Burbank

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New condominiums have sprung up in and around downtown Burbank.  The ones in the photo are condos over retail space and located right on the main shopping street, San Fernando Road.

"Beautiful downtown Burbank" was a running joke on the "Tonight Show" for decades.  What viewers perhaps didn't fully realize was that downtown Burbank was very very small and there was nothing particularly beautiful about it.  But things have changed.  Downtown Burbank, which is close to the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, has become revitalized.  New stores, a mega-movie complex, a new mall,  new condos, and, most of all, new entertainment companies and other businesses have transformed the area.

Burbank is, however, a sprawling city -- not governed by the City of Los Angeles -- that extends from the foothills in the eastern end of the San Fernando Valley out into the valley flatlands. 

After World War II, the flat area of Burbank was rapidly filled with new, small homes for aircraft workers and returning G.I.s.  Most of the homes were about 800 sq. ft. to 1100 sq. ft. and the vast majority exist today with relatively few changes.

In the last  20 years ago there has been a rush of entertainment companies moving over the Hollywood Hills into the Valley and many of them relocated in Burbank -- rather than in other Valley neighborhoods that are part of Los Angeles.

The Cartoon Network is headquartered in downtown Burbank  just a block from the San Fernando Road shopping and entertainment district.

A mile or so away from the Cartoon Network you will see the Nickelodeon building with their famous characters atop the facade.

At the far western edge of Burbank, just before reaching the L.A. city limits is the primary center of the entertainment industry.  Disney, Warner Music, NBC, BBC, Dolby Laboratories, ABC, Electra Records, Universal -- they and hundreds of other companies have buildings or offices in Burbank's Media District.  The other major business center in Burbank is around the Bob Hope Airport, formerly known as the Burbank Airport.