Tarzana, California - Definition and Overview

Tarzana is a district in "the Valley" section of Los Angeles, California. The town now known as Tarzana was founded in 1922 as Runnymede but when a post office was needed, the residents' request was denied because there was already a Runnymede in California. Due to the presence of the adjacent Tarzana Ranch and Tarzana Tract, which was donated from part of the ranch by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1923, the town voted and officially named the town Tarzana in 1927.

The rumour that Tarzana was named after "Tarzan of the Apes" because the author of the Tarzan series, Burroughs, was owner of the Tarzana Ranch is true. Harrison Gray Otis originally bought the ranch in 1911 and sold it to Burroughs in 1919, when it was named Tarzana, 7 years after the first Tarzan publication in 1912.