in the East County area of Ventura County in the Conejo Valley, the northwestern portion of the Greater Los Angeles Area. The Conejo Valley is one of the most affluent areas in the country, and holds a significant presence in the Tech Coast Area. Along with the rest of Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park was part of a master planned community by the Janss Corporation. Newbury Park was named for the first postmaster of the area, Egbert Newbury.[1] Newbury Park, along with parts of Westlake Village became part of the City of Thousand Oaks sometime between the 1960s and 1970s. Newbury Park was formerly controlled by Ventura County, but after a community vote, all but Casa Conejo became part of Thousand Oaks. Presently, Newbury Park has the highest median home values in all of Ventura County, around $730,000[2]. It was ranked as one of the top 100 places to live in the country by Money Magazine[3]. 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.
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[edit] Recent History
The area was inhabited by the Oak Grove People about 7,000 years ago, then later by the Chumash until the arrival of the Spaniards in 1542. 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. Its historic Stagecoach Inn was used by travelers between Los Angeles in the south and Santa Barbara to the north as a stagecoach station. 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. Newbury Park High School has 2320 students and a newly refurbished multi-sport stadium. Intermediate schools include Sequoia Middle School and the recently constructed Sycamore Canyon Middle 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 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.
Newbury Park abuts the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, with main entrances at the northern edge of the park at Rancho Sierra Vista and Satwiwa.
Famous swing bandleader and clarinet player Artie Shaw lived in Newbury Park from 1978 until his death in 2004.
[edit] 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[4]) 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 have increased over 250% during the last ten years. Median home prices in the area and surrounding communities range from around $700,000 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. As an example, a newer 2380 sq.ft. 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, and about $700,000 in mid March 2008.
[edit] 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. Amgen, 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 Countrywide, 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.
[edit] 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.[5] 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 average family income was $115,846.[6] According to Money Magazine, median family income as of 2006 was up to $97,372.[7]
[edit] 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.
| Weather averages 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[8] Dec 2007 | |||||||||||||
On March 10th and 11th of 2006, snow fell on the peak of Boney Mountain, the first snow to fall in the area in about 40 years.
[edit] Education
- 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
- Walnut Elementary School
- Manzanita Elementary School
- Banyan Elementary School
- Cypress Elementary School
- Maple Elementary School
[edit] Notable residents
The community is home to many famous and notable people. See full list on the bottom of the City of Thousand Oaks page.
[edit] References
- ^ Durham, David (2000). Durham's Place Names of Greater Los Angeles. Quill Driver Books, 119. ISBN 1884995284.
- ^ Goss, Hope (July 13, 2006). Hopeful Home. Ventura County Star. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ "Best places to live 2005 Top 100", CNN Money. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ History of Rancho Conejo Airport
- ^ Best places to live 2005: Newbury Park, CA snapshot. CNN Money. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ Thousand Oaks city, California. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ Best places to live 2006: Thousand Oaks, California. CNN Money. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ Average Weather for Newbury Park, CA - Temperature and Precipitation:. Retrieved on Dec 23, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Newbury Park @ The Official Conejo Valley Website, a Web site with local history, events, and community information.
- Newbury Park, California is at coordinates Coordinates:
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