San Fernando Valley

The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in Los Angeles County, southern California, defined by the mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it. Home to 1.8 million people, it lies north of the larger and more populous Los Angeles Basin.

Nearly two thirds of the Valley's land area is part of the city of Los Angeles. The other incorporated cities in the Valley are Glendale, Burbank, San Fernando, Hidden Hills, and Calabasas.

Geography
The San Fernando Valley is about 260 sqmi bounded by the Santa Susana Mountains to the northwest, the Simi Hills to the west, the Santa Monica Mountains and Chalk Hills to the south, the Verdugo Mountains to the east, and the San Gabriel Mountains to the northeast. The northern Sierra Pelona Mountains, northwestern Topatopa Mountains, southern Santa Ana Mountains, and Downtown Los Angeles skyscrapers can be seen from higher neighborhoods, passes, and parks in the San Fernando Valley.

The Los Angeles River begins at the confluence of Calabasas Creek (Arroyo Calabasas) and Bell Creek (Escorpión Creek) at Canoga Park High School beside Vanowen Street in Canoga Park. These creeks headwaters are in the Santa Monica Calabasas foothills, the Simi Hills' Hidden Hills, Santa Susana Field Laboratory, and Santa Susana Pass Park lands. The river flows eastward along the southern regions of the Valley. One of the river's two unpaved sections can be found at the Sepulveda Basin. A seasonal river, the Tujunga Wash, drains much of the western facing San Gabriel Mountains and passes into and then through the Hansen Dam Recreation Center in Lake View Terrace. It flows south along the Verdugo Mountains through the eastern communities of the Valley to join the Los Angeles River in Studio City. Other notable tributaries of the river include Dayton Creek, Caballero Creek, Bull Creek, Pacoima Wash, and Verdugo Wash. The elevation of the floor of the Valley varies from about 600 ft to 1200 ft above sea level.

Most of the San Fernando Valley is within the jurisdiction of the city of Los Angeles, although a few other incorporated cities are located within the Valley as well: Burbank and Glendale are in the southeast corner of the Valley, Hidden Hills and Calabasas are in the southwest corner, and San Fernando, which is completely surrounded by Los Angeles, is in the northeast valley. Universal City, an enclave in the southern part of the Valley, is unincorporated land housing the Universal Studios filming lot. Mulholland Drive, which runs along the ridgeline of the Santa Monica Mountains, marks the boundary between the Valley and the communities of Hollywood and the Los Angeles Westside.

Government and political representation


The San Fernando Valley contains five incorporated cities—Glendale, Burbank, San Fernando, Hidden Hills and Calabasas—and part of a sixth, Los Angeles, which governs a majority of the Valley. The unincorporated communities (Census-designated places) are governed by the County of Los Angeles.

Representation
The Los Angeles city section of the Valley is divided into seven city council districts: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 12. Of the 95 neighborhood councils in the city, 34 are in the Valley. The Valley is represented in the California State Legislature by seven members of the State Assembly and five members of the State Senate. The Valley is divided into five congressional districts. It is represented in Congress by senior figures from both parties including Representative Brad Sherman (D), Representative Ted Lieu (D), Representative Tony Cardenas (D), Representative Adam Schiff (D), and Representative Steve Knight (R). In the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, it is represented by two supervisorial districts, with the western portion represented by Sheila Kuehl and the eastern portion by Michael D. Antonovich, who lives in Glendale.

Politics
The San Fernando Valley, for the most part, tends to support Democrats in state and national elections. This is especially true in the southern areas which include Sherman Oaks and the city of Burbank.

Representation
The Los Angeles city section of the Valley is divided into seven city council districts: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 12. Of the 95 neighborhood councils in the city, 34 are in the Valley. The Valley is represented in the California State Legislature by seven members of the State Assembly and five members of the State Senate. The Valley is divided into five congressional districts. It is represented in Congress by senior figures from both parties including Representative Brad Sherman (D), Representative Ted Lieu (D), Representative Tony Cardenas (D), Representative Adam Schiff (D), and Representative Steve Knight (R). In the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, it is represented by two supervisorial districts, with the western portion represented by Sheila Kuehl and the eastern portion by Michael D. Antonovich, who lives in Glendale.

Politics
The San Fernando Valley, for the most part, tends to support Democrats in state and national elections. This is especially true in the southern areas which include Sherman Oaks and the city of Burbank.

