Pre-California statehood The valley was a center of "the crossroads of cultures and languages, including the
Tongva,
Fernandeño, and
Chumash." The Tongva, later known as the
Gabrieleño Mission Indians after colonization, the
Tataviam to the north, and Chumash to the west, had lived and thrived in the valley and its arroyos for over 8,000 years. They had , and trading and hunting camps, before the
Spanish arrived in 1769 to settle in the Valley, including the village of
Pasheeknga. ranchero
Eulogio F. de Celis once owned most of the San Fernando Valley. The first
Spanish land grant in the San Fernando Valley (or
El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bolonia de los Encinos) was called "Rancho Encino" (present-day
Mission Hills on the
Camino Viejo before
Newhall Pass), in the northern part of the San Fernando Valley.
Juan Francisco Reyes built an
adobe dwelling beside a or
rancheria at
natural springs known as
Achooykomenga, but the land was soon taken from him so that a
mission could be built there.
Mission San Fernando Rey de España was established in 1797 as the 17th of the 21 missions. The land trade granted Juan Francisco Reyes the similarly named
Rancho Los Encinos, also beside springs (
Los Encinos State Historic Park in present-day
Encino). Later the
Mexican land grants of
Rancho El Escorpión (
West Hills),
Rancho Providencia and
Rancho Cahuenga (
Burbank), and
Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando (rest of valley) covered the San Fernando Valley. The
Treaty of Cahuenga, ending the
Mexican–American War fighting in
Alta California, was signed in 1847 by
Californios and Americans at
Campo de Cahuenga, the Verdugo Family adobe at the entrance to the
Cahuenga Pass in the southeast San Fernando Valley (
North Hollywood). The 1848
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the entire war.
California statehood and beyond The Valley officially became part of the State of California on September 9, 1850, when the
California Statehood Act was approved by the federal government. In 1874,
dry wheat farming was introduced by
J. B. Lankershim and
Isaac Van Nuys, which became very productive for their San Fernando Homestead Association that owned the southern half of the valley. In 1876, they sent the first wheat shipment from both
San Pedro Harbor and from the United States to Europe.
20th century Aqueduct Through the late-19th-century court decision
Los Angeles v.
Pomeroy, Los Angeles had won the rights to all surface flow water atop an
aquifer beneath the valley, without it being within the city limits. San Fernando Valley farmers offered to buy the surplus aqueduct water, but the federal legislation that enabled the construction of the aqueduct prohibited Los Angeles from selling the water outside of the city limits. This induced several independent towns surrounding Los Angeles to vote on and approve annexation to the city so that they could connect to the municipal water system. These rural areas became part of Los Angeles in 1915. The aqueduct water shifted farming in the area from dry crops, such as wheat, to irrigated crops, such as corn, beans, squash, and cotton; orchards of
apricots,
persimmons, and
walnuts; and major citrus groves of oranges and lemons. They continued until the next increment of development converted land use, with postwar
suburbanization leaving only a few enclaves, such as the "open-air museum" groves at the
Orcutt Ranch Park and
CSUN campus.
Developments In 1909, the Suburban Homes Company, a syndicate led by
H. J. Whitley, general manager of the board of control, along with
Harry Chandler,
Harrison Gray Otis, M. H. Sherman, and Otto F. Brant purchased 48,000 acres of the Farming and Milling Company for $2,500,000.
Henry E. Huntington extended his
Pacific Electric Railway (Red Cars) through the Valley to
Owensmouth (now Canoga Park). The Suburban Home Company laid out plans for roads and the towns of Van Nuys, Reseda (Marian), and Canoga Park (Owensmouth). The rural areas were annexed into the city of Los Angeles in 1915.
Laurel Canyon and
Lankershim in 1923,
Sunland in 1926, These annexations more than doubled the area of the city. Two valley cities incorporated independently from Los Angeles:
Burbank and
San Fernando in 1911.
Universal City remains an unincorporated enclave that is home to
Universal Studios and became home to
Universal CityWalk later in the century. Other unincorporated areas in the valley include
Bell Canyon and
Kagel Canyon. The advent of three new industries in the early 20th century—motion pictures, automobiles, and aircraft—also spurred urbanization and population growth.
