San Fernando Valley

The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley in southern California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles.

Geography

The San Fernando Valley is 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. 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 north Valley. 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.

Related Topics:
Santa Susana Mountains - Simi Hills - Santa Monica Mountains - Verdugo Mountains - San Gabriel Mountains - Los Angeles, California - Burbank - Glendale - Hidden Hills - Calabasas - San Fernando - Mulholland Drive - Hollywood

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Los Angeles' administrative center for the Valley is in Van Nuys. Northridge is home to California State University Northridge. The 1994 Northridge Earthquake, one of the few major earthquakes to have struck directly under a major city, was epicentered in neighboring Reseda just east of the intersection of Elkwood Street and Baird Avenue.

Related Topics:
Van Nuys - California State University Northridge - 1994 Northridge Earthquake - Reseda

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Demographics

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 communities and cities in the valley are Glendale, North Hollywood, Van Nuys and Burbank. All have more than 100,000 residents. Despite the sprawling low-density reputation, the Valley communities of Panorama City, North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Reseda, Canoga Park, and Northridge have numerous apartment complexes and contain some of the densest census tracts in Los Angeles.

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Latinos and Whites are nearly even in numbers comprising more than four out of five Valley residents. In general, communities in the northeastern, central, and western parts of the Valley contain the highest concentration of Latinos. Whites live mainly along the communities along the region's mountain rim. Burbank and Glendale have an influential and large Latino communities. San Fernando, Calabasas, and Hidden Hills are quite homogenous in racial makeup. Asian-Americans make up 10.7% of the population and are scattered throughout the Valley floor but some clusters can be found in Chatsworth, Panorama City, Glendale and Granada Hills. Lake View Terrace is 16 percent African-American significantly above the 4.1% average for the Valley.

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Although 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 of out five residents living in poverty. Although heavily-Latino Pacoima is widely known in the region as a hub of suburban blight, other mostly Latino places like Mission Hills, Arleta, and Sylmar have poverty rates well below the regional average and lower than in some whiter neighborhoods.

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Neighborhoods and districts

Valley communities within the City of Los Angeles include

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