Los Angeles: My opinion about the San Fernando Valley

[metrocity567]

I've been living in the SFV since when I was born. The San Fernando Valley has been suffering through high crime, poverty, poor infrastructure, gang and drug activity, and poor quality of life.

Pacoima in the northeastern SFV has been suffering through poverty for many years, and now; Panorama City, Van Nuys, and North Hollywood are suffering through poverty.

Since most of the valley governed by the city of Los Angeles, the infrastructure is very poor with, old cluttered overhead power lines of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and poorly maintained streets. The only infrastructure that Los Angeles cares about in the valley is; new LED street lights, new "zebra" crosswalks, and new bike lanes. Of course, the LADWP is replacing some wooden power poles with metal power poles (slowly) in the valley, but retain the "old-fashioned insulators" for the distribution power lines which it looks "old" in my opinion. I wish Southern California Edison would take over the electrical power system in the San Fernando Valley, if the valley would've seceded from the city of LA and become it's own independent city, which voters said no and turned down back in 2002.

There is relatively few urban development in the San Fernando Valley, mainly in the neighborhoods of Warner Center and Woodland Hills. There was urban development planned for Panorama City but, failed because of the high crime and poverty in the area (that explains why the abandoned Montgomery Ward building on Roscoe Blvd. in Panorama City has not been demolished for many years).

There is no urban development in Van Nuys, which is where I live. Just only the new LA Fitness building went up on Sepulveda Blvd. and Erwin St. in Van Nuys back in 2012 and 2013, and it replaced the old Wickes Furniture building.

Also, the San Fernando Valley has become a "special needs" type of area of Los Angeles since the population of developmentally disabled individuals is very high in the valley, with special needs services that are based in the valley.

These are my opinions about my hometown I grew up in, San Fernando Valley in which it is a "boring" place to live in my opinion. The LA Basin, South Bay, San Gabriel Valley, Gateway Cities, and Orange County has lot of more exciting great new stuff happening than what the San Fernando Valley offers. The San Fernando Valley is a "dull" area of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area.

No offense, I am just expressing my opinion about my hometown, San Fernando Valley, an urban area of the Los Angeles area. What do you guys think?

[202_Cyclist]

Admittedly, I haven't been to the San Fernando Valley in a while but I wouldn't be so pessimistic. In the LA Metro thread, there were posts about the proposal for significant infill development at Warner Center. The Orange line has been very successful and there are discussions to convert this to light rail, which would only encourage more infill development. There seems to be significant transit-oriented development next to the North Hollywood Red line station.

Additionally, there could be promise for Burbank as well, as it is served by Amtrak and Metrolink and hopefully will have a high-speed rail station.

Continuing to make older suburban developments and suburban boulevards more walkable, however, is the challenge of our time right now: http://www.uctc.net/access/39/access...bwalking.shtml .

[mhays]

Adding bike lanes and better pedestrian crossings sounds like progress toward both quality of life and mobility, in terms of encouraging more people to bike and walk, which is good for them and probably also saves the public money. But obviously maintaining other civic infrastructure is important too.

[ChrisLA]

There are certainly parts of the San Fernando Valley that has seen better days, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it's crime infested and full of poverty. Housing is still rather expensive from what I've seen. I've been spending a lot of time in the last few weeks in the San Fernando Valley and is actually moving there in the coming weeks due to a new job. We were actually looking in Ventura county for a place to rent to be closer to work, but both my wife and I felt is was way to boring. Her words about Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake Village was it's pretty like a beautiful dish of food from a fancy restaurant, but with no seasoning what so ever.

The rent was about the same, but in the Woodland Hills/Warner Center area where we are moving offered a nicer quality apartment for the at the same price, and it felt more urban than anything in Ventura county. I can't actually believe it but I'm excited about moving to the SFV. We are in walking distance to the Orange Line and the area looks pretty decent.

I never lived in the Valley, but was bused in from the LA basin side and worked in the area for several years. I can certainly tell some of it doesn't have that fresh newish look about it anymore. It's more of a middle-age and now broken in sort of look. The valley also feels more crowded and a heck of a lot more congested than I remember 30 years ago. It also feels more urban than it once was, although nothing like the other side of the hill in the LA basin.

Ventura Blvd with its miles upon miles of commercial activity I would say 90% of it looks quite trendy and well maintained over the years and even updated with the times. It's some of the reasons why I'm not so bummed about moving there. I also wouldn't call it boring, although I wished they had something like LA County Museum of Art, or The Getty. What I have observed in the past few weeks is the culture felt very stereotypical LA more so than even the west side. The other thing I've noticed of shall I say I forgot is SFV drivers can be rude and very aggressive, and always in a hurry which is more typical with west side folks.

Still I rather live in Long Beach or anywhere in the LA basin, but I can't say overall the San Fernando Valley is some bad place in spite of a few bad areas. Granted we will probably not move to far away from the Ventura Blvd/101 Freeway Orange Line corridor.

One thing would be nice is to make the Orange Line a light rail train, but for now it will due. The wife and are planning on using it on weekends when we want to visit downtown or to reach Hollywood, North Hollywood, or even Universal City. We want to avoid the always congested 101 Freeway at all cost on our days off.

[atlantaguy]

ChrisLA, you guys will be fine up there.

I always stay with friends in Topanga Canyon when I'm in L.A., so I'm pretty familiar with Woodland Hills and Canoga Park. It's closer for groceries, take out and general shopping than Santa Monica and the Westside from there.

