History of San Fernando Valley - North Hollywood

Part 2

Looking down the 101 Freeway as it cuts through the sprawling Valley of today, one can’t miss 10 Universal City Plaza, the 36 story office tower that is the location of Texaco’s Western Region Headquarters, the first tenant to take occupancy in 1985. 

Directly across the street is Campo de Cahuenga Historic Park, soon to become the location for the first MTA subway stop on the line tunneling from Hollywood to the Valley. Known by many historians as the birthplace of California, this is the spot where the Capitulation of Cahuenga was signed on a kitchen table of the six-room adobe house of Tomas Feliz in 1847. It was formalized in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thus ending the final chapter in the war between Mexico and the United States.

 The Universal Film Manufacturing Company was started in 1915 by German immigrant Carl Laemmle who viewed the open ranch area as ideal for making the Western one reelers that were the popular fare of the day. Touted as the “Wonder City of the World,” it was scoffed at by competitors who thought that locating a studio so far from Hollywood was a major blunder. The affable Laemmle, known as “Uncle Carl” because he hired so many of his relatives, opened the new “City” to visitors charging 25 cents for admission and a box lunch. Laemmle believed that opening the facilities to the public helped build word of mouth for the pictures they were making. These first “studio tours” continued successfully until 1920 when the advent of sound prohibited the presence of noisy crowds. Universal had become and continued to be a vital part of the growth of North Hollywood. In 1926 the new roadway was finished over Cahuenga Pass and by 1932 twenty-five streetcars and 17,000 automobiles traveled the road daily. 

As you travel deeper into the Valley you’re bound to cross the Los Angeles River at numerous points although you may never realize it. Today it runs through the Valley completely contained in a concrete aqueduct. In 1938 a torrential downpour dropped 11 inches of rain in five days causing the Los Angeles River and Tujunga Wash to flood the area. Forty-nine storm related deaths were reported and property damage reached $40 million. Damage was so severe that immediately following the storm North Hollywood was placed under martial law to prevent looting.

North on Tujunga Avenue, passing under the 134 overpass, Riverside Drive, and then the North entrance to the 170, you’ll see the green grass spotted with large oaks and surrounded and crossed by jogging trails of North Hollywood Park. It continues on the other side of Magnolia Boulevard, it’s landscaped grounds graced by a statue of Amelia Earhart. The statue was created by artist Ernie Shelton and installed in 1971 in honor of one of the most famous and prominent residents of North Hollywood’s Toluca Lake. Earhart, the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo and who used to fly planes out of Burbank, vanished in 1937 over the Pacific Ocean in her attempt to fly around the world. After her mysterious disappearance, the North Hollywood Jaycees erected a plaque in her honor at 5 corners, where Lankershim Boulevard crosses the intersection of Camarillo Street and Vineland Avenue.

The town of Lankershim was established in 1890 when Wilson C. Weddington came West from Iowa with his wife and two sons, Guy and Fred. Visiting his sister Mollie who was married to W. H. Andrews who had been hired as the superintendent of the Lankershim Land Ranch and Water company, he bought two parcels of land, 12 acres for $720 at what is now Weddington St. and Lankershim Boulevard, and 20 acres at what is now Riverside Drive and Lankershim Boulevard. He was later appointed postmaster by President Cleveland and ran a General Store and Post Office that was located where the El Portal is today. It was the vision, hard work and perseverance of the Wedddington’s and ten other pioneer families that enabled the town to grow and prosper. 

A block North on Lankershim Boulevard from where the original Weddington General Store stood, is now the entrance to the new MTA subway. Across the street, on Chandler, you’ll find one of the oldest structures still standing in North Hollywood, the J. M. Bonner Fruit Shipping Plant that dates back to 1897. In the early 1900’s, they had enormous apricot dryers set up in what is now North Hollywood Park. In 1927, as the ranches and orchards were giving way to business and residential development, voters approved a bond issue for Lankershim Park. A few years later it included a branch of the LA Public Library and its name was later changed to North Hollywood park.

In 1910 Fred Wellington organized the first Bank of Lankershim that was located on Lankershim Boulevard near Chandler Boulevard. In 1911 Pacific Electric’s Big Red Streetcar Line opened providing passenger service from Hollywood to Lankershim. The cost was 25 cents, 40 cents round trip and a car ran every fifteen minutes. An estimated 500 people rode the first day. In comparison, the MTA is predicting a crowd of over 250,000 people when the North Hollywood Station opens June of 2000.

Built in 1936 on land donated by the Weddington Family, the North Hollywood Post Office is still being used today. It’s located on Chandler Boulevard, a block West of Lankershim Boulevard. On Tujunga and Chandler Boulevards, you’ll find Firehouse Station 5 that was built and dedicated on July 30th, 1949.

Another vital issue for the continuing growth of the area dates back to a story run in the Laconic in 1907 under the banner headline that read, “Story of the Century.” It announced approval of a $23 million bond issue to build an aqueduct that would carry water from the Owens Valley. Thousands of spectators gathered on November 5th, 1913 as Chief engineer William Mulholland inaugurated the opening of the modern miracle with the words, “There it is! Take it!” Property values had doubled since the first announcement of construction and optimism over the future of North Hollywood flowed through the crowd as they watched the water cascading down the Aqueduct.

Although water rights as well as other growth related issues are still being contended with today, there is no question that North Hollywood and Universal City have not only come a long way in the last century, but are poised for unprecedented growth as the area defines itself as a major business, residential, and arts district  in the twenty-first century.