The San Fernando Valley or, simply, The Valley, is the northern portion of the city of Los Angeles, California, roughly bounded by Burbank to the east, San Fernando to the north (both separate municipalities), Canoga Park to the west, and the Santa Monica Mountains (Mulholland Drive) to the south. The administrative center of "the Valley" is Van Nuys.

The Valley is home to numerous industries the most well-known of which include those involved in motion pictures, recording, and television production (including CBS Studio Center, NBC, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, and Warner Brothers Studios). The Valley is also home to a multi-million dollar pornography industry.

Cities and towns in the Valley include Burbank, Chatsworth, Encino, Hidden Hills, North Hollywood, Northridge, San Fernando, Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Sun Valley, Tujunga, Tarzana, Van Nuys and Woodland Hills. The Valley shares Los Angeles' dry, sunny weather, but is usually hotter and has more smog.

Before the 1960s, it was the unspoken custom of Valley realtors not to sell homes to African-Americans, then living mostly in the Los Angeles basin. After the Civil Rights movement took hold, this custom faded. This is one basis for the current difference in racial composition between the Valley and the rest of Los Angeles.

Valley Girl (1983), The Karate Kid (1984) and its sequels were all filmed and set in the Valley. (See also: List of movies and television shows set in Los Angeles.)

The Valley community of Northridge was the epicenter of a large 1994 earthquake and is home to California State University Northridge.

In 2002, Los Angeles residents defeated a proposal under which the Valley would have seceded from the City of Los Angeles. Opponents claimed that secession was motivated by racist and class-based factors, despite the fact that the ethnic composition of the Valley does not much differ from the rest of the city (other than having a somewhat smaller African-American population) and the Valley suffers from the same problems of poverty, crime, drug and gang activity as the rest of the city. Ultimately, the economics of forming a new city defeated the proposal.

The alleged lifestyles of Valley teens in the 1980s, and their alleged slang (Valspeak), were satirized in the Frank Zappa song "Valley Girl" (Like, grody to the max!)

Glossary of Valspeak

ValspeakEnglish
AirheadAn intellectual lightweight (e.g. a Valley Girl).
AwesomeNot quite "tubular"
Barf bagJerk
Fer sure!Certainly.
Gag me with a spoon! That's disgusting.
GnarlyGood
GrodyDisgusting (e.g. "grody to the max")
I'm so sure!I don't believe you.
JoanieUnhip girl (from the Joanie Cunningham character on Happy Days)
Like, Omigod!I'm surprised.
Psych!Just kidding
RadVery cool
SketchyBad
To the maxMore of the previous adjective
TotallyCompletely
TubularAwesomely cool
UVsSunshine. ("I'm heading down to the beach to get some UVs.")
ValValley Girl
Veg (out)To rest.

External Links

"Valspeak" translator