Visit Pasadena Neighborhoods and other foothill cities

Entrance to the walking path along the Los Angeles River in Studio City.

The San Fernando Valley -- or as it is known locally,  "The Valley" -- has changed dramatically from a scattering of small farming and ranch communities that were annexed by the City of Los Angeles in the early 1900s.  (Watch the movie "Chinatown" to see how water rights were key to this annexation.)  

Most of the Valley is now seemingly endless suburban neighborhoods of single story ranch style homes built between the 1950s and the 1970s.  But the biggest reason for the popularity of living and raising a family in the Valley is that it is very comfortable.  Over 1.8 million people agree -- and they make up 50% of the total population of Los Angeles.

After the annexation occurred the seeds of the future were planted.  Real estate developers  subdivided old ranches and new neighborhoods exploded across the Valley.  The Lockheed Aircraft Company built a manufacturing plant in Burbank.  And four brothers named Warner founded a motion picture company and released a movie that talked:  "The Jazz Singer".

One of many gates to the Warner Brother Studio. The Warner brothers were among the first to establish movie production facilities in the Valley back in the 1920s.  Columbia Pictures followed shortly.

Today, the entertainment industry  is the largest source of employment in the Valley.   Over 95,000 people in the Valley work in the Burbank Media District and other nearby areas.  Universal Studios, NBC, ABC, CBS, Warner Brothers, Disney, Rhino Records, Nickelodeon, BBC and hundreds of independent companies call the southeast part of the San Fernando Valley -- around Studio City, Burbank and Toluca Lake -- home.  It is, in fact, the "real Hollywood" -- where the business of motion pictures and entertainment actually gets done.

These small shops, mostly individually owned, are part of 15 miles of boutiques, specialty stores, some chain stores plus restaurants that line both sides of Ventura Blvd. in the Valley.  There are, of course, several large malls in the Valley as well.  But the miles and miles of boutiques make for very interesting shopping.

Going west from the Media District, The Valley becomes increasingly residential.  Then, about 15 miles west in Woodland Hills there is another business center of high rises office buildings.