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88-539: The building stands on the San Fernando Valley side of the Hollywood Hills , just off Mulholland Drive . It is a one-story octagon with around 2,200 square feet (200 m) of living space. Most distinctively, the house is perched atop a 5-foot-wide (1.5 m) concrete column nearly 30 feet (9 m) high. This innovative design was Lautner's solution to a site that, with a slope of 45 degrees,

176-642: A subtropical / hot-summer Mediterranean climate, with long, hot, dry summers, and short, warm winters, with chilly nights and sporadic rainfall. Due to its relatively inland location and other factors, summer days are typically hotter and winter nights typically colder than in the Los Angeles basin . More recently, statewide droughts in California have further strained the San Fernando Valley’s and Los Angeles County’s water security . The valley

264-727: A bill that would make it easier for the Valley to secede by removing the City Council veto. AB 62 was signed into law by Governor Pete Wilson . Meanwhile, a grassroots movement to split the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and create new San Fernando Valley-based school districts became the focal point of the desire to leave the city. Though the state rejected the idea of Valley-based districts, it remained an important rallying point for Hertzberg's mayoral campaign, which proved unsuccessful. By

352-513: A common theme of mankind's eventual exodus from Earth, won the International Fantasy Award. Simak continued to produce award-nominated novels throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Aided by a friend, he continued writing and publishing science fiction and, later, fantasy, into his 80s. He believed that science fiction not rooted in scientific fact was responsible for the failure of the genre to be taken seriously, and stated his aim

440-553: A dedicated transitway route running the east–west length of the Valley connecting the North Hollywood B Line Station through the valley, then heads north through Canoga Park to the Chatsworth Metrolink station. An additional Metro Busway line is planned for the Valley operating from North Hollywood station: the North Hollywood to Pasadena Transit Corridor which will run to Pasadena with connections to

528-525: A detailed sound stage set of the house's interior was built. The Chemosphere was also used in the 1984 film Body Double , directed by Brian De Palma and it directly inspired a house in the 2000 Charlie's Angels movie. In 1996 the Chemosphere was represented as Troy McClure 's (voiced by Phil Hartman ) fictional Springfield hilltop mansion in The Simpsons TV series. It appears in

616-652: A difficult sell and sat on the market for most of its time as a rental property. Since 1998, it has been the Los Angeles home of Benedikt Taschen , of the German publishing house Taschen , who has had the house restored; the only current problem with the residence is the relatively high cost of maintenance. The recent restoration, by Escher GuneWardena Architecture, won an award from the Los Angeles Conservancy . Preservation architect Frank Escher wrote

704-768: A full-scale light rail conversion is planned to be completed by 2050. The valley will get its first light rail line in seven decades by 2027, the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project . Construction of the line is planned to begin in 2024 along Van Nuys Boulevard and San Fernando Road. The Valley is home to numerous companies, the most well known of which work in motion pictures, music recording, and television production. The former movie ranches were branches of original studios now consisting of CBS Studio Center, NBCUniversal , The Walt Disney Company (and its ABC television network), and Warner Bros. The valley

792-572: A mob by moving back in time, only to find that the past is a place where there are no living things and inanimate objects are barely substantial. Time travel also plays an important role in Time and Again . A long-lost space traveler returns with a message which is science fiction-slanted, yet religious in tone. Having crashed on a planet, he is then nurtured by ethereal duplicates that seem to accompany every sentient being throughout life. His befuddled observations are seized upon by religious factions, and

880-546: A new light rail line, the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project that will run north–south on Van Nuys Boulevard from the G Line Van Nuys station to the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink station, however will be built in two phases. The first between Van Nuys and Pacoima , and the second from Pacoima to Sylmar/San Fernando station. Pre construction began in 2022, and is expected to be completed between 2028 and 2030. The G Line busway uses

968-409: A quest, or a mission. Characters set out, alone, and acquire companions, often unlikely matches, along the way. On the journey, some fall by the wayside, and of these, some are reunited with the group, whilst others never heard from again. Simak's stories often say that there is no past time for a time traveler to go to. Our world moves along in a stream of time, and to move to a different place in time

