Of Colfax Meadows and Local History

Do you have a question about Studio City? Community activist Lisa Sarkin answers questions about history and issues in our area in this You Ask ... Studio City Patch Answers column. She knows who to call, and where to go to get things done. Send questions to  or leave it in the Comments section below. Thanks!

Do you know the exact borders of Colfax Meadows?

Yes, actually I do, I have live there since 1976.  My great-grandfather visited this area from Chicago during 1917, while it was orchard land and the studio area for silent films.  He could have bought an acre for “10 cents” and he wanted to kick himself until he died in 1967 for not doing so.

The area known as Colfax Meadows was subdivided by the Lankershim Ranch Land & Water Company.  The original Colfax Meadows is from Colfax Avenue to Beck Avenue – Chiquita Street, Dilling Street, Kelsey Street and Troost Avenue was subdivided into approximately 15,000 square feet residential lots. The subdivision map, of the entire Lankershim Ranch, can be viewed in the map room of the San Fernando Mission. [add attached map & photos in entry]

The map shows the subdivision of lands belonging to the Lankershim Ranch Land and Water Co. being the east 1,200 acres of the south half of Ranch Ex Mission of San Fernando, Los Angeles County, California. Dated, November, 1887. Creator/Contributor:Schmidt Label & Lithographic Co, Lithographer (Copyright Note: Material in public domain. No restrictions on use).

The photos show the original real estate office for Colfax Meadows where Kelsey Street and Colfax Avenue intersected before the 1938 flood.
Colfax Meadows was greatly affected by the 100 Year Flood in 1938.  The Colfax Avenue Bridge was washed away and several large parts of properties along Kelsey Street were washed away.

The Federal Government ordered the channeling of the Los Angeles River beginning in 1939 and the Kelsey channel was completed in 1942. [photo of curb]  The Colfax Avenue Bridge was not replaced until 1956 by a temporary bridge named the ‘Singing Bridge’ because of its open grid expanse. The Colfax Meadows neighborhood and Republic Pictures were bothered by noise from that bridge, so much so, that the open grid was filled with concrete.  This bridge is now being replaced by the new ‘Studio City Signature Bridge’ that may open to traffic around the second week of July.

Many articles have been written about Colfax Meadows such as this one from the Los Angeles Magazine [click here for article on page 152]  The neighborhood residents have long enjoyed the rural atmosphere.  In 1988, long term neighbors requested the zone change to RE11-1, prohibiting the lots from subdividing under 11,000 square feet, to preserve the larger lots in the original Colfax Meadows area, the only flat area in Studio City with so many large residential lots.  Today, Colfax Meadows is the only flat lands with a zone larger than R1-1, 5,000 square foot minimum lot size.

I believe realtors expanded Colfax Meadows to include the area from Ventura Boulevard to Moorpark Street and Colfax Avenue to Tujunga Avenue.  I have researched this expansion and find no actual documents to support it.  We all enjoy the neighborhood and look forward to preserving it as best as we possibly can, included the expanded area.  It is a terrific neighborhood to live in.