Author notes

Research Profile: The Valley

blntmaker

on July 20, 2007

The Valley (The San Fernando Valley) is an urbanized community in Southern California, United States. The basin is located in the northwestern region of Los Angeles County, within and around the city of Los Angeles.

The San Fernando Valley is 345 square miles bounded by the Santa Susana Mountains to the northwest, the Simi Hills to the west, the Santa Monica Mountains to the south, the Verdugo Mountains to the east, and the San Gabriel Mountains to the northeast. The Sierra Pelona Mountains (to the north) can be seen in parts of the San Fernando Valley from the gap between the Santa Susana and San Gabriel (Newhall Pass). The Los Angeles River is thought to originate in Chatsworth and flowing east along the southern areas of the Valley. One of the river's only unpaved section can be found at the Sepulveda Basin. Another waterway, the Tujunga Wash, comes down from the San Gabriel Mountains and winds south in the eastern communities of the Valley before merging with the Los Angeles River. The valley's elevation is about 250�1,200 ft. above sea level.

Most of the San Fernando Valley is within the City of Los Angeles, California, although several smaller cities are 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 the City of 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 Los Angeles' westside.

The San Fernando Valley had a population 1,696,347 in 2000. A recent estimate by the Los Angeles County Urban Research Unit and Population Division puts the 2004 population at 1,808,599. The largest cities entirely in the valley are Glendale and Burbank. The largest sections of Los Angeles in the valley are North Hollywood and Van Nuys. Each of the two districts and each of the two sections of Los Angeles mentioned has more than 100,000 residents. Despite the San Fernando Valley's reputation for sprawling, low-density development, the Valley communities of Panorama City, North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Reseda, Canoga Park, and Northridge, all in Los Angeles, have numerous apartment complexes and contain some of the densest census tracts in Los Angeles.

Latinos and non-Hispanic whites are nearly even in numbers, combining to comprise more than four out of five Valley residents. In general, communities in the northeastern, central, and southeastern parts of the Valley have the highest concentration of Latinos. Non-Hispanic Whites live mainly along the communities along the region's mountain rim and in the northwestern and southern sections of the valley. The city of Glendale has an influential and very large Armenian community. The cities of San Fernando, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, and the Tarzana area of Los Angeles are quite homogeneous in racial makeup.

Asian Americans make up 10.7% of the population and live throughout the Valley, but are most numerous in the city of Glendale and the Los Angeles communities of Chatsworth, Panorama City, Porter Ranch and Granada Hills. African Americans compose 5.1% of the Valley's population, living mainly in the Los Angeles sections of Lake View Terrace, Pacoima, Reseda and Chatsworth. Another large ethnic element is the Iranian community with 200,000 people living mainly in west San Fernando Valley. The valley is also home to a large and influential Jewish community.

Poverty rates in the San Fernando Valley are lower than the rest of the county (15.3% compared to 17.9%). Eight San Fernando Valley communities have at least one in five residents living in poverty.

The Pacoima section of Los Angeles is widely known in the region as a hub of suburban blight. Other San Fernando Valley communities, such as the Los Angeles sections of Mission Hills, Arleta, and Sylmar, have poverty rates well below the regional average, even lower than neighborhoods populated by a higher number of Non-Hispanic White residents.

Many wealthy families live in the hills south of the Ventura Boulevard; as a result, the phrase "South of the Boulevard" has become a commonly used buzzword in local real estate.

The Valley is home to numerous companies, the most well-known of which are involved in motion pictures, recording, and television production (including CBS Studio Center, NBC-Universal, The Walt Disney Company (and its ABC television network), and Warner Bros.. The Valley was previously known for stellar advances in aerospace technology by companies such as Lockheed, Rocketdyne, and Marquardt which helped put man on the moon and armed the modern military. Most of these enterprises have since disappeared or moved on to regions with friendlier political climates.

The Valley became the pioneering region for producing adult films in the 1970s and since then has been home to a multi-billion dollar pornography industry earning the monikers "Porn Valley", "San Pornando Valley" or "Silicone Valley" (a play on Silicon Valley ). The majority of the nation's adult video and magazine distributors are also located here.


Incorporated cities: Burbank, Calabasas , Hidden Hills, San Fernando, Glendale

Unincorporated communities: Bell Canyon, Kagel Canyon, Olive View

Communities within the City of Los Angeles: Arleta, Balboa Park, Cahuenga Pass, Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Encino, Granada Hills, Knollwood,Lake View Terrace , Lake Balboa, La Tuna Canyon, Mission Hills, NoHo Arts District, North Hills, North Hollywood, Northridge, Pacoima, Panorama City, Porter Ranch, Reseda, Sepulveda, Shadow Hills, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Sun Valley, Sunland, Sylmar, Tarzana, Toluca Lake, Toluca Woods, Tujunga, Valley Glen, Valley Village, Van Nuys, Ventura Business District, Warner Center, West Hills, West Toluca, Winnetka, Woodland Hills

Although the Valley is part of Los Angeles, its development pattern is almost exclusively suburban, and the automobile is the dominant mode of transportation. Several freeways criss-cross the Valley, most notably, Interstate 405, U.S. 101, California State Route 118, and Interstate 5. Most of the major thoroughfares run on a cartographic grid; notable streets include Sepulveda Boulevard, Ventura Boulevard, Laurel Canyon Boulevard, San Fernando Road, Mulholland Drive, and Topanga Canyon Blvd California State Route 27.