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1056-423: A quiet manner; there is little violence in my work. My focus has been on people, not on events. More often than not I have struck a hopeful note ... I have, on occasions, tried to speak out for decency and compassion, for understanding, not only in the human, but in the cosmic sense. I have tried at times to place humans in perspective against the vastness of universal time and space. I have been concerned where we, as

1144-449: A race, may be going, and what may be our purpose in the universal scheme – if we have a purpose. In general, I believe we do, and perhaps an important one. From 1950 to 1986 Clifford Simak wrote more than 30 novels and four non-fiction works, with Way Station winning the 1964 Hugo Award . More than 100 of his short stories were published from 1931 to 1981 in the science fiction, western, and war genres, with " The Big Front Yard " winning

1232-569: A retrospective of Lautner's work which was shown at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles between August and October 2008. The building was first used in a dramatic film as a futuristic residence in " The Duplicate Man ", a 1964 episode of the ABC TV-program The Outer Limits , based on a science fiction story by American author Clifford D. Simak . Exterior scenes for the television episode were shot on location;

1320-502: A schism then threatens to erupt into war on Earth. Intelligence, loyalty and friendship, the existence of God and souls, the unexpected benefits and harm of invention, tools as extensions of humanity, and more questions are often explored by Simak's robots, whom he uses as "surrogate humans". They begin as likable mechanical persons, but change in surprising ways. Having achieved intelligence, robots move on to common themes such as, "Why are we here?" and "Do robots have souls"? Examples are

1408-558: A spaceship, and passes through hyperspace unprotected. Daniel gains the ability to see and fix problems in anything – a ship, a robot, a human – telekinetically, but is still drifting and hunted as chattel. He stumbles on a frontier planet and finds a purpose, helping the pioneers as a doctor, a servant, a colonist, and a friend. And here Daniel achieves an epiphany: Human beings are more clever than they know. Human-created robots, set loose, can become agents with para-human abilities that benefit humanity. Thus do robots, and humankind, escape "all

1496-866: Is a revolt of the machines in "Skirmish", and a meeting with an alien world in "Beachhead", also known as "You'll Never Go Home Again". (Many of these are in his collection Strangers in the Universe .) Simak sometimes wrote stories close to his profession as a writer. For example, in the novelette "So Bright the Vision" (1968), he portrayed artificial intelligence writing software similar to ChatGPT , but focusing on socio-psychological issues. Finally, Simak throws in many science fictional fillips that remain unexplained. Simak's characters encounter alien creatures and concepts they simply cannot understand, and never will. For example, in Special Deliverance ,

1584-755: Is an unincorporated area housing the Universal Studios filming lot and theme park. 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 . The San Fernando Valley has connection to other regions: The Santa Clarita Valley via Newhall Pass , the Westside via Sepulveda Pass , Hollywood via Cahuenga Pass , Simi Valley via Santa Susana Pass , and

1672-695: Is not always idyllic; for instance, in Ring Around the Sun , it is largely dominated by intolerance and isolationism. Many of his aliens have a dry, otherworldly sense of humor, and others are unintentionally amusing, in their speech, behavior or appearance. His robots are full of personality, as are his dogs. By contrast, his "heroes" are ciphers. His protagonists are often boring men, never described and never reappearing. One of Simak's editors objected to his stories because his heroes were "losers". Simak replied, "I like losers." Many of Simak's story lines involve

1760-580: Is represented by three members of the State Senate : Henry Stern (D), and Anthony Portantino (D). The valley falls into five congressional districts: the 25th , 28th , 29th , 30th , and 33rd , represented respectively by Mike Garcia (R), Adam Schiff (D), Tony Cárdenas (D), Brad Sherman (D), and Ted Lieu (D). The valley is represented in the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors , by two supervisorial districts, with

1848-463: Is the first heavy rail subway in the valley, extended from its prior terminus in 2000. With transfers, it connects the Valley to the entire Metro regional light rail and subway network . The B Line's two Valley subway stations provide access to national travel through Bob Hope Airport and Amtrak and regional travel through Metrolink , Metro Rapid , Metro Local , and the Metro G Line . Metro approved

