Van Nuys Ranch 2014

The history of the Jue Joe Van Nuys Ranch has fascinated many people including residents of the local community, and fellow online bloggers and I have received many comments , emails and pictures sent by people who have discovered my family history blog and who are interested in the history of the property. Part of the old property has been developed as a public tennis facility and the other part of the ranch including the main property that includes the historic barns and older buildings built by my late great grandfather Jue Joe, and the main house and swimming pool built by my late grandfather San Tong have been preserved intact. The buildings are not part of the tennis facility and the only part of the old residence being used by the public is one bathroom. Here are some recent pictures of the ranch property taken from the public areas of the property that were forwarded to me for my blog. I will include some of the pictures of the property from the old days for comparison sake. Here is an aerial view of the property surrounded by farmland circa 1947.

Here is a view of the front of the main house circa 1949.

And here is a view of the main house in the early days after an unusual winter snowstorm . Snow is unusual for the San Fernando Valley !

Here are some recent pictures of the property . Part of the property is being used as a public tennis facility.

Here are some views of the main house and side house that are not part of the tennis facility but can be seen from inside the tennis facility.

Looks like a lot of clean up or other work has been done to the main house or is in progress. Here are some views of the back of the property.

I remember the back of the house from my childhood. There was a large solarium with multiple windows that could be opened to let the breeze in . You can see the windows in the current picture above as well as in this family photo of my mom and dad's engagement party at the ranch circa 1950.

The big pool was a central area for family gatherings in the old days. I had a lot of fun swimming in it as a child . Here are my Aunties Soo-Yin and Pingy as hula girls by the pool when they were kids.

Here is a view of the pool in 2014.

The inside of the house which I remember as quite grand as a young boy is not open to the public and the only part of the main house open is a small bathroom .

Here is a picture from the interior of the house in the old days. On the couch are my Dad's stepmom , my mom and my Dad's grandmother and sisters.

Recently the "San Fernando Valley Blog " did a nice piece on the Jue Joe Van Nuys Ranch . The blog has some additional current pictures of the property including this nice picture of the historic redwood barn which I think is one of the last such barns left in the San Fernando Valley.

Here is video of our family during the Van Nuys Ranch days Here is a hand drawn plan of the Jue Joe Ranch Property circa 1947 courtesy of Auntie Soo-Yin 

First is the ranch buildings and layout of the ranch property and then the interior plan of the main ranch house.