COMMUNITIES TO CHOOSE FROM.

Byline: - Phillip W. Browne

ARLETA

Arleta is a predominantly Latino neighborhood in the northeastern San Fernando Valley, just west of Pacoima, and has about 100,000 residents.

Many of the homes in Arleta were built after World War II. The community boasts a library, senior center and the Branford Recreation Center. Another asset is its close proximity to Hansen Dam Recreation Area.

Arleta is 19 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

BURBANK

Known as the Media Capital of the World, Burbank is an entertainment- oriented city that prides itself on its quality of life, combining 21st century technology with a small-town feel.

Companies like Warner Bros., Walt Disney Co. and NBC call Burbank home. The city has also become a major retail and entertainment destination, with the emergence of the Media Center along the Golden State Freeway in the early 1990s.

Burbank's early growth was tied to both aviation and entertainment.

Aviation was still in its infancy when Lockheed Aircraft Co. purchased a piece of Burbank farmland in the mid-1920s. The motion picture business also moved to Burbank in the 20s. On Oct. 23, 1927, motion picture history was made when Warner Bros. released the first talkie, The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson.

GLENDALE

At the foot of the Verdugo mountains, Glendale is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County and spans more than 30 square miles.

Community spirit is strong in Glendale. Neighborhoods are clean, business districts are built smartly and social amenities are abundant a result attributed to the city's focus on safety, neighborhoods, education and community involvement.

Glendale Unified School District has a reputation as a leader in educational quality. There are three hospitals and one county health center. Scattered strategically through the city are more than 30 parks and six libraries.

The city's economy is dominated by retail and service industries, with wholesale and manufacturing playing a secondary role. Glendale has a successful redevelopment program that has revitalized its downtown. The Central Glendale Redevelopment Project Area now includes about 5 million square feet of office space.

The Glendale Galleria is one of Southern California's largest and most profitable malls.

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO 

San Fernando became the San Fernando Valley's first organized community in 1874, which earns it the title First City of the Valley.

What was once a land of farms and ranches adjoining the old mission of San Fernando Rey is now a vibrant center of manufacturing and commerce.

A coalition of city officials, business leaders and residents is working to transform the historic, 2-square-mile city into a cultural, commercial and residential hub.

Officials also want to reshape downtown into a mission-style row of stores, town homes and affordable apartments, and to transform the San Fernando Middle School Auditorium into a performing arts center.

The most ambitious project is a $7 million aquatic training center, scheduled to open in December.

CANOGA PARK

Canoga Park has rebounded after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Savvy shoppers know Canoga Park for its Antique Row along Sherman Way, where a number of shops sell everything from vintage jewelry to classic furniture.

At the west end of the San Fernando Valley, the suburb is peppered with middle- and upper-middle-class homes, along with some low-income units.

Considered a bedroom community, Canoga Park has many 50-year-old homes. The neighborhood changes within a few blocks, making generalizations difficult. A block with run-down real estate may be just a block away from a $450,000 property.

Schools rank from middle- to high-achieving, based on state averages. There are 10 parks, two shopping malls, two recreation centers and a horticultural park. Canoga Park is 26 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

CHATSWORTH

In the northwest corner of the San Fernando Valley, Chatsworth's terrain is distinctive and has long been known as boulder and horse country. Many old films, including about 2,000 westerns, were filmed here.

Bordered by the Ronald Reagan Freeway to the north, Plummer Avenue on the south and Corbin Avenue on the east, Chatsworth is home to horse ranches, large homes and middle-class and upscale subdivisions.

The town also has a strong business-industry base, most of which is located in an industrial area along Plummer Avenue.

Craggy Stoney Point, alongside Topanga Canyon Boulevard, and other parts of Chatsworth recall its Wild West past. Cinema notables Laurel and Hardy and Hopalong Cassidy plied their trade in Chatsworth, and such popular TV shows as Gunsmoke and the Lone Ranger were also shot there.

Many consider this ruggedly beautiful area God's country, including the Hollywood producers who chose the site for the filming of part of the Academy Award-winning epic Ben Hur.

ENCINO

In the southern portion of the San Fernando Valley along the base of the Santa Monica Mountains is Encino residence of many notable entertainment stars and film-media professionals. Singer-movie star Al Jolson was one of the first honorary mayors of Encino.