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1936-834: Is the home of Warner Bros. Studios , Walt Disney Studios , and the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. The valley of San Fernando is an area of 260 square miles (670 km ), bounded by the San Gabriel Mountains in the northeast, the Verdugo Mountains in the east, the Santa Monica Mountains and Chalk Hills in the south, the Simi Hills in the west, and the Santa Susana Mountains in

2024-530: Is to move to another world. Thus in City our Earth is overrun by ants, but the intelligent dogs and the remaining humans escape to other worlds in the time stream. In Ring Around the Sun, the persecuted paranormals escape to other Earths which, if they could all be seen at once, would be at different stages of their orbit around the Sun, hence the title. In Time Is the Simplest Thing a paranormal escapes

2112-721: The A Line . Metro is also studying a route through the Sepulveda Pass , the Sepulveda Transit Corridor , including heavy rail and monorail alternatives. Metrolink commuter rail has two Valley lines, the Antelope Valley Line and Ventura County Line , which connect the Valley and beyond to downtown Los Angeles and south, becoming one line at the Downtown Burbank station . Metrolink always had one Burbank Airport station on

2200-559: The Crescenta Valley via Interstate 210 . The valley's natural habitat is a " temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome " of grassland , oak savanna , and chaparral shrub 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. The San Fernando Valley has

2288-809: 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 (180 m) to 1,200 ft (370 m) above sea level . Most of

2376-635: The Los Angeles Community College District . The only state university in the San Fernando Valley is California State University Northridge in Northridge. In 1994 there were 180,000 PK-12 students attending Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) campuses in the Valley. During the same year, about 45,000 PK-12 students, or one in five of all such students, attended the over 200 private schools in

2464-597: The Southern California Gas Company and the Chem Seal Corporation. Chem Seal provided the experimental coatings and resins to put the house together and inspired the name Chemosphere . (Lautner originally wanted to call the house Chapiteau .) In the end Malin paid US$ 80,000 in cash. The Malins and their four children lived there until rising costs and the demise of the aerospace industry forced them to sell in 1972. In 1976,

2552-882: The University of Wisconsin–Madison and then taught in the public schools until 1929. He later worked at various newspapers in the Midwest . He began a lifelong association with the Minneapolis Star and Tribune (in Minneapolis , Minnesota ) in 1939, which continued until his retirement in 1976. He became Minneapolis Star ' s news editor in 1949 and coordinator of Minneapolis Tribune ' s Science Reading Series in 1961. He married Agnes Kuchenberg on April 13, 1929, and they had two children, Richard "Dick" Scott (1947–2012) and Shelley Ellen. In his novel Time and Again he wrote, "I have been happily married to

2640-521: The Van Nuys Airport . The Van Nuys–Airport FlyAway Terminal provides nonstop scheduled shuttle service to LAX and back to the valley, with parking. Most of the utilities in the valley are served by public municipal governments, primarily the cities of Los Angeles , and Burbank , while there are only two private-owned utilities for gas and electricity in the valley as well. Southern California Edison has their overhead power lines going through

2728-404: The 1939 serial novel Cosmic Engineers , he wrote in the tradition of the earlier "super science" subgenre that E. E. "Doc" Smith perfected, but he soon developed his own style, which is usually described as gentle and pastoral . During this period, Simak also published a number of war and western stories in pulp magazines. City , a fix-up novel from this period based on short stories with

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2816-668: The 1959 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and " Grotto of the Dancing Deer " winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Short Story in 1981. One more short story, "I Had No Head and My Eyes Were Floating Way Up in the Air", had been written in 1973 for publication in Harlan Ellison 's never-published anthology The Last Dangerous Visions and was first published posthumously in 2015. One of his short stories, "Good Night, Mr. James",

2904-519: The Farming and Milling Company for $ 2,500,000. Henry E. Huntington extended his Pacific Electric Railway (Red Cars) through the Valley to Owensmouth (now Canoga Park). The Suburban Home Company laid out plans for roads and the towns of Van Nuys, Reseda (Marian), and Canoga Park (Owensmouth). The rural areas were annexed into the city of Los Angeles in 1915. Laurel Canyon and Lankershim in 1923, Sunland in 1926, La Tuna Canyon in 1926, and

