The City of Calabasas is located in the southwest corner of the San Fernando Valley in the County of Los Angeles. Made famous by celebrity residences over the years, Calabasas’ gated communities are one of Southern California’s sought out neighborhoods for its privacy and Las Virgenes Unified School District.
The city has a colorful history stemming from Indians, explorers, squatters, and bandits. Sprawling with rolling hills, oak trees, and fresh water supply from streams and springs, the Chumash tribe settled in the area and named it Calabasas, a word perhaps derived from the Indian phrase for “where the wild geese fly.” Wildlife and oak trees were a staple to their diet, and today some of the oak trees in the area may very well date back to 500-700 years ago. Other historians suspect that the word Calabasas is derived from the Spanish word for pumpkin or wild gourd. During the second half of the 19th century, Miguel Leonis acquired the estate of Calabasas through his marriage with Espiritu, a Native American Indian who inherited the property from her father. The Leonis Adobe home and surrounding structures have since become tourist attractions.