Encino, which means evergreen oak, has been home to the rich and famous throughout its history. Among the high-profile entertainers who lived there are John Wayne, Clark Gable, W.C. Fields, Houdini, Shirley MacLaine, Cher and Michael Jackson.

Encino has six golf courses, a bike-racing facility and six parks, including the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, which attracts roller-bladers and dog walkers, tennis enthusiasts and soccer players.

The community is known for its fashionable shopping centers and the Encino Farmer's Market. The business district along Ventura Boulevard has restaurants, shops, bookstores and office buildings.

Encino is 22 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

GRANADA HILLS

The area now known as Granada Hills was acquired in 1881 by George K. Porter, a pioneer in the north San Fernando Valley and one of the founders of the city of San Fernando. The land was used principally for farming beans and wheat among the usual crops.

Today, Granada Hills is filled with middle-class tract homes and has two golf courses Knollwood Country Club and Porter Valley Country Club. It also has O'Melveny Park, the second-largest park in the city of Los Angeles, offering nature and bike riding trails.

Granada Hills is about 21 miles north of downtown Los Angeles and is within 10 to 15 miles of the busy movie and television centers of Burbank and Hollywood.

HIDDEN HILLS

Hidden Hills is a gated community nestled in the western foothills of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County and along the Ventura County line.

Its nearly 2,000 residents enjoy a quiet neighborhood that has preserved a country way of life which has nearly vanished from surrounding communities.

Hidden Hills maintains an authentic rural atmosphere with its absence of sidewalks and street lights. The city has natural rustic equestrian trails, three-rail wooden fences, corrals, barns and one school.

LAKE BALBOA

Officially established April 8, 2002, Lake Balboa is the newest neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.

The 2-square-mile community formerly part of Van Nuys spans eight city blocks north of the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area and southwest of Van Nuys Airport. It encompasses roughly 3,000 households.

The effort to create Lake Balboa was sparked by homeowners banding together to fight noise from Van Nuys Airport.

The Lake Balboa Neighborhood Association was unsuccessful in lobbying former Councilwoman Laura Chick to its cause, but the newly created Lake Balboa Homeowners Association persuaded Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine to take up the issue. More than 70 percent of area homeowners signed a petition to launch the effort.

LAKE VIEW TERRACE

The hillside community of Lake View Terrace, which still has its share of horse ranches, overlooks Pacoima and Arleta.

It is home to the Wildlife Way Station, in the nearby Angeles National Forest, a refuge that cares for more than 3,000 animals annually.

Fishing, hiking, biking, golfing and swimming are also popular at the Hansen Dam recreation area, on the south border of the community.

Lake View terrace is about 19 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

MISSION HILLS

Mission Hills is in a triangle formed by the Golden State Freeway (5) and the San Diego Freeway (405) to the north, and Lassen Street to the south.

The northeast San Fernando Valley neighborhood is home to the San Fernando Mission, which was established in 1797 and rebuilt several times.

Much of the housing was built in the 1950s. The neighborhood features two parks, several private schools and Providence Holy Cross Medical Center.

NORTH HILLS

Formerly known as Sepulveda, the residential neighborhood was renamed North Hills in 1993. North Hills is bordered by Northridge to the west and Van Nuys to the south.

This community is home to the University of La Verne College of Law and to Galpin Ford, the largest Ford dealership in the United States.

North Hills also is the site for the Veteran Affairs Southern California System at Sepulveda, which occupies 160 acres and can house 885 patients.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD

Back in 1871, Isaac Lankershim and Isaac Newton Van Nuys bought the entire Southern half of the Valley 60,000 acres including what is now North Hollywood and Universal City, for $115,000.

Located just over the Hollywood Hills, the region now dubbed NoHo is very much a part of the film-entertainment culture, and is home to the Valley's bustling arts community.

The NoHo Arts District includes the spectacular Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Complex with its Hall of Fame Plaza at the intersection of Lankershim Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue.

An annual NoHo Arts Festival includes free performances at area theaters, music, dancing, an international food court and an arts and crafts fair.

More than 50,000 small businesses call North Hollywood home, many of them innovators in emerging industries like multimedia, biotechnology and communications.