2992-711: The HBO series Pornucopia , at one time, nearly 90 percent of all legally distributed pornographic films made in the United States were either filmed in or produced by studios based in the San Fernando Valley. The pornography industry began to decline by the mid-2000s, owing, for the most part, to the growing amount of free content on the Internet, which undercut consumers' willingness to pay. In 2007 industry insiders estimated that revenue for most adult production and distribution companies had declined 30 percent to 50 percent and

3080-807: The San Fernando Valley are served by three unified school districts; The Northwest and East Regions of the Los Angeles Unified School District , the Glendale Unified School District and the Burbank Unified School District . There are four community colleges in the valley; Los Angeles Valley College in Valley Glen, Los Angeles Mission College in Sylmar, and Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills. All except Glendale College are served by

3168-467: 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 square miles (438 km ) to 224 square miles (580 km ). In

3256-400: 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 is in the southeastern corner of the valley, and San Fernando , which is completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, is near the northern end of the valley. Universal City , an enclave in the southern part of the valley,

3344-666: 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. The Valley officially became part of

3432-552: The San Fernando Valley. Some of the former rights-of-way of the Pacific Electric Railway , which first accelerated population growth in the Valley, have been repurposed for busways and light rail lines. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates two Metro B Line subway stations in the Valley, which are located at Universal City and North Hollywood, which connect it directly to Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles . The Metro B Line

3520-672: 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

3608-482: The Simak character is a recurring trait of the author's style. Other traditional science fiction themes in Simak's work include the importance of knowledge and compassion, such as in "Immigrant" and "Kindergarten". Identity play, as in "Good Night, Mr. James" (filmed as The Outer Limits : The Duplicate Man in 1964). Fictions come to life in "Shadow Show" and elsewhere, such as the novel Out of Their Minds . There

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3696-538: The State of California on September 9, 1850, when the California Statehood Act was approved by the federal government. In 1874, dry wheat farming was introduced by J. B. Lankershim and Isaac Van Nuys , which became very productive for their San Fernando Homestead Association that owned the southern half of the valley. In 1876, they sent the first wheat shipment from both San Pedro Harbor and from

3784-423: The United States to Europe. 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

3872-525: The Valley, including the village of Pasheeknga . 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 known as Achooykomenga , but

3960-561: The Valley. 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 five members of the State Assembly : Jesse Gabriel (D), Luz Rivas (D), James Ramos (D), Pilar Schiavo (D), and Laura Friedman (D). The valley

4048-735: The Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles, was located at the Budweiser brewery. It was torn down in the late 1970s. 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. Public schools in

4136-553: The Ventura County Line, but a second Burbank Airport station was built in 2017 on the Antelope Valley Line. Amtrak 's Pacific Surfliner long-distance rail line has stops at Burbank Airport station , Van Nuys, and Chatsworth Station , before proceeding on to Ventura County , Santa Barbara , and Northern California or Union Station and San Diego . The California High-Speed Rail Authority

4224-520: The city of Burbank and through the Los Angeles city neighborhoods of Sylmar, Mission Hills, Arleta, North Hollywood, Studio City, Woodland Hills, Granada Hills, Porter Ranch, and Chatsworth as well. Internet, cable television, and cellular phone service in the valley are by large private companies. The valley is served by the following utility companies: Electricity Natural gas Water Clifford D. Simak Clifford Donald Simak ( / ˈ s ɪ m ə k / ; August 3, 1904 – April 25, 1988)

4312-467: 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 percent were severely damaged (red tagged) and 17 percent were moderately damaged (yellow tagged). In addition, damage to several major freeways serving Los Angeles choked

4400-676: The end credits of the 2015 Disney fantasy film, Tomorrowland , starring George Clooney. San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley , known locally as the Valley , is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California . Situated northwards of the Los Angeles Basin , it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles , the incorporated cities of Burbank , Calabasas , Glendale , Hidden Hills and San Fernando , plus several unincorporated areas. The valley

4488-473: The epicenter of the 1994 event. The 1971 earthquake caused 58 fatalities and about 2,000 injuries. At the time, the 1971 San Fernando earthquake was the most destructive event to affect greater Los Angeles since the magnitude-6.3 Long Beach earthquake of 1933. The Valley attempted to secede in the 1970s, but the state passed a law barring city formation without the approval of the City Council. In 1997, Assemblymen Bob Hertzberg and Tom McClintock helped pass

