Porter Ranch, Los Angeles, California
Encyclopedia
Porter Ranch is an affluent neighborhood in the northwest region of the San Fernando Valley
region of the city of Los Angeles
, California
.
It is bounded by Chatsworth
on the south and west, Northridge
on the south, and Granada Hills
on the north and east. The Santa Susana Mountains
, which separate the San Fernando and Santa Clarita
valleys, lie to the north. The principal thoroughfares are Corbin Ave., Porter Ranch Drive, Tampa Ave. and Reseda Blvd., running north-south, and Sesnon Blvd., Rinaldi St. and the Ronald Reagan Freeway (State Route 118), running east and west. The Porter Ranch ZIP code
is 91326.
The district is largely composed of gated communities
of upscale single-family homes. Most residents commute by automobile to business hubs of Simi Valley
, Downtown Los Angeles
and the commercial hub of Woodland Hills
, at the San Fernando Valley's southwest corner. The community is also close to the Chatsworth
and Northridge stations
served by the Metrolink
commuter rail system that links the San Fernando Valley with Downtown Los Angeles
and Ventura County.
land grant in the foothills of the Santa Susanas above Northridge. Primarily wheat fields for its first several decades, wild wheat survived into the 1980s. The relatively isolated area later became the site of numerous movie star
s' horse
ranches. As with the rest of the San Fernando Valley
, suburb
an development eventually came to Porter Ranch. However, the area was the last portion of the San Fernando Valley within the Los Angeles city limits to be developed. Key segments of the 1982 blockbuster film E.T. the Extra-terrestrial
were filmed in Porter Ranch. The Steven Spielberg
classic includes several shots from above of the Porter Ranch neighborhood beneath the hillside Palisades Park. Brasilia Dr., Killimore Ave. and Granada Circle appear most often in E.T. Many of the bicycle chase scenes as well as the Halloween sequence were filmed on those streets and elsewhere within that neighborhood. Porter Ridge Park, at the north end of Reseda Blvd., was used for the park scene at the end of the movie.
The original Porter Ranch tract was built in the early to mid 1960s, it was part of the community of Northridge. Later, homes were built starting at the rim of the North Ridge, accessible by Tampa Ave or Reseda Blvd, also there were homes built north of Devonshire Blvd West of Tampa Av. The original tract homes were build in the mid 1960's just north of San Fernando Mission Blvd west of Reseda Blvd about half of these homes were torn down in the late 1970s to build the 118 freeway. Major construction did not occur until the 1970s.
In the late 1960s and into the 1980s, there were two horse and rider statues which marked the unofficial entrance to Porter Ranch. One was located on the North West corner of Tampa and Devonshire. The other was a North East corner on Devonshire and Tunney. They were eventually removed to allow more residential development. There were reports about one of the statues being found in a trash dumpster many years later. A long recurring prank was to climb the statute and put a beer can in the rider's outstretched hand.
About 1969, there was a major wildfire which started near what is now Magic Mountain. There was no structure losses in Northridge, but one homeowner died trying to reach his family/home on top of the ridge. The fire reached Rinaldi Blvd between Tampa and White Oak.
Median household income in 2000 was $95,000, with 47.7% of households having incomes over $100,000 (4 times the US average).
In 2009, the Los Angeles Times
s "Mapping L.A." project supplied these Porter Ranch neighborhood statistics: population: 24,923; median household income: $121,428.
Station 8 and Station 28 are in the area.
Los Angeles Police Department
operates from the nearby Devonshire Police Station, serving the community.
operates the Pacoima Health Center in Pacoima
, serving Porter Ranch.
The United States Postal Service
Ranch Post Office is located at 19300 Rinaldi Street.
.
The area is zoned to Castlebay Lane Elementary School in Porter Ranch and Frost Middle School in Granada Hills. As of September 2008 LAUSD plans to build a K-8 school at Mason Street at Sesnon Boulevard.
Chatsworth High School
in Chatsworth serves western portions of Porter Ranch. Eastern portions of Porter Ranch are zoned to Granada Hills Charter High School
in Granada Hills; residents of the Granada Hills zone are eligible to attend Northridge Academy High School
.
A new public charter high school was being opened to serve the area. Porter Ranch Charter High School was expected to open in Fall 2009. http://www.prchs.org
Porter Ranch is also home to the worlds smallest park, Rinaldi Park, at the corner of Rinaldi Street and Reseda Boulevard.