North Hollywood also boasts the outermost station of the heralded Metro Red Line the new subway connecting North Hollywood with Universal City, Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles.

North Hollywood is 13 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

NORTHRIDGE

Northridge is bordered by the Santa Susana Mountains and has a history that can be traced back to the 1700s, when the region's Indians and later the Spanish used it as a water source. Later, it was also the only Valley station on the Southern Pacific Railroad line.

In the mid-1960s, the emergence and growth of the Porter Ranch Estates spurred business activity. Northridge Fashion Center, the largest shopping mall in the Valley, opened in 1971.

California State University, Northridge, originally established in the late 1950s, is now one of the Valley's largest employers.

Northridge is 24 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

PACOIMA

Pacoima is one of the San Fernando Valley's most historic communities and sits on land that also was part of the Charles Maclay empire.

For many years, Pacoima's soil produced abundant crops of olives, peaches, apricots, oranges and lemons. In fact, the Pacoima Chamber of Commerce was originally called the Pacoima Chamber of Farmers. That was in 1916, a couple of years after the city had briefly changed its name to Mulholland.

The Pacoima area today is known as a low- to middle-income community.

However, the residential area in the northeast San Fernando Valley in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains is now enjoying a renaissance, thanks in part to the state's designation as an Enterprise Zone.

It is bordered by the city of San Fernando to the north and the Golden State Freeway to the west.

PANORAMA CITY

One of the youngest communities in the Valley, Panorama City was the Valley's first planned community.

Recognizing the strategic value of the location at the geographic center of the Valley, Fritz B. Burns & Associates purchased an area of 1,000 acres from the Panorama Dairy and Sheep Ranch in 1947.

On Valentine's Day 1948, Burns also received permission to begin commercial development in the town, and Panorama City's business development began to transform the local scene.

Today, major department stores constitute the nucleus of the Panorama Mall, which opened in 1955. Panorama City is another Valley city now being reinvented.

Its Panorama Mall was chosen by Wal-Mart as the locale for its first two-level store in the nation and its initial location within Los Angeles.

The Wal-Mart outlet co-anchors the nearly 700,000-square-foot mall with La Curacao, another highly successful store.

Panorama City is about 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

PORTER RANCH

The Porter Ranch Estates were developed in the 1960s as a luxurious and quiet escape from the hustle of central Los Angeles. In the northwest San Fernando Valley at the foot of the Santa Susana Mountains, the area has became well-known as a haven for some of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Numerous personalities from stage, screen and radio built homes and ranches in the area. It is also known as the Horse Capital of the World. To this day, there are numerous horse boarding and training centers there.

In the 1940s and 1950s, the Porter Ranch area was leased by Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer studios, and also where the movie Billy The Kid was filmed.

Today, several major businesses are in the region. High-tech firms have found a home here and have brought the distinction of a major development area for both hardware and software.

Porter Ranch is home to the exclusive Porter Valley Country Club, the Porter Ranch Town Center, the YMCA and a new public library.

Porter Ranch is minutes from hiking trails, great restaurants and major freeways, and half an hour from downtown Los Angeles.

RESEDA

Reseda was originally part of land owned by the historic San Fernando Mission.

Its main east-west artery, Sherman Way, was modeled after Mexico City's Paseo de la Reforma. Los Angeles' nostalgic Red Car line built at a cost of $1,000 ran down the center of Sherman Way. Residents could commute through the Cahuenga Pass to downtown L.A. More important, prospective subdivision developers used the train to travel to and from the West Valley.

Until the 1940s, Reseda was strictly an agricultural community, known as one of the largest lettuce producers in the nation.

Today Reseda is one of the Valley's busiest business districts and is filled with middle-class homes and apartments.

Reseda is 22 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

SHERMAN OAKS

Sherman Oaks, close to two major freeways, serves as a gateway to the San Fernando Valley.

The community is perhaps best known as the home of the Sherman Oaks Galleria, which was recently transformed from a fashion mall into an open-air shopping area combined with office space.

The town is considered by many as the undisputed residence of the Valley Girl, a cultural label popularized by the song and 1983 movie of the same name.

Two large shopping malls are in the area and numerous smaller boutiques and plazas line Ventura Boulevard, providing residents and visitors with endless window-shopping opportunities.