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4576-605: The faithful butler Jenkins in City , the religious robot Hezekiel in A Choice of Gods , the frontier robots in Special Deliverance and A Heritage of Stars , and the monk-like robots in Project Pope who seek heaven. In " All the Traps of Earth ", a 600 year-old robot, a family retainer who earned the name Richard Daniel, is considered chattel to be reprogrammed and lose all its memories. The robot runs away, hitches onto

4664-443: The first African American admitted to the National Society of Interior Designers. The lot had been given to a young aerospace engineer by his father-in-law; despite his own limited means, the engineer, Leonard Malin, was determined to live there. Malin had US$ 30,000 to apply to the project. The cost to build Chemosphere, US$ 140,000 (equivalent to $ 1.44 million in 2023), was subsidized partly by barter with two sponsoring companies,

4752-413: The first book on Lautner a few years after moving to Los Angeles in 1988, and oversees the John Lautner Archives. During restoration the architects added details that were unavailable 40 years before, as the technology simply did not exist. The gas company tile was replaced by random-cut slate, which could not be cut thin enough in 1960, despite Lautner's desire for such a finish. The architects also replaced

4840-423: The house's second owner, Dr. Richard Kuhn, was stabbed to death there in a robbery by his lover and another man. The pair were subsequently convicted and sentenced to life in prison. By 1997, the interior had become run down; for over 10 years it had been rented out and used for parties and as a result the interior finishes had undergone major and anachronistic alteration. Because of its unique design it proved to be

4928-428: The humans are stalked by The Wailer, which turns out to be a huge wolf-like creature that bellows an infinitely sad howl. They never learn what the creature is, why it seems sad, or how it got there. Simak sums up his life's work in the foreword to his collection Skirmish . After explaining what themes he avoids – no large-scale alien invasions , no space wars , no empire sagas – he states: Overall, I have written in

5016-427: 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. Two valley cities incorporated independently from Los Angeles: Burbank and San Fernando in 1911. Universal City remains an unincorporated enclave that is home to Universal Studios and became home to Universal CityWalk later in the century. Other unincorporated areas in

5104-528: The land was soon taken from him so that 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

5192-414: The late 1970s, there was a proposed east-west freeway labeled SR 64 that would have cut through the center of the valley from Calabasas in the western end of the valley to the SR-170 and I-5 freeway interchange in Sun Valley, Los Angeles in the eastern end of the valley, but local opposition gained traction and the proposed freeway was never approved or built. In the 1980s, a distinctive valley youth culture

5280-441: The late 1990s, the San Fernando Valley had become more urban and more ethnically diverse with rising poverty and crime. In 2002, the valley tried to secede from the city of Los Angeles and become its own incorporated city to escape Los Angeles' perceived poverty, crime, gang activity, urban decay , and poorly maintained infrastructure. In 2002, the San Fernando Valley portion of Los Angeles again seriously campaigned to secede from

5368-411: The monikers Porn Valley, Silicone Valley (in contrast to Silicon Valley , nickname for the Santa Clara Valley), and San Pornando Valley. The leading trade paper for the industry, AVN magazine, is based in the Northwest Valley, as were a majority of U.S. adult video and magazine distributors. The Paul Thomas Anderson film, Boogie Nights explores these aspects of the valley. According to

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5456-471: The name chosen as a reference for its location in North Hollywood and as a play off New York City's arts-centered SoHo District. According to the San Fernando Guide , the change helped develop a "primarily lower to middle-class suburb into … a collection of art and a home for the artists who ply their trade in the galleries, theaters and dance studios in this small annex." According to the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council, from 2002 through November 2007 there

5544-427: The next increment of development converted land use, with postwar suburbanization leaving only a few enclaves, such as the "open-air museum" groves at the Orcutt Ranch Park and CSUN campus . In 1909, the Suburban Homes Company, a syndicate led by H. J. Whitley , general manager of the board of control, along with Harry Chandler , Harrison Gray Otis , M. H. Sherman, and Otto F. Brant purchased 48,000 acres of

