A century ago this week, author Edgar Rice Burroughs purchased a 540-acre ranch in the San Fernando Valley and renamed it Tarzana. The name refers to Burroughs’ most famous character, Tarzan of the Apes, which he created in a serialized magazine story in 1912. It spawned a 1914 novel and 24 sequels, 10 television series and 50 feature films, including 2016’s “The Legend of Tarzan” from Warner Bros. and the 1999 animated “Tarzan” from Walt Disney Co. in Burbank. In addition to Burroughs’ 80 novels, Tarzana has become part of his legacy. ERB Inc., the company that licenses copyrights and trademarks associated with his work, continues to do business along the ranch’s northern boundary at 18354 Ventura Blvd. Burroughs moved his family from Oak Park, Ill., to Los Angeles in February 1919, and on March 1, purchased Mil Flores, the ranch of publishing titan Gen. Harrison Gray Otis. The property came with a rancho-style mansion and land stretching from Ventura Boulevard south to Mulholland Highway, bounded by Mecca Avenue and Avenida Oriente. Lisa Gordon Wither, who is writing a book about Tarzana in conjunction with ERB, told the Business Journal that by the time Burroughs established Tarzana Ranch, he was a successful writer working on his seventh Ape Man book. Burroughs had his eye on the underdeveloped Valley because the avid outdoorsman wanted his three children to experience country life. “In addition to his writing, Burroughs hoped to prosper as a gentleman farmer, raising prize-winning Berkshire hogs and cattle,” Wither said. Unsuccessful at ranching, Burroughs conceived the town of Tarzana and began selling commercial and residential parcels of land in 1922. “His neighbor, Charles L. Daniels, had already sold lots north of Ventura Boulevard,” Wither said. “Burroughs, seeing his success, recognized the lucrative potential the land offered.” Marketing language for the ranch touted its location relative to nearby attractions, which still underpins Tarzana real estate value. “The many advantages of Hollywood — the famous Bowl, the Pilgrimage Play — the clubs and theaters — are close at hand, for the road from Los Angeles to Tarzana lies through Hollywood, over Cahuenga Pass and along Ventura Boulevard,” one brochure stated. According to Wither, approximately 350 acres remain along El Caballero Canyon as part of Topanga State Park. “El Caballero Country Club continues to lease about 100 acres of the original ranch; the rest has been subdivided for homes and businesses,” Wither said. Burroughs gave Tarzana its name and identity, but he didn’t live there for long. “Burroughs and his family left the property in 1925, living in L.A. for two years, then returning to Tarzana to a newly built home on Mecca Drive,” Wither said. “Never one to stay in one place long, Burroughs later lived in Malibu, Hollywood, Palm Springs and Hawaii before returning to Encino in his final years.”
