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89-470: Surrounded entirely by urban development, the Verdugo Mountains represent an isolated wildlife island and are in large part under public ownership in the form of undeveloped parkland. The mountains are used primarily for recreation in the form of hiking and mountain biking, and as the site of communications installations on the highest peaks. The mountains arise directly from the eastern floor of

178-642: 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

267-483: A Pacific Electric car directly to the summit, but Henry E. Huntington did not approve of this scheme. The railway was to have four or five stations along the incline and a large visitor's center at the summit. Several months after the initial proposal, the route was altered to run up the west side of Verdugo Canyon from a hoped-for extension of the Pacific Electric up Verdugo Canyon to Montrose. Interest in

356-727: 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

445-553: 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

534-453: A fire frequency at a given site of no shorter than several decades, or perhaps longer, although there is variability in the tolerance of different species. Repeated shorter intervals between fires promote so-called "type conversion", in which the shrubby species are replaced by grasses, particularly non-native grasses, and other weedy species. The Verdugo Mountains have been subject to repeated wildfires in historical times. Major occurrences in

623-768: 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

712-546: 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

801-407: A particular fire regime , which is characterized by intensity and seasonality, but most importantly, by the frequency of fires. In the southern California chaparral, natural frequencies of 30 to 40 years are typical, with some areas going as long as 100 years without fires and others burning more frequently. It has been estimated the chaparral plant community can persist over the long term only with

890-721: A power line downed by high winds, burned from the northern edge of the range southward over to crest to consume homes in Glendale. A fire in November, 1980, also called the La Tuna Canyon Fire, burned 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) in the northern and western portions of the range. Since 2000, three major fires have occurred in the Verdugo Mountains. In September, 2002, the Mountain Fire burned over two days approximately 750 acres (300 ha) above Glendale, largely on

979-711: Is an obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the extinction of the non- avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event , at the start of the Cenozoic Era , and extended to the beginning of the Quaternary glaciation at the end of the Pliocene Epoch . The time span covered by the Tertiary has no exact equivalent in

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1068-755: 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

1157-642: Is now the Verdugo Hills Golf Course. The Verdugo Mountains were named for Jose Maria Verdugo , holder of the Rancho San Rafael land grant , which covered the mountains during California's Spanish and Mexican periods . On October 20, 1784 Pedro Fages , the military governor of Alta California , granted Jose Maria Verdugo permission to use the rancho, known officially by the name San Rafael but informally called "La Zanja" by Verdugo. The rancho's boundaries were primarily defined by

1246-580: 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

1335-463: 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

1424-834: 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

1513-721: 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

1602-797: The Crescenta Valley lying between the two. The southern front of the range forms part of the northeastern boundary of the San Fernando Valley ; at their southeastern end the Verdugo Mountains are separated from the San Rafael Hills by the Verdugo Wash . The highest summit is the informally named Verdugo Peak (3,126 feet (953 m)), located near the center of the range and rising to approximately 2,200 feet (670 m) above its southern base. Other peaks include Tongva Peak (2,656 feet ), recently named in honor of

1691-493: 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

1780-741: 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

1869-635: 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

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1958-690: The Los Angeles County Fire Department began a county-wide program of building fire breaks (or more properly, fuel breaks ) to slow the spread of fire, and by 1923 the initial breaks had been constructed in the Verdugos. In 1934, the City of Glendale built a 60-foot lookout tower on Verdugo Peak, which was staffed with an observer until it closed in the mid-1950s. In order to conduct the work necessary to build fire breaks and roads, temporary construction camps were located throughout

2047-426: The San Fernando Valley , exaggerating their height from some vantages. Beginning with foothills, they rapidly rise to rugged sections, with the highest peaks topping 3,000'. The northwest-trending range is approximately 8 miles (13 km) long by 3.25 miles (5.23 km) wide, and roughly parallels the southern front of the San Gabriel Mountains at a distance of 1 mile (1.6 km) to 2 miles (3.2 km), with

2136-539: The Tongva (Gabrielino) people, the original inhabitants of much of the Los Angeles Basin , Santa Monica Mountains , and San Gabriel Valley areas. Other informally named peaks are Mount La Tuna on the north end and Mount Thom on the south end of the range. With the exception of Mount La Tuna, all these summits, as well as several others, are occupied by communications towers. The Verdugo Mountains lie within

2225-521: 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

2314-742: The chaparral plant community, as defined by Munz and later authors, including Sawyer et al. This dense, shrub-dominated community of the California chaparral and woodlands is more highly developed on the north-facing slopes than on the drier, hotter south-facing slopes. Among the shrub species that characterize this community, prominent in the Verdugos are laurel sumac ( Malosma laurina ), toyon ( Heteromeles arbutifolia ), poison oak ( Toxicodendron diversilobum ), chamise ( Adenostoma fasciculatum ) and two species of California-lilac ( Ceanothus crassifolius and Ceanothus oliganthus ). Native trees are restricted to protected canyons, especially on