Services

 * The Los Angeles satellite administrative center for the Valley, The Civic Center Van Nuys, is in Van Nuys. The area in and around the Van Nuys branch of Los Angeles City Hall is home to a police station, municipal and superior courts and Los Angeles city and county administrative offices. Northridge is home to California State University, Northridge (originally named San Fernando Valley State College).
 * Many branches of the Los Angeles Public Library are located in the Valley.
 * For independent libraries see "Incorporated Cities (independent)" in the "Municipalities and districts" list below.
 * Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and independent valley city departments.
 * Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department, Burbank Police Department, and independent valley city departments.
 * City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils

Pre-statehood
The Tongva, later known as the Gabrieleño Mission Indians after colonization, and the Tataviam to the north and Chumash to the west, had lived and thrived in the Valley and its arroyos for over 8,000 years. They had numerous settlements, and trading and hunting camps, before the Spanish arrived in 1769 to settle in the Valley.

The first Spanish land grant in the San Fernando Valley (or El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bononia de los Encinos ) was called "Rancho Encino" (present-day Mission Hills on the Camino Viejo before Newhall Pass), in the northern part of the San Fernando Valley. Juan Francisco Reyes built an adobe dwelling beside a Tongva village or rancheria at natural springs, but the land was soon taken from him so a mission could be built there. Mission San Fernando Rey de España was established in 1797 as the 17th of the 21 missions. The land trade granted Juan Francisco Reyes the similarly named Rancho Los Encinos, also beside springs (Los Encinos State Historic Park in present-day Encino). Later the Mexican land grants of Rancho El Escorpión (West Hills), Rancho Providencia and Rancho Cahuenga (Burbank), and Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando (rest of valley) covered the San Fernando Valley.

The Treaty of Cahuenga, ending the Mexican–American War fighting in Alta California, was signed in 1847 by Californios and Americans at Campo de Cahuenga, the Verdugo Family adobe at the entrance to the Cahuenga Pass in the southeast San Fernando Valley (North Hollywood). The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the entire war.

Statehood and beyond
The valley's climate is not, as some describe, a desert, and originally was naturally a "temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome" of grassland, oak savanna, and chaparral shrub forest types of plant community habitats, along with lush riparian plants along the river, creeks, and springs. In this Mediterranean climate, post-1790s European agriculture for the mission's support consisted of grapes, figs, olives, and general garden crops. In 1874 dry wheat farming was introduced by J. B. Lankershim and Isaac Van Nuys and became very productive for their San Fernando Homestead Association that owned the southern half of the Valley. In 1876 they sent the very first wheat shipment from both San Pedro Harbor and from the United States to Europe.

20th century

 * Aqueduct



Through the late 19th century court decision Los Angeles v. Pomeroy, Los Angeles had won the rights to all surface flow water atop an aquifer beneath the Valley, without it being within the city limits. San Fernando Valley farmers offered to buy the surplus aqueduct water, but the federal legislation that enabled the construction of the aqueduct prohibited Los Angeles from selling the water outside of the city limits. This induced several independent towns surrounding Los Angeles to vote on and approve annexation to the city so they could connect to the municipal water system. These rural areas became part of Los Angeles in 1915. The Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company, a syndicate led by Harry Chandler, Hobart Johnstone Whitley, president of the company, Henry E. Huntington, extended his Pacific Electric Railway (Red Cars) through the Valley to Owensmouth (now Canoga Park) and laid out plans for roads and the towns of Lankershim (now North Hollywood) and Van Nuys. The rural areas were annexed by Los Angeles in 1915. The growing towns voted for annexation – for example: Owensmouth (Canoga Park) in 1915, Laurel Canyon and Lankershim in 1923, Sunland in 1926,  La Tuna Canyon in 1926, and the incorporated city of Tujunga in an eight-year process lasting from 1927 to 1935. These annexations more than doubled the area of the city.

The aqueduct water shifted farming in the area from dry crops such as wheat to irrigated crops such as corn, beans, squash, and cotton; orchards of apricots, persimmons, and walnuts; and major citrus groves of oranges and lemons. They continued until the next increment of development converted land use, with post-war suburbanization leaving only a few enclaves, such as the "open-air museum" groves at the Orcutt Ranch Park and CSUN campus.

The advent of three new industries in the early 20th century – motion pictures, automobiles, and aircraft – also spurred urbanization and population growth. World War II production and the subsequent postwar boom accelerated this growth so that between 1945 and 1960, the Valley's population had quintupled. Los Angeles continued to consolidate its territories in the San Fernando Valley by annexing the former Rancho El Escorpión for Canoga Park-West Hills in 1959, and the huge historic "Porter Ranch" at the foot of the Santa Susana Mountains for the new planned developments in Porter Ranch in 1965. The additions expanded the Los Angeles portion of San Fernando Valley from the original 169 sqmi to 224 sqmi today.
 * Developments

Six Valley cities incorporated independently from Los Angeles: Glendale in 1906, Burbank and San Fernando in 1911, Hidden Hills in 1961, and Calabasas in 1991. Universal City is an unincorporated enclave that is home to Universal Studios theme park and Universal CityWalk. Other unincorporated areas in the Valley are Bell Canyon.


