the Valley vs. the rest of LA (Los Angeles, Santa Clarita: houses, neighborhoods)

[joey joe-joe]

Can someone please explain the San Fernando Valley to me?

Whenever I hear people talk about it, they always make it out to be so different than the rest of Los Angeles. What makes it so unique? What is it comparable to? Is it what Queens is to the rest of NYC?

[Astral_Weeks]

The valley is often derided as LA's "New Jersey" or LA's "Midwest" to denote it as some kind of ultra suburban hell hole with no character or soul. Or as you noted, like Queens is to NYC.

The most iconic and storied neighborhoods of LA are on the other side of the "hill" which is the word some locals use to describe the Santa Monica Mountains/Hollywood Hills that bisect the valley from the rest of the city.

The valley developed later after much of LA was already getting its urban footprint established. As a result, all the major historic landmarks and cultural institutions are located on the other side of the hill (i.e., not in the valley). Given all of the above, the valley has often taken shots as a backwater....

All that said, the valley is not a hell hole. It actually has some great neighborhoods. Here is one take on the good points of the valley.

Los Angeles Arts and Culture News | L.A. Weekly

The valley is certainly a workhorse of LA's entertainment business with several major studios located there. And hey, as the article notes, don't forget the porn biz. Middle America loves porn and it has the valley to thank for it.

[socal88]

The Valley is a mixed bag. Some of the criticism is valid in terms of some parts (e.g. Van Nuys, Panorama City, Sun Valley) lacking much soul or character where it's literally just boulevards of run-down strip malls and old, postage stamp houses where there has been little or no development or improvements in years. There are certainly a number of areas in the Valley that could use a facelift. While parts of the Valley may not necessarily be desirable, as a whole, it's much safer than east LA or south LA.

However, much of the Valley south of the 101 is generally pretty nice, especially south of Ventura up in the hills of areas like Encino, Sherman Oaks, and Studio City. And there are some solid upper-middle class neighborhoods at the north end of the Valley like Porter Ranch, Granada Hills, and some of Northridge and Chatsworth.

For tourists, there's really no reason to visit Valley perhaps other than the Warner Bros. studio lot tour. The Valley is a suburban place where people live and can raise a family where you can have a decent spread. If you don't have a big budget necessarily and want a house with a good-sized backyard and relatively quiet streets, then the Valley can be a good place.

[Lovehound]

socal88 has it pretty much right. The SFV is just a bit less urbanized in many parts than the main part of L.A. and more residential outside the commercial drags like Van Nuys Blvd. or Ventura Blvd.

Taking another step away from L.A. you can hop over the hill to the west into Simi Valley (Ventura County) which is a bit more sleepy--many people live in Simi and work in LA. A different hop over the hill to the north takes you to the Santa Clarita Vally (still in LA County) which is nicer in many respects than Simi and SFV because the main parts (other than Newhall and Saugus) were built later, so many of the houses are '80s-'90s and more modern. SCV also had the benefit of more planning before developing vs. SFV which sort of grew like cancer. Again, many people live in SCV and brave the commute into SFV and other parts of LA for their work.

Many out of state people ask what L.A. is like and it always amuses me because there are so many different parts of L.A. that it's an impossible question to answer. "Where should I live in L.A.?" is one of my favorites. The answer if nothing else is "near work" because much of L.A. has dreadful traffic and it's smart to live near work or work near home. Or best of all, telecommute!

I have noticed lately that SFV traffic keeps getting just worse and worse. It makes me wonder where all the people live to generate so much traffic. Commute hours now last even 4+ hours in the morning and evening weekday traffic, and slightly less on the weekends but all day Saturday and Sunday. If you want to drive anywhere, do it at midnight!

[sacreole]

I attended junior and senior high schools in the SFV from 1978 to 1984 as a student bused in from the South Bay area (Gardena to be exact). I couldn't help but notice how Valley residents would refer to everything over the hill as "LA". The LA basin is pretty diverse and I thought how provincial to think that way even though most of the SFV is part of the City of Los Angeles. I think this may be due to how Los Angeles annexed already established communities such as Van Nuys when the Valley was still largely agricultural. Those local identities, like the boroughs of New York City, remain pretty strong.

[Lovehound]

Here's some interesting info about SFV off of Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Fernando_Valley

Also, the story behind the aqueduct is one of the most important historic stories behind the development of the SFV. SFV could have not supported population growth without it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Aqueduct

Note that the people living in the Owens Valley are still angry about L.A. "stealing" their water to the present day.

[annonymous0381]

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and attended Birmingham High and California State University Northridge. For most of my life i have lived in the valley. Two years ago I moved to Seattle.

The san fernando valley is similar to queens in new york. Even though this is a bad example because the san fernando valley is mostly part of LA city limits the valley is sort of like the east bay area of san Francisco.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Those valley girls are smokin' hot. Oh, wait...wrong decade...nevermind.

[Maliblue]

When the Valley acquired its reputation in the 60's and 70's, it was mainly one long immense suburb. It was a place without much history, it consisted of long swaths of strip malls and unremarkable working and middle class homes. It had very little in the way of culture or things to do. Or at least, so it seemed to sophisticates in Los Angeles (who were sneered at by New York sophisticates, and needed someone lower on the rung to scoff at)

[V8 Vega]

I have old friends who bought a brand new tract house in say Granada Hills for I don't remember what, say 30,000. Now that house is worth 700,000.