NEARLY 30% OF NEW GENERATION YOUNGER THAN 19.

Byline: TONY CASTRO Staff Writer

Sitting outside the Department of Motor Vehicles office, munching on french fries, Austin Mitchell looked like he could be a teenager of any age.

His beaded dreadlocks gave him an exotic Rastafarian appearance. That along with the pin-striped blazer over a T-shirt, skinny jeans and throwback sneakers all screamed musician.

And he is.

But Mitchell, a 16-year-old junior at El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, is more. He is representative of more than a fourth of the new generation of San Fernando Valley residents -- the 28.2percent younger than 19.

Their increasing presence is among the reasons that the median age of the Valley, though two years older than that of the city of Los Angeles, is a full year younger than the U.S. average.

Mitchell, in a sense, typifies the Apple iLife GarageBand, MySpace.com generation, where trends and pop culture in the United States so often get their first footing.

Typical of so many young people today, Mitchell and his band -- the Ten Bells -- have a site on MySpace.com, where you can learn that, as the bass guitarist, he obviously spends a lot of time with band mates Spencer Kent and Cody and Ian McMains, usually rehearsing at the Sound Arena in Reseda.

``My weekends are usually tied up with the band and working on schoolwork,'' says Mitchell, whose band has its next gig Dec.16 at Dr. Music in Eagle Rock. ``Between the two, that's all I do.''

But not to worry. He's a good student, too. He wants to major in math because he's good at that and thinks a math degree will give him a good foundation for being productive in life.

And the Rastafarian hair? On a kid from the Valley? The beads, he says, were a gift from his mom. Well, parents of last-born kids, especially when you've raised an older set of kids, can be unusually understanding.

``I've lived in the same house my whole life,'' Mitchell says. ``I have one brother that lived with me in the house the greater part of my life, and the other two had already moved out by the time I was born. I'm the youngest.''

And, in an age when many kids rag on where they live, he wouldn't trade the Valley for anyplace else.

``I've spent some time in New York and other places like that,'' Mitchell says, ``and one of the things I really like about (the Valley) is the difference of people, and (that) there's more green here, more open spaces and parks and things.

``Out here, the streets are curvy and wind and go up through mountains, and there is all this interesting terrain and people and area.''

And on Thursday at the DMV, Mitchell was waiting to take the driving test to get his driver's license. ``This is my second time. It can be a little intimidating. But I think I'm ready this time.''

tony.castro(at)dailynews.com

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Austin Mitchell, 16, is in a band and Thursday was trying to get a driver's license.