2403-592: The 1955 La Tuna Canyon fire, however, indicates that at least some of these roads were in place by that date. The Verdugo Mountains are being considered as part of the proposed Rim of the Valley Corridor National Park . Other than the Foothill Freeway (I-210) and the nearly parallel La Tuna Canyon Road, both of which traverse only the northwestern tip of the range, the Verdugo Mountains are crossed by no paved roads. By contrast,

2492-519: 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

2581-711: 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

2670-619: The Los Angeles basin. Uplift along the Verdugo fault may total approximately 2.5 km (1.6 mi), at a minimum rate of 1.1 km (0.68 mi) per million years since 2.3 million years ago, moving the crystalline rocks of the Verdugo Mountains up and over younger Tertiary and Quaternary sediments to the south. The Verdugo Mountains are, therefore, young and rapidly rising, reflected in their steep topography and rapid rates of erosion. The Verdugo Mountains lie almost entirely within

2759-807: 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

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2848-467: 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

2937-450: 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,

3026-666: 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

3115-552: 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

3204-672: 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

3293-538: 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

3382-423: 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

3471-525: 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

3560-561: 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

3649-735: 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

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3738-553: 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

3827-603: The Verdugo Mountains, the Arroyo Seco and the Los Angeles River , with the boundary following north along the east bank of the river and wrapping westerly around Griffith Park to a point near the Travel Town Museum in the park. One of the earliest attempts to access and develop the interior of the Verdugo Mountains was the 1912 proposal by Colonel Lewis Ginger to build a cable incline railroad to

3916-547: The beginning of the Pliocene has been estimated to be on the order of 7 kilometers (4.3 mi). The Verdugo fault and Sierra Madre thrust are part of a complex system of faults that accommodate some of this shortening and generally become younger to the south, with the Verdugo Fault possibly being the youngest member of this system and forming the current boundary between this portion of the western Transverse Ranges and

4005-482: The cable railway continued for about a year, but the project was abandoned before a company could be formed, largely as the result of the Pacific Electric's decision not to build the Montrose extension. Fire is a natural component of the chaparral ecosystem, and the plants that comprise it are largely adapted to survive fire or to reproduce after it. More specifically, the members of this plant community are adapted to

4094-547: 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 Tertiary Tertiary ( / ˈ t ɜːr . ʃ ə . r i , ˈ t ɜː r . ʃ i ˌ ɛr . i / TUR -shə-ree, TUR -shee-err-ee )

4183-428: The corporate boundaries of the cities of Glendale , Burbank , and Los Angeles . The neighborhood of La Crescenta , most of which lies within Glendale, is adjacent to the range's northern end, as are the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Tujunga, Sunland , Shadow Hills , and Sun Valley (the last of which includes La Tuna Canyon). The Verdugo Mountains consist of an east-west-trending antiformal fault block , bounded on

4272-479: The crest. Annual rainfall totals are highly variable from year to year, with the higher totals usually in El Nino years. Most of the rain falls between November and March during periodic frontal passages. The mountains were part of the indigenous Tongva people 's homelands for over 7,000 years, with villages at some springs in the canyons. The village of Wikangna was located in the area, possibly located at what

4361-407: The crystalline basement rocks exposed to the north in that portion of the San Gabriel Mountains south of the San Gabriel Fault. These consist of gneiss , and gneissic diorite and quartz diorite , intruded by irregular bodies of equigranular granitic rocks, predominantly quartz diorite and granodiorite , with accompanying pegmatite and aplite . Exposed rocks in the Shadow Hills neighborhood at

4450-412: The current geologic time system, but it is essentially the merged Paleogene and Neogene periods, which are informally called the Early Tertiary and the Late Tertiary, respectively. Even though the term Tertiary has been declared obsolete, some high school curriculums still teach the geologic periods as Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, (Cenozoic-)Tertiary and (Cenozoic-)Quaternary. The term Tertiary

4539-467: 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

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4628-473: 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

4717-461: The extreme northwestern end of the Verdugos are typically marine sedimentary rocks of Miocene age, predominantly sandstone and shale . The Verdugo Mountains are part of the western Transverse Ranges , which have risen in the last 7 million years as the result of contractional deformation resulting from transpressional motion and rotation of crustal blocks in the "Big Bend" region of the San Andreas Fault . The amount of crustal shortening since

4806-432: The fire roads and, most notably, in the Fire Warden's Grove, established in the wake of a wildfire in 1927. Except for a tenuous link to the large wild area in the San Gabriel Mountains through Big Tujunga Wash at their northwestern end, the Verdugo Mountains are an urban wildlife island completely surrounded by development. Among the large mammals, coyote ( Canis latrans ) and mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ) are

4895-400: The fire-prone areas of the county. In the Verdugo Mountains, Construction Camp #2 was located in the lower reaches of Deer Canyon, at the end of present-day Beaudry Blvd, for a period during the late 1930s and early 1940s. It is difficult to determine from published sources the dates of construction for the fire roads so important to present-day recreational use of the mountains. The report of