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
region of the city of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
It is bounded by Chatsworth
Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California
Chatsworth is a district of Los Angeles, California, United States; in the northwestern San Fernando Valley. The district is bordered by the Santa Susana Mountains and unincorporated Los Angeles County lands to the north, Porter Ranch to the northeast, Northridge to the east, West Hills, Canoga...
on the south and west, Northridge
Northridge, Los Angeles, California
Northridge is a community located in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States.The 1994 Northridge earthquake is named for the place based on early estimates of the location of the quake's epicenter; however, further refinements showed it to be technically...
on the south, and Granada Hills
Granada Hills, Los Angeles, California
Granada Hills is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles.It is located just north of the North Hills and Northridge districts, west of the Mission Hills and Sylmar districts, and just east of the Porter Ranch district. It is accessible by the Ronald Reagan , San...
on the north and east. The Santa Susana Mountains
Santa Susana Mountains
The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west separating the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley on its south, from Santa Clara River Valley to the north, and Santa Clarita...
, which separate the San Fernando and Santa Clarita
Santa Clarita Valley
The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the Rancho San Francisco Mexican land grant...
valleys, lie to the north. The principal thoroughfares are Corbin Ave., Porter Ranch Drive, Tampa Ave. and Reseda Blvd., running north-south, and Sesnon Blvd., Rinaldi St. and the Ronald Reagan Freeway (State Route 118), running east and west. The Porter Ranch ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
is 91326.
Description
Gated community
In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential...
of upscale single-family homes. Most residents commute by automobile to business hubs of Simi Valley
Simi Valley, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Simi Valley had a population of 124,237. The population density was 2,940.8 people per square mile...
, Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
and the commercial hub of Woodland Hills
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
Woodland Hills is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California.Woodland Hills is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, east of Calabasas and west of Tarzana, with Warner Center in its northern section...
, at the San Fernando Valley's southwest corner. The community is also close to the Chatsworth
Chatsworth (Amtrak station)
The Chatsworth Amtrak/Metrolink Station, sometimes referred to as the Chatsworth Transportation Center, is an Amtrak and Metrolink rail station in the Los Angeles community of Chatsworth, California, USA. It is served by both Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner from San Luis Obispo to San Diego and...
and Northridge stations
Northridge (Metrolink station)
The Northridge Metrolink Station is a Metrolink rail station in the community of Northridge, California. It is served by Metrolink's Ventura County Line from Los Angeles Union Station to Montalvo. 20 Metrolink trains serve the station each weekday....
served by the Metrolink
Metrolink (Southern California)
Metrolink is a commuter rail system serving Los Angeles and the surrounding area of Southern California; it currently consists of six lines and 55 stations using of track....
commuter rail system that links the San Fernando Valley with Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
and Ventura County.
History
In the late 19th century, Benjamin Porter purchased a part of the Rancho Ex-Mission San FernandoRancho Ex-Mission San Fernando
Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California granted in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Eulogio de Celis...
land grant in the foothills of the Santa Susanas above Northridge. Primarily wheat fields for its first several decades, wild wheat survived into the 1980s. The relatively isolated area later became the site of numerous movie star
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
s' horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
ranches. As with the rest of the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
, suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
an development eventually came to Porter Ranch. However, the area was the last portion of the San Fernando Valley within the Los Angeles city limits to be developed. Key segments of the 1982 blockbuster film E.T. the Extra-terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
were filmed in Porter Ranch. The Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
classic includes several shots from above of the Porter Ranch neighborhood beneath the hillside Palisades Park. Brasilia Dr., Killimore Ave. and Granada Circle appear most often in E.T. Many of the bicycle chase scenes as well as the Halloween sequence were filmed on those streets and elsewhere within that neighborhood. Porter Ridge Park, at the north end of Reseda Blvd., was used for the park scene at the end of the movie.
The original Porter Ranch tract was built in the early to mid 1960s, it was part of the community of Northridge. Later, homes were built starting at the rim of the North Ridge, accessible by Tampa Ave or Reseda Blvd, also there were homes built north of Devonshire Blvd West of Tampa Av. The original tract homes were build in the mid 1960's just north of San Fernando Mission Blvd west of Reseda Blvd about half of these homes were torn down in the late 1970s to build the 118 freeway. Major construction did not occur until the 1970s.
