San Fernando Valley Blog: Westfield Topanga

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Filming Locations: One Hour Photo (2002)

Wednesday, October 22, 2014 / No Comments

One Hour Photo is a 2002 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Mark Romanek and starring Robin Williams. Fox Searchlight Pictures distributed the film in the United States. One Hour Photo also starred Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Gary Cole, and Eriq La Salle. Williams won a Saturn Award for Best Actor (2003) for his work in the film. The film received positive reviews, earning an 81% rating at Rotten Tomatoes (Wikipedia).

This post is a tribute to the late Robin Williams. I dont know if he had any other filming taken place on location in the SFV excluding the studios.

You can view more SFV Filming Locations here.

I believe this location is the current Canoga Park Lowes which back in 2002 if my memory serves me correctly was split into a few different stores which I think was a Rite Aid and something else but my memory is foggy here. I think this film also used the interior located at 8383 Topanga Canyon Blvd Canoga Park (or West Hills) 91304

The food court at the Topanga Plaza 660 Topanga Canyon Blvd Canoga Park CA 91303.

Latest Apartment Development Rumor in Woodland Hills

Monday, May 12, 2014 / 2 Comments

Might need to update this image now. Image courtesy Rich Krugel Facebook

Before the Promenade Mall was built, hard to believe it was farmland.

In addition to all of the current apartment and retail development taking place in the Warner Center area of Woodland Hills much discussed on this blog (see image above), another rumor has surfaced that the Promenade mall might possibly be torn down to make way for more apartments. Yes, more apartments!

The rumor comes from a reader at the Daily News published on May 8, 2014 with the following question addressed to Greg Wilcox:

I am a tenant in the AMC theater portion of (the) Promenade — neither Westfield nor AMC tells us anything so I rely on writers like you and LA Curbed to keep up on the latest.

The latest rumor is Westfield is going to tear down the Promenade mall and build apartments — I heard this from 2 other tenants. Have you heard anything like this? Thanks in advance for anything you are able to share.

Greg Wilcox passed on the question to Katy Dickey, Westfield's spokeswoman, who had the following response:

We’re always looking at options and opportunities for 2, 5, 10 years down the road, but focus today is on the Village and operating centers in the Valley.

Now here is the kicker that Greg Wilcox uncovered:

And I found out something else I — and likely a lot of other people — did not know: The Promenade and the mall’s food court and AMC theater complex are actually separate.

“The theater building is owned by EPR (Entertainment Property REIT), but AMC controls/operates building and food court under a master lease w/EPR,” Dickey wrote in a follow-up email.

So lets use logic here, if you know that another competing movie theatre is opening under the Village project along with competing shops, do you fight against the competition when it opens in a year or two or do you maybe cash out to developers and jump on the apartment development trend in Warner Center?

The only positive thing I can see out of this is that more apartments flooding the market should have some downward price pressure for those who need to rent (and these apartments will not be cheap). With all of these units popping up, there has to be a lot of vacancies. Is everybody moving to Warner Center?

Below is a map I created back on April 23, 2012 with the known apartment projects which doesnt include this latest rumor but does include the proposed development at the former Rocketdyne site

View Woodland Hills Development in a larger map

Demolition Underway for The Village at Westfield Topanga

Friday, August 2, 2013 / 2 Comments

Before some of the demo work started. The Topanga Theatre was already gone and replaced by Crate and Barrel. Image courtesy Bing Maps.

In case you havent noticed, demo work is clearly underway at the proposed site of The Village at Westfield Topanga. All buildings that were previously on the site have been torn down except the Crate & Barrel which will be incorporated into The Village at Westfield Topanga. There is supposed to be a lawsuit to stop the construction work by the Woodland Hills Homeowners association but I believe that suit may have been dropped. Does anyone know the current status of the lawsuit?

Demo work has also begun on the other side on Erwin Street where the former Froch's Woodcraft Shop has been demolished located at 21919 Erwin Street.

Image courtesy Tree.com

The one thing that I want to know is what happened to the Millard Sheets inspired mural by Marlo Bartels and Astrid Preston originally designed in 1989 for the Home Savings Bank (shown below) depicting Warner Center and was most recently occupied by FedEx Office? Did Westfield Company destroy this great piece of art without consideration for saving? I hope not.

Also, what is going to happen to the creek at the corner of Victory and Owensmouth?

And here is one bonus. The Rocketdyne site is set to be demolished too to make way for more apartments and other housing/retail stuff. Cant wait to drive through this area!

I have talked at length about this project in the past which I believe was first conceptualized in 2006.

Rain Fountain at Topanga Mall in Canoga Park Postcard

Monday, June 3, 2013 / No Comments

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Topanga Mall Gazebo At May Company in Canoga Park Postcard

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Montgomery Ward at Topanga Mall in Canoga Park Postcard

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1970's Aerial View of Topanga Mall in Canoga Park Postcard

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The Village at Westfield Topanga is Coming.....Hang Onto Your Hats

Thursday, March 1, 2012 / No Comments

According to the LA Daily News, the City Council approved the Village at Westfield Topanga today. What this means is that a Costco and 50 shops will be added in the first phase (2013) and an office, hotel, and more shops in the second phase (2016). This will be built in the vacant lot between the Topanga and Promenade malls.

I talked about this before with the small creek on the corner of Owensmouth and Victory likely to be destroyed and with the opportunity to voice your concerns as well as the Back to the Future post about the Promenade mall (the Topanga mall post will be coming at some point..I hope).

Do we really need another mall, Costco, hotel, and office space in Warner Center? Whats the impact to existing businesses? Whats the impact to traffic? Its going to be a nightmare especially if the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne site is converted to a hotel and apartment units. This area is going to be so packed, its not even funny. Avoid this area come Christmas time.

I am all for job growth, city tax revenue, beautification of this dump, and business development but at what cost and will this truly be "growth?" Will others suffer and be impacted including the impact to the environment and local traffic?

I hope the City Council thought hard about this decision. Am I the only one with these concerns?

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