4984-427: 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

5073-528: 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

5162-414: 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

5251-441: 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

5340-411: 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

5429-493: The most common; mountain lions ( Puma concolor ) and black bears ( Ursus americanus ) have occasionally been reported. The many rodent species support a population of western rattlesnakes ( Crotalus viridis ). Of the numerous bird species present, the most characteristic of the chaparral here, and throughout California, is the small, seldom seen but often heard wrentit ( Chamaea fasciata ). With its call of three or four chirps followed by an accelerating trill, often likened to

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5518-471: 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

5607-427: 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

5696-521: 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

5785-409: 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

5874-411: The range contains more than 25 miles (40 km) of graded and well maintained fire roads that are used extensively by hikers and mountain bike riders. Several abandoned and overgrown fire roads and ridge-top fire breaks are used recreationally as well. Trails, in the sense of engineered and maintained footpaths, are few, the most notable being the 2.2 mile (3.5 km)-long La Tuna Canyon Trail, which

5963-413: The region to which the designations were originally applied (parts of the Alps and plains of Italy), when the same system was later extended to other parts of Europe and to America, it proved to be inapplicable. Therefore, the use of mollusks was abandoned from the definition and the epochs were renamed and redefined. For much of the time during which the term 'Tertiary' was in formal use, it referred to

6052-408: 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

6141-546: The rocks of the Tertiary being thought to be associated with the Great Flood . In 1833, Charles Lyell incorporated a Tertiary Period into his own, far more detailed system of classification, based on fossil mollusks he collected in Italy and Sicily in 1828-1829. He subdivided the Tertiary Period into four epochs according to the percentage of fossil mollusks resembling modern species found in those strata . He used Greek names: Eocene, Miocene, Older Pliocene, and Newer Pliocene. Although these divisions seemed adequate for

6230-541: The shadier north slope of the range, where soil moisture levels are higher. Coast live oak ( Quercus agrifolia ), California bay laurel ( Umbellularia californica ), California sycamore ( Platanus racemosa ), California walnut ( Juglans californica ), and several species of willow ( Salix spp.) are the most common native trees. Non-native trees, particularly pines ( Pinus spp.), cypress ( Cupressus spp.), locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia ), and Australian eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus spp.) have been planted locally along

6319-417: The sound of a dropped ping-pong ball, the wrentit provides the most characteristic sound of the chaparral. The Verdugo Mountains have warm, dry summers and cool wet winters. Snow infrequently falls along the crest during the coldest winter storms, but melts rapidly. Annual average precipitation increases with elevation (due to the orographic lift effect), from 17-21 inches at the base to about 24–28 inches at

6408-673: The south by the Verdugo Fault, a north-dipping reverse fault , and on the north by the Sierra Madre thrust fault near the front of the San Gabriel Mountains, thus including the sediment-covered Crescenta Valley within the Verdugo Mountains Block. The Verdugo Fault lies slightly south of the topographic range front and is completely covered by sediments. The rocks within the Verdugo Mountains block are almost entirely igneous and metamorphic similar to

6497-532: The southern side of the range. The Harvard Fire started on September 29, 2005, and consumed 1,024 acres (414 ha) both north and south sides of the range north of Burbank during a six-day period. In September, 2017, the La Tuna fire started north of the Verdugos, jumping Interstate 210 forcing the closure of it, burning both the north and south face of the ranges. The fire ultimately destroyed four homes and 7,003 acres (2,834 ha) of land. Beginning in 1921,

6586-725: The span of time between 65 and 1.8 million years ago. The end date of the Cretaceous and the start date of the Quaternary were subsequently redefined at c. 66 and 2.6 million years ago respectively. The Tertiary period lies between the Mesozoic Era and the Quaternary Period , although it is no longer recognized as a formal unit by the International Commission on Stratigraphy . The span of

6675-551: The summit of Mount Verdugo, now known as Mount Thom. The proposed Glendale & Verdugo Mountain Railway was to run in a straight line from the Pacific Electric's Casa Verdugo station at the top of Brand Boulevard to the summit of Mount Verdugo, employing cars with stepped seating similar to those of Angels Flight on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles. Initially, Colonel Ginger had proposed that his cable railway would lift

6764-460: 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

6853-615: The twentieth century include the December, 1927 Burbank Canyon Fire, which started in Haines Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains and burned south into the range, consuming approximately 100 homes in Burbank's Sunset Canyon. The La Tuna Canyon Fire of November, 1955 burned over almost the entire western portion of the range, ultimately destroying approximately 4,500 acres (1,800 ha). The Whiting Woods Fire of March, 1964, started by

6942-417: 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

7031-599: 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

7120-523: 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

7209-892: 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

7298-626: 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

7387-465: 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

7476-818: Was constructed in 1989 by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps with funds provided by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. 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

7565-527: Was first used by Giovanni Arduino during the mid-18th century. He classified geologic time into primitive (or primary), secondary, and tertiary periods based on observations of geology in Northern Italy . Later a fourth period, the Quaternary , was applied. In the early development of the study of geology, the periods were thought by scriptural geologists to correspond to the Biblical narrative,

7654-522: 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

7743-440: 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

7832-518: 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

7921-532: 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

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