The San Fernando Valley: America's Suburb

by Kevin Roderick

A journalist and native son of the San Fernando Valley, arguably America's quintessential suburb, returns to his old neighborhoods and discovers a long, rich history filled with the sort of lore and traditions that make a place a home.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Photography

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whenever I go on vacation or travel somewhere, I always end up buying a book or two about the history of that place, and return home a mini-expert. Upon finding this book at the library, I realized I've lived in Los Angeles for 10 years and hadn't done much to learn the history of the other Los Angeles: the San Fernando Valley.

Kevin Roderick's book traces the history of "The Valley" from its original settlement by Spanish settlers to it's 20th century history of rancheros and egg farms, to the post-war suburban boom, defense industries, and freeways. And of course, the malls and valley girls. It was fascinating to read about the streets and neighborhoods I drive through every day.

The book is full of trivia and stories regarding famous valley residents (Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Cecil B. DeMille) and unusual events (the valley's "Woodstock" weekend a few months before the real "Woodstock", a mid-air plane crash raining down on an elementary school, numerous earthquakes).

Being written by a newspaper reporter and published by the LA Times, the book reads very easily, with the emphasis being on delivering information quickly and painlessly. All-in-all, a very readable history of an interesting place.

[Fritters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may not be 5 stars to anyone who isn't interested in the San Fernando Valley history, but for anyone who is, it is a treasure trove of fascinating facts. This extremely well-researched book was damned hard to put down. Now I know where the local Tongva indians painted petroglyphs, the passes in the mountains I'm most likely to find an old cannonball in, where the Los Angeles river begins. I live in an area where a chicken ranch was and people tried to live on an acre of property with four palms on each corner of the land as described by Mr. Weeks, a gentleman who used to play violin down where the El Pollo Loco is now.

Not for everyone, but anyone interested in the local history of the area will find this book riveting.

[Roberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning about the history of the SFV was fascinating. The Tongva and the Spaniards 1st meeting was on El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bononia de los Encinos (Valley of St. Catherine of the Oaks), interesting to see where some of the different cities got their names. Lots of great information - how the Californios came to giving up their land to the Americans, Leland Stanford's push to get his Southern Pacific through LA with a stop in the SFV, the entertainment industry's strong presence in the SFV. The photographs and maps helped to bring the content to life. Highly recommend this to anyone interested in history.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than just pretty pictures, very informative too!

[Jeffrey Falk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating, comprehensive history.

[Sue Bridehead (A Pseudonym) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's going to take me forever and a day to finish reading this. It's good, but my big gripe is with the layout. I hate it when publishers print books with sidebar content that spills onto a second page. Actually, I just hate sidebar content in general. It makes for a very disruptive reading experience as I flip pages back and forth and stop the flow of one container of text to read another. Fail!

[Lou]

Easy to read. It's to the point and very factual and interesting. Not boring at all. Plus side is there is an image in every other page that you rarely see. It's like the LA times on a colorfully illustrated book. I'm half way done.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was reading this while staying at an Air BnB in Studio City. Very interesting, but had to return home. Hope to either find a copy somehow or finish it if we return to the same place in the future.