Northridge Farms Thoroughbred Horse Photograph Collection

June 16, 2026

The Northridge Farms Thoroughbred Horse Photograph Collection is one of over 650 archival collections we hold. Although your eyes can quickly glance over this number, it is likely the largest processed archival collection count of any CSU campus library currently. These collections give library users access to unique and historically relevant primary source research materials. The Northridge Farms Collection has the distinction of having more pictures of horses than any other CSUN archival collection.

The 100-acre Northridge Farms was purchased by J.H. and Annette Ryan as well as Mary Strnad in 1943. Before the Ryan and Strnad purchase, the property was a working thoroughbred horse farm known as the Marwyck Ranch. Barbara Stanwyck, a Hollywood movie star, and Zeppo Marx, her business manager, purchased the 130-acre Marwyck Ranch property in 1936. The original property line ran from Devonshire Street on the north to Lassen Street on the south. The eastern boundary was Reseda Boulevard with the Wilbur Wash on the western edge (near Wilbur Avenue). A wash is a small seasonal stream that usually dries up during the summer months. The property was a large piece of real estate. Stanwyck and Marx each built a home on the northern edge along Devonshire. Since the Marwyck ranch land slops toward the center of the valley, the Stanwyck and Marx homes had good views of the valley below. The initial investment on the Marwyck Ranch was $150,000, equivalent to around $3.5 million today with inflation. Of all their work and investment put into the Marwyck Thoroughbred horse ranch, the pair actually didn’t live on the property long. Stanwyck lived on the Marwyck ranch from 1937 to 1939. After this, Stanwyck and her second husband Robert Taylor moved to Beverly Hills. In 1941, Jack Oakie and his wife Venita bought Stanwyck's home on roughly 10 acres. In 1942, Hollywood movie star Janet Gaynor and her husband bought Marx’s home. The remaining working Thoroughbred horse farm was purchased by J.H. and Annette Ryan and Mary Strnad in 1943. In 1952, the Ryans purchased Gaynor’s home.

Unknown man astride a horse at Northridge Farms.
The address for the Northridge Farms was 10127 Reseda Boulevard, south of Devonshire Street and west on Reseda. The Ryans also owned a smaller ranch off Balboa Boulevard between Lassen Street and Plummer Street they called Ryana Ranch. At Northridge Farms, the barns, feeding troughs, and corrals were in the center of the property with a sixth-eighth mile dirt exercise track on the south side parallel to Lassen. Next to the track, Northridge Farms had a seating area for buyers and visitors. The business office and a bunk house for the ranch hands were located near the barns. Their business model was to purchase retired thoroughbred racehorses and make them available for breeding. They bred some themselves as well as boarded horses and raised Hereford cattle. Generally, most racehorses are male. In 1941, the grey stallion Biscailuz was born in Argentina and won several races there. After moving to the state of Maryland, he won the Havre de Grace Handicap in 1946. Northridge Farms purchased Biscailuz for $65,000 in about 1949. At Northridge, Biscailuz had foals named Feare Belle, La Peri, Pasco Babe, and Lady Gino. In 1954, Biscailuz was placed up for sale by Northridge Farms.

The gray Argentinian stallion Biscailuz is shown. After arriving in the United States, he won the Havre de Grace Handicap in 1946.
Around 1946, Northridge Farms purchased the Australian brown Thoroughbred stallion foaled in 1936 named Reading II. The Australian Derby Stakes was one of Reading II’s big wins in 1939. For a fee, the Ryans made Reading II available for breeding. Blue Reading was a bay colt and Reading II’s offspring. Foaled in 1947, this horse raced 57 times and won 17 races from 1949 to 1953. Blue Reading scored major victories at the Del Mar, San Diego, and Bing Crosby Handicaps. The total earnings of Blue Reading came to $185,745. Although foaled at Northridge Farms, Blue Reading was owned by Clement L. Hirsch, a long-time member of the Southern California Thoroughbred racing circuit. In 1961, the Ryans placed their home (Marx’s former home) up for sale with the rest of the Northridge Farms acreage. In 2018, Jack Oakie’s home (Stanwyck’s former home) and the surrounding 9.47 acres opened to the public as Oakridge Estate Park, operated by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.

In 2026, the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles seems like such a dense urban area with traffic noise and helicopters overhead. However, the Northridge Farms Thoroughbred Horse Photograph Collection shows that Northridge was not always like that.