5632-521: The northwest. The northern Sierra Pelona Mountains , northwestern Topatopa Mountains , southern Santa Ana Mountains , and Downtown Los Angeles skyscrapers can be seen from higher neighborhoods, passes, roads 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 ), between Canoga Park High School and Owensmouth Avenue (just north of Vanowen Street) in Canoga Park . These creeks' headwaters are in

5720-409: The number of new films made had fallen sharply. A 2019 article stated that "the porn industry in Budapest is as big as what remains of the industry in California". The San Fernando Valley has a convention center located in the city of Burbank, east of the Burbank Airport, at the Marriott Hotel. Universal Studios Hollywood is in unincorporated Universal City. Busch Gardens , an amusement park in

5808-404: The original thick framed windows with frameless glass. Tashen commissioned a pastiche rug by German painter Albert Oehlen and a hanging lamp of bent plexiglas strips by Jorge Pardo , a Los Angeles artist. The Taschens planned to commission Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas to build a large new guesthouse at the base of Chemosphere on the site once owned by Leonard Malin's in-laws. The new house

5896-425: The punch line is often characteristically understated, as in "Good Night, Mr. James" and "Skirmish'". There is also a group of humorous stories, including " The Big Front Yard ". Way Station is, in the midst of all of the science fiction paraphernalia, a psychological study of a lonely man who has to make peace with his past and finally manages to do so, but not without personal loss. The contemplative nature of

5984-408: The rest of the city and become its own new independent and incorporated city. The movement gained some momentum, but measure F did not receive the necessary votes to pass. Since that unsuccessful secession attempt, a new Van Nuys municipal building was built in 2003; the Metro Orange Line opened in October 2005; and 35 new public schools had opened up by 2012. The NoHo Arts District was established and

6072-493: The same woman for thirty three years and have two children. My favorite recreation is fishing (the lazy way, lying in a boat and letting them come to me). Hobbies: Chess, stamp collecting, growing roses." He dedicated the book to his wife Kay, "without whom I'd never have written a line". He was well liked by many of his science fiction-writing friends, especially Isaac Asimov . He died in Minneapolis on April 25, 1988. Simak became interested in science fiction after reading

6160-460: The traffic system in the days following the earthquake. Major freeway damage occurred as far away as 25 miles (40 km) 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, at 6:01 am a magnitude-6.5 event struck about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of

6248-460: The traps of earth". The religious theme is often present in Simak's work, but the protagonists who have searched for God in a traditional sense tend to find something more abstract and inhuman. Hezekiel in A Choice of Gods cannot accept this: "God must be, forever, a kindly old (human) gentleman with a long, white, flowing beard." Simak's short stories and longer novellas range from the contemplative and thoughtfully idyllic to pure terror, although

6336-417: The valley include Bell Canyon and Kagel Canyon . 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

6424-599: The valley, mainly in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of North Hollywood, Panorama City, and Woodland Hills. These projects started with the first few in Woodland Hills and the NoHo West project in North Hollywood began groundbreaking and construction on April 6, 2017. LA Metro is planning to upgrade the Metro G Line by 2024 with at-grade crossing gates and two bridges crossing both Sepulveda and Van Nuys Boulevards, and

6512-523: 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 that they could connect to the municipal water system. These rural areas became part of Los Angeles in 1915. 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

6600-892: The western portion represented by Sheila Kuehl (D) and the eastern portion by Kathryn Barger (R). Residents are also represented by the neighborhood councils of Los Angeles These communities are also included in the Crescenta Valley . Major freeways cross the Valley, including Interstate 405 (San Diego Freeway), U.S. Route 101 (Ventura Freeway/Hollywood Freeway), State Route 118 (Ronald Reagan Freeway), State Route 170 (Hollywood Freeway), Interstate 210 (Foothill Freeway), and Interstate 5 (Golden State Freeway). Notable streets include Sepulveda Boulevard , Ventura Boulevard , Laurel Canyon Boulevard , San Fernando Road , Victory Boulevard , Reseda Boulevard , Riverside Drive , Mulholland Drive , and State Route 27 (Topanga Canyon Boulevard). Subway , dedicated transitway , and express and local buses, provided by many agencies, serve

