TOPANGA POLICE STATION- New Police Station Named after Indigenous People and A Main Thoroughfare

By Marianne Love, San Fernando Valley Sun Staff Reporter

March 27, 2008 --

The new, 54,000-square-foot, $37-million Topanga Police Station in Canoga Park is the newest station to be built in the San Fernando Valley. It is expected to be operating by the end of the year, making the community police station the seventh Los Angeles Police Department in the Valley were 1.7 million people live.

The winner of a naming contest for the newest Los Angeles police station in Canoga Park donated the $1,000 shopping spree prize she won at Westfield Topanga Mall back over to the officers.

Jaclyn Baumgarten, development manager with Westfield Topanga Mall, said she was so impressed with Rebecca Westberg's gesture that the company decided on the spot to convert the $1,000 shopping spree award to cash, so the police department can use it to buy equipment and supplies for the police officers at the new police station.

"Because of Rebecca's generosity we felt we want to honor her as an exemplary community member, so we decide to also give her a $500 gift certificate," Baumgarten said.

Lake Balboa resident, Rebecca Westberg, said she didn't expect to win so why not give it to some one else who can use it.

"I could use the money, but it was like it dropped out of the sky. I work for a company (Poms & Associates in Woodland Hills) and they treat us well and provide us with drinks and snacks," Westberg said. "I never expected to get the call. Topanga has always been a lovely word to me."

Westfield Topanga Mall joined Los Angeles City Councilmen Dennis P. Zine and Greig Smith and the Los Angeles Police Department, in hosting a police station naming contest that attracted 500 plus entries.

The suggested names also included Mullholland, Owensmouth, Orcutt and Platt, familiar family names from the area.

But Topanga was chosen after much debate and deliberation.

Topanga Boulevard, a stone's throw away from the new station, is one of the longest streets in the Valley and stretches from its most northern border all the way to the Pacific Ocean in Malibu.

"Topanga is a Shoshone Indian name believed to mean 'a place above.' The Gabrielino-Tongva Indian tribe, which is an indigenous Native Indian tribe of the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles are for almost 7,000 years, gave the name to the area," Smith said. "The name 'Topanga' is synonymous with the western part of the San Fernando Valley today as it was with the Native Indians almost 7,000 years ago."

Six contestants submitted the winning name for LAPD's 21st police station set in the middle of a gang injunction, industrial area one block north of Roscoe Boulevard between Owensmouth and Canoga Avenues.

Since there was one grand prize, contest officials put each of their six names on five different white ping-pong balls written with a black marker and placed them in a clear, glass bingo-style contraption, which Police Chief William Bratton cranked for good measure.

The other winners, including 9- year-old Remington Noves, a third-grader at Welby Way Elementary School who wants to be a police officer when he grows up, went home with a certificate of recognition, a thermo coffee cup printed with Zine's name and a pin from Smith with his name on it.

"I am elated that so many people took part in the contest and am very proud of the name that was ultimately selected," Zine said. "Our goal was to have the public feel connected to the new police facility, and I think that objective was accomplished here today."

The architecture of the new $37-million police station, located at 21501 Schoenborn St. where a former home improvement store bellied up, resembles a ski chalet with bulletproof glass windows in the front.

"Old police stations were big and imposing made of brick and concrete, but the new station has a community room in the front with glass and an inviting feel versus a feeling of keeping everyone out," said Thom Brennan, police administrator and commanding officer. "There's a balance between a sense of security with creating an environment that welcome the community in."

Walkways are lined with different size brass squares depicting the history of the Los Angeles area and of course it will be filled with the top of the line technology.

It is the seventh station in the San Fernando Valley. Two years ago, LAPD open Mission Patrol Division in the northeast corner of the Valley.

Captain John A. Sherman will oversee operations at Topanga Police Station.

Sherman said the entire Valley would be realigned once the Topanga station opens and most likely the 250 to 275 officers who patrol the area currently will continue, but now they can concentrate on a smaller area.

"We'll be able to get to calls faster. And, although we know the area, we'll get to know the area better," Sherman said.

The administrative staff will be all new employees.

The station was built with Prop Q funds, a $600-million bond measure approved by California voters in 2002 to build new police and fire stations and upgrade others.