In the late 1960s and into the 1980s, there were two horse and rider statues which marked the unofficial entrance to Porter Ranch. One was located on the North West corner of Tampa and Devonshire. The other was a North East corner on Devonshire and Tunney. They were eventually removed to allow more residential development. There were reports about one of the statues being found in a trash dumpster many years later. A long recurring prank was to climb the statute and put a beer can in the rider's outstretched hand.
About 1969, there was a major wildfire which started near what is now Magic Mountain. There was no structure losses in Northridge, but one homeowner died trying to reach his family/home on top of the ridge. The fire reached Rinaldi Blvd between Tampa and White Oak.
Demographics
As of the 2000 census, and according to the Los Angeles Almanac there were 15,840 people and 5,271 households residing in Porter Ranch. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 61.66% White, 33.25% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 1.86% African American, 0.18% Native American, 1.51% from other races, and 3.48% from two or more races. 5.19% of the population were Hispanic of any race. 38.83% of the population was foreign born; of this, 79.3% came from Asia, 7.5% from Europe, 7.0% from Latin America and 6.2% from other parts of the world.Median household income in 2000 was $95,000, with 47.7% of households having incomes over $100,000 (4 times the US average).
In 2009, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
s "Mapping L.A." project supplied these Porter Ranch neighborhood statistics: population: 24,923; median household income: $121,428.
Local government
Los Angeles Fire DepartmentLos Angeles Fire Department
The Los Angeles Fire Department is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles....
Station 8 and Station 28 are in the area.
Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
operates from the nearby Devonshire Police Station, serving the community.
County, state, and federal representation
The Los Angeles County Department of Health ServicesLos Angeles County Department of Health Services
Health services to over 10 million residents in the Los Angeles County are provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Mental health services are provided by the County Department of Mental Health...
operates the Pacoima Health Center in Pacoima
Pacoima, Los Angeles, California
Pacoima is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California.It is bordered by the Los Angeles districts of Mission Hills on the west, Arleta on the south, Sun Valley on the southeast, Lake View Terrace on the northeast, and by the city of San Fernando on the north...
, serving Porter Ranch.
The United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
Ranch Post Office is located at 19300 Rinaldi Street.
Public schools
The area is served by the Los Angeles Unified School DistrictLos Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest public school system in California. It is the 2nd largest public school district in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population...
.
The area is zoned to Castlebay Lane Elementary School in Porter Ranch and Frost Middle School in Granada Hills. As of September 2008 LAUSD plans to build a K-8 school at Mason Street at Sesnon Boulevard.
Chatsworth High School
Chatsworth High School
Chatsworth High School is a public secondary school located in Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, U.S..As of the 2005–06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 3183 students and 117.8 classroom teachers , for a student-teacher ratio of 27.0.- History :The campus...
in Chatsworth serves western portions of Porter Ranch. Eastern portions of Porter Ranch are zoned to Granada Hills Charter High School
Granada Hills Charter High School
Granada Hills Charter High School is an independent public school consisting of over 4,200 students in grades 9–12, located in Granada Hills, California. It currently holds the record as the top comprehensive public senior high school in Los Angeles...
in Granada Hills; residents of the Granada Hills zone are eligible to attend Northridge Academy High School
Northridge Academy High School
Northridge Academy High School is a public high school located in Northridge, Los Angeles, California, USA.-Overview:The school is administered by the Los Angeles Unified School District...
.
A new public charter high school was being opened to serve the area. Porter Ranch Charter High School was expected to open in Fall 2009. http://www.prchs.org
Private schools
The area is also served by several private schools, including:- Chatsworth Hills AcademyChatsworth Hills AcademyChatsworth Hills Academy is a private, coeducational day school located in Chatsworth, California, USA. CHA students are enrolled in Grades K through Eight and Preschool....
- Chaminade College Preparatory Middle School
- St. John Eudes School
- Sierra Canyon SchoolSierra Canyon SchoolSierra Canyon School is a private, coeducational day school located in Chatsworth, California, USA. SCS students are enrolled in Grades K through 12 and Preschool....
Charter schools
Parks and recreation
Palisades Park is an unstaffed park in Porter Ranch.Porter Ranch is also home to the worlds smallest park, Rinaldi Park, at the corner of Rinaldi Street and Reseda Boulevard.
See also
- Robert M. WilkinsonRobert M. WilkinsonRobert M. Wilkinson was a political figure and lobbyist in the San Fernando Valley in California. He was a member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1953 to 1957 and from 1967 to 1979.-Biography:...
(ca. 1921–2010), Los Angeles City Council member and Porter Ranch lobbyist