Toluca Lake, Los Angeles

Toluca Lake is an affluent neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles located in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, 12 mi northwest of Downtown. The name is also given to a private natural lake which is fed by the Los Angeles River and maintained by neighboring property owners. A small part of Toluca Lake spills over into nearby Burbank.

According to an analysis of the 2000 census data by the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles section of Toluca Lake is an affluent, domestically stable, well-educated, older-aged, low-density neighborhood of the city.

The history of Toluca Lake can be traced back to the days of the Tongva Indians, followed by Spanish and Mexican occupation and development. It was part of the early rancho system and then it was later divided, with the neighborhood being known as Forman Toluca Ranch. In 1923, investors bought and developed the land as "Toluca Lake Park".

In recent years the neighborhood has been the home of noted entertainment and other personalities and was the site of the wedding reception for Ronald and Nancy Reagan. More recently yet there has been opposition to a proposed development in North Hollywood by NBCUniversal and Thomas Properties Group.

Community
The Los Angeles portion of Toluca Lake is situated on 1.22 square miles of the southeastern San Fernando Valley. The Mapping L.A. section of the Los Angeles Times website describes it as bounded on the south by Universal City, on the west by Studio City, on the north by North Hollywood and on the east by the city of Burbank.

The Toluca Lake Chamber of Commerce states that the district is not only a neighborhood in Los Angeles but that it "spills over into Burbank" and that "Political entities and others, such as the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council each draw their own boundaries to suit specific needs."

Lake
The geologic Toluca Lake is a 6 acre body of water located near the district’s southeastern boundaries. The historic natural lake was fed by springs of upwelling groundwater from the substantial Los Angeles River and San Fernando Valley subterranean aquifers. Late 19th and 20th century L. A. DWP well extraction and 1930s concrete river channelization lowered the water table, and currently community wells at the lake’s edges maintain the water level. The bottom of the lake is surfaced with four inches (102 mm) of asphalt concrete to prevent seepage. Owned by the surrounding homeowners, the lake has been maintained by the Toluca Lake Property Owners Association, a non-profit corporation established in 1934. The lake, surrounded by private residences and the Lakeside Golf Club, is inaccessible to the public.

Population
The Los Angeles portion of Toluca Lake had a population of 7,782 in the 2000 census and an estimated population of 8,563 in 2008. At 6,393 people per square mile, its density was among the lowest in the city of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles Times, its percentage of white people, 71.9%, was "high for the county". Other ethnicities were Latino 14%, black 5.3% and Asian 5%. German (9.2%) and Irish (8.7%) were the most common ancestries. Only 17.7% of its residents were foreign-born, a low figure compared to the city as a whole; of those, Mexico at 14.7% and the Philippines at 6.9% were the most common foreign places of birth.

The median household income level of its residents was $73,111 in 2008, and 48.4% of its residents 25 and older had a four-year degree, both of which were "high for the city". The average household size was 1.9 people, low for both the city and the county. 62.2% of its housing units were occupied by renters and 37.8% by owners.

Residents' median age was 37, which was "old for the city of Los Angeles and old for the county". Only 9.7% of residents were headed by single parents, a low figure for both the city and the county.