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is a census-designated place located in Ventura County, California covered by census tracts 74.03 and 74.04 . As of the 2000 census, those tracts had a total population of 14,625 people. It resides in the Conejo Valley, north from Malibu and Agoura Hills and is a part of Ventura County.
Oak Park was formed from ranchland owned by Cosmo Stevens and Marian Jordan, stars of the radio show
. The land was purchased by Metropolitan Development Corporation in the 1940s and '50s. Homes were developed starting in the late 1960s. Kanan Road (named after a local family) was the only access road to the community, from Agoura Hills, California in neighboring Los Angeles County. As such, the community was served by police and firefighters based in the nearest Ventura County city, Thousand Oaks, 10 miles (16 km) away, with L.A. County services responding when able.
In 1967 Ventura County officials who were concerned about the isolation of the community proposed a land swap with L.A. County, but they were rebuffed. The isolation -- coupled with the distance to junior and senior high schools -- also drove down the property values, and homeowners found it difficult to sell their properties.
The Ventura County Board of Supervisors created a Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) in 1975 to represent the community to County agencies. The MAC persuaded the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to trim Metropolitan Development Corp.'s initial development plan from a population of 26,000. Today there are about 15,000 residents. All available land within Oak Park has now been developed, with the remaining vacant land owned by the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.
The community was initially served by the Simi Valley Unified School District, with the nearest post-elementary schools being Sinaloa Junior High (about 20 miles (32 km) away) and Royal High (about 22 (35 km) miles away). Since the Simi Valley Unified School District had no plans to build post-elementary schools in Oak Park, the residents seceded and formed Oak Park Unified School District in June 1977. Oak Park High School opened for classes (initially grades 6-12) in the spring of 1981.
In 1999 the United States Postal Service assigned Oak Park its own ZIP code, 91377.