Encino

The Encino Velodrome has provided an outdoor oval bicycle racing track since 1963.

Los Encinos State Historic Park features historic buildings, a small museum, and picnic grounds. In 2009 it faced closure due to California’s budget crisis. However, the Park remains open today.

The Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area is a large area with multiple golf courses, tennis courts, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, bike paths, and a lake bordered by about 2,000 Pink Cloud cherry trees that blossom in the spring and were donated anonymously. Encino Park was founded around 1937 and still draws youngsters to its playgrounds, as well as visitors to its basketball courts and two lighted tennis courts.

For over a millennium, the area known as Encino was the home of a massive California live oak known as the Encino Oak Tree. It is possible that Encino is named because of this particular tree. (Encino is the Spanish word for “evergreen” or “holm oak.”) It was known for its size and longevity. The tree died on February 7, 1998, after an El Niño storm felled it. Today there is a monument to the great tree at the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Louise Avenue where the Encino Oak once stood.

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