6688-681: The works of H. G. Wells as a child. His first contribution to the literature was "The World of the Red Sun", published by Hugo Gernsback in the December 1931 issue of Wonder Stories with one opening illustration by Frank R. Paul . Within a year, he placed three more stories in Gernsback's pulp magazines and one in Astounding Stories , then edited by Harry Bates . Yet his only science fiction publication between 1932 and 1938

6776-474: Was " The Creator " ( Marvel Tales #4, March–April 1935), a story with religious implications, which was then rare in the genre. Once John W. Campbell , at the helm of Astounding from October 1937, began redefining the field, Simak returned and was a regular contributor to Astounding Science Fiction (as it was renamed in 1938) throughout the Golden Age of Science Fiction (1938–1950). At first, as in

6864-678: Was a center of "the crossroads of cultures and languages, including the Tongva , Fernandeño , and Chumash ." The Tongva, later known as the Gabrieleño Mission Indians after colonization, 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

6952-516: Was a debate about the official recognition of Lake Balboa as a community by the City of Los Angeles. New community names were not sanctioned by the city until January 2006, when the city adopted a formal community-naming process (City of Los Angeles Council File Number 02 -0196). On November 2, 2007, the City Council of Los Angeles approved a motion renaming a larger portion of Van Nuys to Lake Balboa. By 2017, numerous urban development projects began in

7040-482: Was adapted as "The Duplicate Man" on The Outer Limits in 1964. Simak notes this is a "vicious story—so vicious that it is the only one of my stories adapted to television." The Science Fiction Writers of America made Simak its third SFWA Grand Master in 1977, after Robert Heinlein and Jack Williamson . In 1987 the Horror Writers Association named him one of three inaugural winners of

7128-611: Was an American science fiction writer. He won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award . The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master , and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement . He is associated with the pastoral science fiction subgenre. Simak was born in Millville, Wisconsin in 1904. The son of John Lewis and Margaret (Wiseman) Simak, he attended

7216-530: Was intended to hold an art collection and library and to provide rooms enough for the four children the Taschens have between them. The plans were later cancelled due to fears the annex would visually compete with the main house. The Chemosphere was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2004. It was also included in a list of all-time top 10 houses in Los Angeles in a Los Angeles Times survey of experts in December 2008. The house forms part of

7304-577: Was planning two stations in the Valley, one in Burbank and the other in Sylmar , but the proposed Sylmar high-speed rail station was canceled owing to local opposition from the city of San Fernando. As of now, there's only one planned station in the valley, located in Burbank with an initial section of the railroad possibly opening in 2029. The Valley's two major airports are Hollywood Burbank Airport and

7392-440: Was previously known for advances in aerospace technology and nuclear research by companies such as Lockheed , Rocketdyne and its Santa Susana Field Laboratory , Atomics International , Litton Industries , Marquardt , and TRW's predecessor Thompson Ramo Wooldridge . The valley became the pioneering region for producing adult films in the 1970s and grew to become home to a multibillion-dollar pornography industry , earning

7480-518: Was recognized in the media, particularly in the 1982 Frank Zappa / Moon Zappa song "Valley Girl" and the 1983 film Valley Girl . These helped fix the socio-economic stereotype of the " Valley girl " into the public consciousness, including a distinct Valley accent. 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

7568-532: 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

7656-429: Was thought to be practically unbuildable. Because of a concrete pedestal, almost 20 feet (6 m) in diameter, buried under the earth and supporting the column, the house has survived earthquakes and heavy rains. The house is reached by a funicular . Chemosphere is bisected by a central exposed brick wall with a fireplace, abutted by subdued seating, in the middle. The original decoration was provided by John H. Smith,

7744-428: Was to make the genre a part of what he called "realistic fiction." Simak's stories often have a rural setting, which led to his style being described as "pastoral" or " pastoral science fiction ". Crusty individualistic backwoodsman characters often appear - for example, Hiram Taine, the protagonist of " The Big Front Yard ". Hiram's dog "Towser" (sometimes "Bowser") is common to many of Simak's works. The rural setting

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