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History of San Fernando Valley - North
Hollywood
It
has certainly come a long way since the
late 1800’s
when the Southern Pacific Railroad
opened a branch line from downtown Los
Angeles to the Valley. In 1895, the
Chatsworth Limited made one stop a day
in Toluca, although that name was in
conflict with a sign on the new station
which read Lankershim. With the Post
Office across the street called Toluca,
controversy over the town’s name
continued and the local ranchers used to
quip, “Ship the merchandise to
Lankershim, but bill it to Toluca.”
Driving down Lankershim Boulevard today,
renting a video tape from Blockbusters,
or sipping a Latte Grande from Starbucks
across from the TV Academy, there are
little if any clues to the many changes
that have taken place since 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 in 1871.
From
the early days of the first pioneers,
the small farming community that
originally became known as Lankershim
grew and prospered, had it’s booms and
it’s busts, and transformed from a one
horse shay town to the bustling and
energetic area now known as Universal
City and North Hollywood.
At first glance nothing indicates the
area was once filled and
cattle ranches, or was home to the
Bonner Fruit Company that in the early
1900’s was shipping 1200 tons of fruit
per season to major cities back East.
Although there seems nothing left of the
people, places, and events that shaped
the past, if we look closely we may just
discover some tell tale signs that
reveal the secrets of the history of
North Hollywood.
Zipping North on the 101 Freeway
through Hollywood, past the Sunset
Boulevard exit, the round tower of the
Capital Records Building to your left,
the Hollywood Hills crammed with houses
on the right, you soon find yourself
sailing through the Cahuenga Pass
with the San Fernando Valley stretching
into the distance. Of the never ending
stream of cars that travel that route
daily, most of them head West towards
Sherman Oaks and beyond or veer onto the
170 heading North. Let’s stop at Barham
Boulevard, for a moment, and gaze North
overlooking the freeway through the pass
into the Valley.
In
the late 1800’s, Senator Charles
Maclay stood at this same vantage point.
Staring out at the willow trees
surrounding the Los Angeles River that
unfolded below he declared, “This is the
Garden of Eden.” Shoshone and Chumash
tribes populated the semiarid region
covered with oaks and scrub brush that
stretched to the far hills. They had
been living there for the past 4,000
years. The largest Indian village was
called Kawengna, from which the name
Cahuenga is derived. It was a term
connoting peace, translated “hold the
arrows because friends are coming.” A
smaller village nearby was called
Toluca, which means “fertile valley.”
In 1850 California became the 30th state
to join the Union
and thousands of people, lured by the
Gold Rush, crossed the Cahuenga Pass in
oxen drawn carts and Connistoga Wagons.
In 1858 The Butterfield Overland Mail
Company ran two stage coaches a week
that crossed at the ridge of Cahuenga
Pass carrying US mail from San Louis to
San Francisco via Los Angeles.
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