World War II production and the subsequent postwar boom accelerated this growth so that between 1945 and 1960, the valley's population had quintupled. Los Angeles continued to consolidate its territories in the San Fernando Valley by annexing the former
Rancho El Escorpión for Canoga Park-
West Hills in 1959, and the huge historic Porter Ranch at the foot of the
Santa Susana Mountains for the new planned developments in
Porter Ranch in 1965. The additions expanded the Los Angeles portion of San Fernando Valley from the original to . In the late 1970s, there was a proposed east-west freeway labeled SR 64 that would have cut through the center of the valley from Calabasas in the western end of the valley to the SR-170 and I-5 freeway interchange in Sun Valley, Los Angeles in the eastern end of the valley, but local opposition gained traction and the proposed freeway was never approved or built.
Pop culture In the 1980s, a distinctive valley youth culture was recognized in the media, particularly in the 1982
Frank Zappa /
Moon Zappa song
"Valley Girl" and the 1983 film
Valley Girl.
Northridge earthquake The 1994
Northridge earthquake struck on January 17 and measured 6.7 on the
Moment magnitude scale. It produced the largest ground motions ever recorded in an urban environment and was the first earthquake that had its hypocenter located directly under a U.S. city since the
Long Beach earthquake of 1933. It caused the greatest damage in the United States since the
1906 San Francisco earthquake. Although given the name Northridge, the epicenter was located in the community of
Reseda, between Arminta and Ingomar streets, just west of Reseda Boulevard. This was the second time in 23 years that the San Fernando Valley had been affected by a strong earthquake. On February 9, 1971, at 6:01 a.m., a magnitude 6.5 event struck about northeast of the epicenter of the 1994 event in the area of Sylmar. The 1971 earthquake caused 58 fatalities and about 2,000 injuries. At the time, the
1971 San Fernando earthquake was the most destructive event to affect greater Los Angeles since the magnitude-6.3 Long Beach earthquake of 1933.
Independence movement The Valley attempted to secede in the 1970s, but the state passed a law barring city formation without the approval of the City Council. In 1997, Assemblymen
Bob Hertzberg and
Tom McClintock helped pass a bill that would make it easier for the Valley to secede by removing the City Council veto. AB 62 was signed into law by Governor
Pete Wilson. Meanwhile, a grassroots movement to split the
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and create new San Fernando Valley–based school districts became the focal point of the desire to leave the city. Though the state rejected the idea of Valley-based districts, it remained an important rallying point for Hertzberg's mayoral campaign, which proved unsuccessful.
21st century By the late 1990s, the San Fernando Valley had become more urban and more ethnically diverse with rising poverty and crime. In 2002, the valley again tried to
secede from the city of Los Angeles and become its own independent, incorporated city to escape Los Angeles' perceived poverty, crime, gang activity,
urban decay, and poorly maintained infrastructure. The movement gained some momentum, but Measure F did not receive the necessary votes to pass. Since that unsuccessful secession attempt, a new Van Nuys municipal building (the
Marvin Braude San Fernando Valley Constituent Service Center) was built in 2003; the Metro Orange Line opened in October 2005; and 36 new public schools had opened up by 2012. According to the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council, from 2002 through November 2007 there was a debate about the official recognition of
Lake Balboa as a community by the City of Los Angeles. New community names were not sanctioned by the city until January 2006, when the city adopted a formal community-naming process (City of Los Angeles Council File Number 02 -0196). On November 2, 2007, the City Council of Los Angeles approved a motion renaming a larger portion of Van Nuys to Lake Balboa. By 2017, numerous urban development projects began in the valley, mainly in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of North Hollywood, Panorama City, and Woodland Hills. These projects started with the first few in Woodland Hills and the NoHo West project in North Hollywood began groundbreaking and construction on April 6, 2017. LA Metro is planning to upgrade the Metro G Line by 2024 with at-grade crossing gates and two bridges crossing both Sepulveda and Van Nuys boulevards, and a full-scale light rail conversion is planned to be completed by 2050. The valley will get its first light rail line in seven decades by 2027, the
East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project. Construction of the line is planned to begin in 2024 along Van Nuys Boulevard and San Fernando Road. ==Economy==