Sherman Oaks is 13 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

STUDIO CITY

Studio City began its development in the 1920s. Mack Sennett had outgrown his studio facilities in what would later become Silver Lake, so the man behind the wacky Keystone Cops movies built a facility near Ventura Boulevard and Laurel Canyon.

He started calling the community Studio City, and the name stuck. Over the years the studio has changed both hands and names and was linked with some of the biggest stars in the business.

Among them: Charles Chaplin, John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Bette Davis, Tony Curtis, Jennifer Jones and Joan Fontaine.

Today the site is known as the CBS Studio Center, where such popular TV shows as Hill Street Blues, Roseanne and Seinfeld were filmed.

Studio City is 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

SUNLAND-TUJUNGA

Back in 1913, William Ellsworth Smythe, founder of a social movement known as Little Landers, established the area as Los Terrenitos, as Tujunga was then known. His disciples immediately began constructing Bolton Hall, which became the center for all community activities. Bolton Hall is now a museum that preserves the history it was so much a part of.

The McGroarty Art Center is also in Tujunga. It was built in 1923 by poet laureate and former Rep. John Steven McGroarty. The statesman named his home Rancho Chupa Rose, and upon his death in 1944 it became the property of his niece, Margaret McHale.

Sunland-Tujunga is about 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

SUN VALLEY

Sun Valley was owned in the 1870s by Sen. Charles Maclay, who, with holdings of 56,000 acres that extended west from Sunland Boulevard to Chatsworth Hills, owned most of the northern Valley. Maclay Street is named for him.

Residents don't have to travel far to do their shopping, as the Canyon Plaza shopping center is close by.

As for recreation, there is plenty to do in Sun Valley, such as spending lazy, sunny summer days at the Hansen Dam Recreation Area and Golf Course, the Stonehurst and Sunland recreation centers or the Angeles National Forest, which covers a portion of the San Gabriel mountains.

Sun Valley is 13 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

SYLMAR

Sylmar is a former olive-growing center whose name means Sea of Trees.

It is home of the San Sylmar Museum, which houses the Nethercutt Collection, a spectacular display of antique cars.

In the foothills at the north end of the San Fernando Valley, west of the Golden State Freeway and north of the city of San Fernando, Sylmar has a mix of low- and middle-income residents.

It is also home to Mission College, which serves thousands of students in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Sylmar is 23 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

TARZANA

Tarzana was named after favorite son Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero.

Burroughs owned a 550-acre ranch in the days when the rural area was known for its berry farms and chicken ranches.

A community extending 8 square miles, Tarzana has a population of 28,500. Many residents have their own swimming pools, following a storied tradition: Tarzana was the site of the Valley's first swimming pool.

Today, members of the exclusive Braemar Country Club can use that facility's two swimming pools, when not out on one of the 20 tennis courts or testing their skills on one of two top-rated golf courses.

Tarzana is 23 miles from downtown.

TOLUCA LAKE

Early in 1923, the present Toluca Lake area was a flourishing ranch, famous for its lush crops of peaches, apples and walnuts and known as the Forman Toluca Ranch. Its groves have long since given way to beautiful streets of fine homes and estates.

The community was established through efforts of a syndicate of Hollywood financiers and developers who named the development Toluca Lake Park. The area also is the setting for two picturesque lakes, the original one on the North Hollywood side and the other in Burbank.

The area also was the home of the first International House of Pancakes, which opened in 1958.

The original boundaries of Toluca Lake were Cahuenga Boulevard, Clybourn Avenue, Camarillo Street and the Los Angeles River. Old-timers zealously stick to these boundaries and, in 1939, they were so listed in the incorporation papers of the Toluca Lake Civic Association. Since then, other adjacent streets and areas have been included and are now associated with the Toluca Lake area.

TOPANGA CANYON

Nestled in the Santa Monica mountains, surrounded by nearly 11,000 acres of state parkland, lies the community of Topanga Canyon. The region is known for its country lifestyle, fresh air and a neighborly spirit not thought possible in the Los Angeles area.

With a history filled with Chumash Indians, pioneers, eccentrics and hippies, Topanga Canyon has become a peaceful haven for its 12,000 residents.

The region has occasionally been hit by flooding and wildfires, but residents here take it all in stride.

