by Jeffrey Wayne Maulhardt (Author)
The amorphous Conejo Valley today encompasses the southeastern portion of Ventura County in and around Thousand Oaks, including Newbury Park and Lake Sherwood, near where the I-101 exits Los Angeles County at Westlake Village on its way west and north. Human history in the Conejo Valley dates back to the hunting and gathering days of the Chumash Native Americans. The short Spanish and Mexican periods added a few adobe buildings, erected for respites taken by vaqueros and later cattle rustlers on these rolling grasslands north of the coastal Santa Monica Mountains. In the 19th century, a grand hotel was constructed, and a stage route was established. Grain farmers tried to tame the thirsty hills of the Conejo Valley before the arrival of scenic neighborhoods and malls after World War II.