Final orange grove in the San Fernando Valley is likely to give way to luxury homes

A century-old orange grove in Tarzana appears to be on its way to becoming the site of luxury homes, a transformation that would mark the end of commercial citrus farming in the San Fernando Valley, where the crop was once a mainstay. Los Angeles city planning officials held a public hearing Wednesday to collect comments before deciding whether to give the owners the green light to build 21 two-story homes while preserving a third of the site on Oakdale Avenue as a publicly owned orange grove managed by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority for educational purposes. “That positioning of Los Angeles as a place where citrus grew was really, really key to the growth of Los Angeles.” With history in mind, City Councilman Bob Blumenfield announced in 2022 that after years of negotiations a deal had been reached between the site’s new owners, Borstein Enterprises, and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority to preserve a third of it. Abelardo Hernandez, left, and Al Trujillo trim orange trees at Bothwell Ranch in the San Fernando Valley on Aug. 27, 1998.