What will the San Fernando Valley look like in 10 years? (Los Angeles: neighborhoods, closing)

[antialphabet]

The Valley has a lot of nice areas. Some areas are rundown though.
The worst thing, to me, about the valley isn't "all the Mexicans", but just the fact that most of it is pretty damn boring.

The 101 corridor in the valley is as good as it gets, I've seen lots of beautiful neighborhoods in Northridge and Porter Ranch.
Reseda and Van Nuys is kind of dumpy, but it's not all that bad around there. Definitely working class, but not hell on earth.
Pacoima and Panorama City? Wouldn't know. Don't have any reason to be over there, so haven't checked it out.

Lots of Mexicans/-Americans and illegals may not be aesthetically pleasing to some, but it is what it is.

[CamaroGuy]

The valley of my youth(70s and 80s)was a paradise!:'-(

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by antialphabet

The Valley has a lot of nice areas. ...
The worst thing, to me ... just the fact that most of it is pretty damn boring.

The 101 corridor in the valley is as good as it gets....

What I miss about the SFV is Chatsworth Park. I used to love hiking there. Same goes for old dirt Mullholland Road. Views and hiking, very nice.

Another plus for the the Valley are those special times in winter with crystal clear days. The air is crisp, even bites a little, and the mountains on all sides are clear and beautiful.

[edwardius]

I agree that San Fernando Valley is going to become even more hispanic. The middle class white folks have been leaving the area since at least the time when the defense industry collapsed back in the 90's. The majority of people who have replaced them have been immigrants, often from Mexico or Central America.

The first generation of many immigrant communities have been pretty poor. These folks aren't that educated and with the limited funds they have, often they are sending back part of their meager income back to where ever they came from.

But the second and third generations are raised and educated here. Some of the second generation of hispanics are going to move out of the area to places that are offer cheaper housing, to places like Phx, Vegas or Riverside, but some will stay and improve the neighborhoods they are living in. Baldwin Hills wasn't always as nice of neighborhood as it is today. What happened was that as African Americans got educated they had two choices, they could move out to the burbs to find homes among people with similiar levels of educational attainment, but their kids might not see many other African Americans. Alternatively if they moved to Baldwin Hills, they could stay in a neighborhood with a strong African American presence, but also live among people who had higher levels of educational attainment. The schools in Thousand Oaks might be really good, but if you were African American, how well would your son be recieved in school?

My hunch is that we are going to start seeing the rise of similiar neighborhoods in the Valley created by the better educated members of the second and third generation of hispanics. Basically at some point, I am expecting to see the rise of middle class to wealthier hispanic neighborhoods in the Valley. I am not entirely sure yet where they are going to pop up. But I am expecting that some will start to occur.

I also would not be suprised to see the rise of a couple of more Asian neighborhoods. Maybe a Pakistani neighborhood or an East Asian Indian neighborhood, or may just another Chinese neighborhood the way that Monterrey Park sort of became a satellite of the older historic Chinatown.

Historically after wars, we tend to get immigrants from the countries where we fought. The war in Vietnam was the basis of immigration from Vietnam and Loas. The same was true after the Korean war. I wouldn't be suprised if after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that LA doesn't end up with a substantial population of immigrants from either or both of those countries. I could also see that refugee/immigrant community ending up somewhere in the Valley.

[John23]

Interesting ideas. Parts of LA can change pretty quick...

-SM Promenade in the 80's was a joke (run down drug stores, homeless...). In 10-15 years, it becomes an international haven, cool, chic (but still the homeless). And hollywood, downtown, etc.

Parts of it will look better (mini urban center idea). Parts middle class hispanic. And parts that are very poor. Hopefully better infrastructure across all of LA.

[Lake Conroe resident]

Originally Posted by CamaroGuy

10 years? Most of the valley will look like Pacoima.

Originally Posted by Full-Blooded American

Tijuana, or worse...

Originally Posted by Hungry For Cheese

glass is half empty...more mexicans...more gangs, graffiti...it's been moving westward for some years now. It will overpower all of van nuys to reseda and just bring its trash with it. Reseda BLVD will look like Sepulveda BLVD and I will be in another state...have fun with that.

Originally Posted by dereistic01

i used to live in houston, well right outside of houston. it used to be the rural area. now it's full of stores, houses, and a mall.

Originally Posted by dereistic01

im sure the valley will just get more and more people, and wind up looking like mexico. panorama city is already there.

Originally Posted by King0fthehill

It will follow it's cousins: Pacoima, Reseda, Panorama City, etc and become a giant cesspool for Mexicans only.

Originally Posted by King0fthehill

latin culture, gangs, graffiti, under performing schools, rubbish, fruit carts, spanish-speaking people, rusty old cars and gigante supermarkets will flourish in this valley of death.

I think these pretty much sum up where it's not only headed, but where it's been for the last 30 years. The "white flight" happened years ago when folks realized they were tired of choking on smog, sending their children to under-performing schools, and dealing with more violence and crime than they were comfortable with. Those people chose to move to places like Valencia, T-Oaks, OC etc.. That's why those places became so expensive and the freeways got more and more crowded, everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Lake Conroe resident

The "white flight" happened years ago when folks realized they were tired of choking on smog, sending their children to under-performing schools, and dealing with more violence and crime than they were comfortable with. Those people chose to move to places like Valencia, T-Oaks, OC etc.. That's why those places became so expensive and the freeways got more and more crowded, everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

One key event or stimulus that resulted in people fleeing the valley was busing in the 1970s. That's when Simi boomed as families could just relocate over the Santa Susana Pass and the dad could keep his job at Rocketdyne, Hughes, Lockheed, Teledyne, or wherever etc. My wife attended Madison Junior High in North Hollywood. At some point there were some pretty rough kids bused in and (partly) due to that her family relocated to Agoura Hills and to the outstanding Agoura High School.

[antialphabet]

Originally Posted by Lake Conroe resident

I think these pretty much sum up where it's not only headed, but where it's been for the last 30 years. The "white flight" happened years ago when folks realized they were tired of choking on smog, sending their children to under-performing schools, and dealing with more violence and crime than they were comfortable with. Those people chose to move to places like Valencia, T-Oaks, OC etc.. That's why those places became so expensive and the freeways got more and more crowded, everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

Why do those people you listed move to LA?
And those born here, why do they stay?

If Hispanics bother them so much, they are in the wrong place.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by antialphabet

Why do those people you listed move to LA?
And those born here, why do they stay?

These may answer the questions:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...e-love-la.html

http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...es-i-love.html

http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...ll-love-l.html

http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...ve-la-why.html

http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...ersity-la.html

[edwardius]

Well the other thing to keep in mind is that incomes are rising in Mexico and fertility rates are falling. What that means is that the wave of hispanic immigration may very well start leveling off in the next 10 to 20 years.

The Mexican Evolution - New York Times

As that process occurs that will encourage the Valley to gentrify.