Topanga has a bustling business community, located primarily along Topanga Canyon Boulevard. One can find everything from antiques and vintage clothing to rocks and crystals, dance and fitness classes, markets, restaurants, a beauty salon, a bookstore and even a French coffeehouse.

The region is also of much interest to wildlife enthusiasts, as it is home to several sensitive species of amphibians, birds, mammals, insects and plant life.

UNIVERSAL CITY

Carl Laemmle chose a former chicken ranch as the home of his Universal Studios when he was producing silent films in 1915.

Today with 9,000 employees, Universal Studios is Universal City. Laemmle himself began the first tours, providing his patrons with a box lunch and charging them a quarter to watch the movie making process.

The tour now does enormous business, attracting more visitors than any other Los Angeles County venue. Universal CityWalk, which is part of the huge Universal complex, features more than three dozen colorful shops and restaurants. Visitors who come to catch a concert at the 6,200-seat Universal Amphitheatre can have dinner before the show at the Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Gladstone's, Camacho's or Tony Roma's or a drink afterward at B.B. King's Blues Club and Restaurant.

Universal City is 9 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

VALLEY GLEN

Valley Glen is bordered roughly by Burbank Boulevard to the south, Vanowen Street to the north, and Hazeltine and Whitsett avenues to the west and east.

The residential community bordering Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys and North Hollywood is known for its efforts to promote neighborhood safety and beautification. A strong sense of community pride permeates the area.

Valley Glen is located about 14 miles from downtown.

VALLEY VILLAGE

Valley Village is a small residential neighborhood tucked into the southwest corner of North Hollywood.

The 2.6-square-mile community has a population of 27,360 and contains about 12,000 households, with a median house value of $318,000. The community also is home to Los Angeles Valley College, one of three local campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District.

VAN NUYS

The community was named for early settler Isaac Van Nuys, who, with Isaac Lankershim, founded the San Fernando Farm Homestead Association in 1869, four years before the railroad was built.

City Hall was erected in 1933, and today it remains the center of Valley government, with federal, state, county and city offices sharing the premises with a public library, police station and municipal court buildings.

Van Nuys has its own airport, which hosts the largest air show in Los Angeles with more than 350,000 spectators attending, and a number of other landmarks.

Van Nuys High School, which Marilyn Monroe and Robert Redford attended, was showcased in the films Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Rock and Roll High School, and the city and its streets have served as locations for countless movies and episodic TV series.

Perhaps one of the most famous film sites is from the final scene in Casablanca, which was shot at Van Nuys Airport.

Van Nuys is 16 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

WEST HILLS

Founded in 1988, the community of West Hills is situated in the West Valley, a 14-square-mile community bordered by Woodland Hills, Canoga Park and Chatsworth.

The area formerly was part of Canoga Park, until residents of western neighborhoods voted to change the name to give their area a new identity. West Hills real estate values immediately jumped. After seeing that, other areas of the Valley voted to change the names of their communities in the hope of similar increases in real estate prices.

West Hills is about 35 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

WINNETKA

Winnetka, east of Canoga Park, was founded by Charles Weeks, who wanted to build a garden community there after World War I. His Weeks Colony was intended as a collection of single-acre poultry farms owned by citizens of high moral character and purpose.

The promoter began selling tracts in 1922, and though it never became the utopian paradise Weeks envisioned, Winnetka did become, and remains, a comfortable place to live.

Winnetka is 24 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

WOODLAND HILLS

Woodland Hills gets its name from an early developer who planted more than 100,000 pine, pepper, eucalyptus and sycamore trees to woo prospective home buyers.

Today the area is home to upper-middle-class and well-to-do residents. In the west San Fernando Valley, Woodland Hills is a thriving community.

Businesses with headquarters in Woodland Hills include Rocketdyne, Wellpoint, Rockwell International, Transamerica Insurance Group, Sebastian International and Applause Inc.

Woodland Hills straddles Ventura Boulevard, which has restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, bookstores, theaters and office buildings. Much of the region's business and retail are located in Warner Center the former ranch of movie mogul Harry Warner.

Woodland Hills is 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo:

(color) A father and son enjoy the ride on the Griffith Park Merry-Go- Round, which first opened in 1926.

Tom Mendoza

Map:

the san fernando valley