It's not bad at all around where you are going, and Westfield has made amazing upgrades and enhancements to the entire Topanga Plaza area. They continue to build new outdoor oriented phases on the surrounding parking lots. Warner Center is about to bulk up like crazy, which will only speed up the Orange Line conversion to LRT.

And you're absolutely right about Ventura Blvd. Just about everything you could possibly want or need can be found there. There are also incredible ethnic holes in the wall all over the place in little strip malls, jut like everywhere around town.

I'm guessing your largest adjustment will be Summer temps, but you'll adapt.

Once you guys get settled in, do yourselves a favor sometime and check out Sunday Brunch at the Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas.

[ChrisLA]

Originally Posted by atlantaguy

ChrisLA, you guys will be fine up there.

It's not bad at all around where you are going, and Westfield has made amazing upgrades and enhancements to the entire Topanga Plaza area.

They continue to build new outdoor oriented phases on the surrounding parking lots. Warner Center is about to bulk up like crazy, which will only speed up the Orange Line conversion to LRT.


I'm guessing your largest adjustment will be Summer temps, but you'll adapt.

Once you guys get settled in, do yourselves a favor sometime and check out Sunday Brunch at the Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas.

Thanks, I'm feeling pretty good about the move, we absolultly love the apartment complex we're moving to. We did visit Topanga Plaza and was impressed (this coming from someone who really isn't fond of malls). There is another mall that was just about a block away, but it's my understanding it's going to be an open air shopping entertainment complex, something like The Grove that will be completed in 2015.

You're right about the adjusting to the summers in the SFV. I try to look at the bright side, we have central a/c, a pool, and it's not as humid as Long Beach where we had no a/c. It also gets much cooler in the winter months in the SFV, and I love cooler weather.

Also thanks for the tip once we're settle in I'll have to check out the Sunday Brunch at the Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas. One thing I do like about those communities in Ventura county (Calabasas, Thousands Oaks, Camarillo, Westlake Village) is the beautiful fall colors. Of course nothing like Atlanta, but quite scenic for southern California autumns.

[MonkeyRonin]

My opinion on the SFV:


• Video Link

[edluva]

yeah, monkeyronin's video pretty much sums up how i feel about the valley, and to a degree, LA as a whole.

contextually lacking. banal. kitchy. washed out. let's face it, LA is ugly and a whole lot of it is pretty crappy. even the "desireable" parts.

[IMBY]

I read recently, in The Economist magazine, that 76% of the Los Angeles area is still zoned for single family homes, dating from the 1940's. Incredible!

Small wonder, when I travel the L.A. area by light rail, you see single family homes at the train stops! All these trains stops could evolve into mini-cities, if only they'd scrap these archaic zoning laws!

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by edluva

yeah, monkeyronin's video pretty much sums up how i feel about the valley, and to a degree, LA as a whole.

contextually lacking. banal. kitchy. washed out. let's face it, LA is ugly and a whole lot of it is pretty crappy. even the "desireable" parts.

Don't you live on the west side? Ever since I found that out, it now makes more sense to me, how you like to bash Los Angeles, because yes, most of the west side is ugly, kitschy, washed out, and full of the superficial douchebags (many if not most of them transplants) you claim LA consists of. It seems like you never leave the west side.

[mello]

Sopas where should one go in the LA Metro area to see the real LA peeps and not the douchie west side types? Echo Park, Silver Lake, Los Feliz? Just curious where you think the most quality authentic LA experience is. Would you say Venice and Culver City are also full of lame types? Thanks.

[edluva]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Don't you live on the west side? Ever since I found that out, it now makes more sense to me, how you like to bash Los Angeles, because yes, most of the west side is ugly, kitschy, washed out, and full of the superficial douchebags (many if not most of them transplants) you claim LA consists of. It seems like you never leave the west side.

let me remind you this thread topic originally concerned the SFV. My comment in turn extended the general banality of the SFV to the rest of LA. you, on the other hand, are trying to compartmentalize LA (aka live in denial) in order to promote your "real" version of LA as one which is likeable and yet somehow mysteriously unknown to those who don't share your rosy opinion of it. I'm different. I am comfortable admitting that it's all LA, and that it's all to a degree cut from the same cloth of douchy banality that the valley is, and that it definitely isn't easy to like this place. I can live with that. You obviously can't.

you just go ahead and keep convincing yourself that the problem lies with the vast numbers of americans who dislike LA because they "just don't see the 'real' LA". i can't blame you for trying to justify your lame existence. I apologize that my honesty hurts your feelings.

[edluva]

Originally Posted by mello

Sopas where should one go in the LA Metro area to see the real LA peeps and not the douchie west side types? Echo Park, Silver Lake, Los Feliz? Just curious where you think the most quality authentic LA experience is. Would you say Venice and Culver City are also full of lame types? Thanks.

the authentic LA is a secret that only "real" angelenos like sopas ej know about. (hint: it's not the westside or the valley because sopas ej basically dissed on it)

my best guess is that the authentic LA is in boyle heights and east los, but i'll never know because i'm not "real" like sopas ej is. apparently no-one in america seems to know the "real LA", except for a select few angelenos who are "real" enough to appreciate it. like sopas ej.

i'm just gonna have to move to a fake city like seattle or SF, cities which are full of fake uneducated douchebags where unreal people like me fit in better. unlike LA with its well established reputation for tons of highly educated, down to earth, productive, and "real" people, those cities are full of uninformed, superficial, unproductive, fake people.

my bad, sopas ej. the SFV and eastside are awesome. i don't even have to be ironic to think they're legit.