 * Northridge earthquake

The 1994 Northridge earthquake struck on January 17 and measured 6.7 on the Moment magnitude scale. It produced the largest ground motions ever recorded in an urban environment and was the first earthquake that had its hypocenter located directly under a U.S. city since the Long Beach earthquake of 1933. It caused the greatest damage in the United States since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Although given the name "Northridge", the epicenter was located in the community of Reseda, between Arminta and Ingomar streets, just west of Reseda Boulevard. The death toll was 57 and more than 1,500 people were seriously injured. A few days after the earthquake, 9,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity; 20,000 were without gas; and more than 48,500 had little or no water. About 12,500 structures were moderately to severely damaged, which left thousands of people temporarily homeless. Of the 66,546 buildings inspected, 6% were severely damaged (red tagged) and 17% were moderately damaged (yellow tagged). In addition, damage to several major freeways serving Los Angeles choked the traffic system in the days following the earthquake. Major freeway damage occurred as far away as 25 mi from the epicenter. Collapses and other severe damage forced closure of portions of 11 major roads to downtown Los Angeles.

This was the second time in 23 years that the San Fernando Valley had been affected by a strong earthquake. On February 9, 1971, a magnitude 6.5 event struck about 20 mi northeast of the epicenter of the 1994 event. The 1971 earthquake caused 58 fatalities and about 2,000 injuries. At the time, the 1971 earthquake was the most destructive event to affect greater Los Angeles since the magnitude 6.3 Long Beach earthquake of 1933.

By the late 1990s the San Fernando Valley is becoming more urban and more ethnically diverse with rising poverty and crime in the area. At the beginning of the 21st century in 2002, The Valley was trying to secede from the city of Los Angeles and become its own incorporated city to escape the poverty, crime, gang activity, urban decay, and poorly maintained infrastructure to improve the quality of life in the Valley, but was unsuccessful. Since the city of Los Angeles defeated the efforts for the Valley secede from the city of LA, A new Van Nuys municipal building was built in 2003, the Metro Orange Line opened in October 2005, 35 new public schools opened up in the Valley during the 2000s and by 2012, the Valley's ethnic population majority is now Hispanic which outnumbered the White population by 0.8%.
 * Contemporary Era

Parks and recreation
The San Fernando Valley is home to numerous neighborhood city parks, recreation areas and large Regional Open Space preserves. Many preserves are maintained as public parkland by the National Park Service's Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the California State Parks, and local county and municipal parks districts.

Small garden parks and missions

 * The Japanese Garden
 * The gardens at Adobes
 * The Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center
 * The Leonis Adobe
 * The Andrés Pico adobe
 * Los Encinos State Historic Park
 * Mission San Fernando

Recreation areas

 * Griffith Park, located at the southeastern end of the Valley in the Hollywood Hills
 * Sepulveda Dam recreation area
 * Hansen Dam recreation area
 * Los Angeles River, with parks of various sizes along the part of the river located in the Valley

Mountain open-space parks



 * Backbone Trail System
 * Bell Canyon Park
 * Brand Park
 * Chatsworth Park South
 * Deukmejian Wilderness Park
 * El Escorpión Park
 * Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail
 * La Tuna Park
 * Laurel Canyon Park
 * Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park
 * O'Melveny Park above Granada Hills
 * Rocky Peak Park
 * Sage Ranch Park (located in Simi Valley)
 * Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
 * Topanga State Park
 * Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve
 * Verdugo Mountains Open Space Preserve
 * Wilacre Park

Incorporated cities (independent)

 * Los Angeles
 * Burbank
 * Calabasas
 * Glendale
 * Hidden Hills
 * San Fernando

Unincorporated communities

 * Bell Canyon
 * Calabasas Highlands
 * Kagel Canyon
 * Universal City
 * West Chatsworth

City of Los Angeles neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley

 * Arleta
 * Cahuenga Pass
 * Canoga Park
 * Chatsworth
 * Colfax Meadows
 * Encino
 * Granada Hills
 * La Tuna Canyon
 * Lake Balboa
 * Lake View Terrace
 * Mission Hills
 * NoHo Arts District
 * North Hills
 * North Hollywood
 * Northridge
 * Pacoima
 * Panorama City
 * Porter Ranch
 * Reseda
 * Shadow Hills+
 * Sherman Oaks
 * Stonehurst
 * Studio City
 * Sun Valley
 * Sunland-Tujunga+
 * Sylmar
 * Tarzana
 * Toluca Lake
 * Toluca Woods
 * Valley Glen
 * Valley Village
 * Van Nuys
 * Warner Center
 * West Hills
 * West Toluca
 * Winnetka
 * Woodland Hills

+ Common usage of the term San Fernando Valley include these communities that are in the Crescenta Valley.