Route map:
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Victory Boulevard
NamesakeTo honor soldiers returning from World War I [1]
Maintained by Bureau of Street Services, City of L.A. DPW, City of Burbank, City of Glendale
West end Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve
Major
junctions
Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Canoga Park
Reseda Blvd. in Reseda
Balboa Blvd. in Van Nuys
I-405 in Van Nuys
Sepulveda Blvd. in Van Nuys
Van Nuys Blvd. in Van Nuys
SR 170 in N. Hollywood
Vineland Ave. in N. Hollywood
W. Burbank Blvd. in Burbank
W. Alameda Ave. in Burbank
Western Ave. in Glendale
East end SR 134 at Griffith Park

Victory Boulevard is a major east–west arterial road that runs for 25 miles (40 km) traversing the entire length of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California.

Geography

Victory Boulevard is approximately 25 miles (40 km) long, and is notable for several reasons. Victory Boulevard is the street where one will find the West Valley's major malls at Fallbrook Center and Westfield Topanga, through the Warner Center business district, along a section of the Metro G Line and by three of its stations, past Pierce College, through the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Center with Lake Balboa, Pedlow Skate Park and golf courses, then through the communities of Van Nuys, Valley Glen and North Hollywood in the center of the valley, crossing the Tujunga Wash, and continuing past Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery with its Portal of the Folded Wing, through Burbank's entertainment district, passing the Nickelodeon studios at Olive Avenue, then veering southeast to its eastern terminus at Griffith Park near the Los Angeles Zoo and Travel Town Museum (at the intersection of Riverside Drive & Sonora Avenue).

Victory Boulevard is one of three Los Angeles boulevards mentioned in Randy Newman's song " I Love L.A.". [2]

History

Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys, 2002

When Van Nuys was plotted in 1911, Victory Boulevard was called 7th Avenue. [3] Around 1916, the name was changed to Leesdale Avenue when the city of Los Angeles annexed the San Fernando Valley after the Los Angeles Aqueduct was completed. [3] In the mid-1920s, the Leesdale Improvement Association unveiled plans to expand Leesdale Avenue as an 80-foot (24 m)-wide "great east-and-west boulevard" through the Valley. [3] At that time, the city also changed the name to Victory Boulevard, in honor of soldiers returning from World War I, [1] and paved the boulevard as far west as Balboa Boulevard where it ended. [3] Victory Boulevard did not extend to the West Valley until the 1950s. [3] [4]

Transportation

The Metro Local Lines 96 and 164 runs along Victory Boulevard.

Communities (west to east)

  • West Hills – It is west of Shoup Avenue to the Victory Trailhead entrance of Ahmanson Ranch Park in the Simi Hills, Victory Boulevard marks the southern border of West Hills and northern border of adjacent Woodland Hills.
  • Woodland Hills – It is between the western city limits, and Corbin Avenue on the east, Victory Boulevard marks the northern border of Woodland Hills, with West Hills, Canoga Park, and Winnetka to the north.
  • Canoga Park – Victory Boulevard marks the southern border of Canoga Park between Shoup, and DeSoto, with Woodland Hills to the south
  • Winnetka – DeSoto Avenue is the western boundary, Corbin Avenue is the eastern boundary, with the Los Angeles River and Woodland Hills to the south.
  • Reseda – Victory Boulevard marks the southern border of Reseda between Corbin Avenue and White Oak Avenue, with Tarzana to the south..
  • Tarzana – Victory Boulevard marks the northern border of Tarzana between Corbin Avenue (west) and Lindley Avenue (east) [5]
  • Lake Balboa – between White Oak and I-405 (the San Diego Freeway)
  • Encino – Victory Boulevard marks the northern border of Encino between Lindley Avenue and White Oak
  • Van Nuys – between I-405 (the San Diego Freeway) and Hazeltine Avenue
  • Valley Glen – between Hazeltine Avenue and CA 170 (the Hollywood Freeway) [6]
  • North Hollywood – between CA 170 (the Hollywood Freeway) and Clybourn Avenue
  • Burbank – between Clybourn Avenue and Allen Avenue
  • Glendale – between Allen Avenue and Riverside Drive/Sonora Avenue

Notable landmarks (west to east)

The Victory Trailhead, Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve.
  • Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch)— a 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) public nature preserve park of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, located at the western terminus of Victory Boulevard near the West HillsWoodland Hills boundary [7]
  • Fallbrook Center – 75-acre (300,000 m2), 1-million-square-foot (93,000 m2), open-air shopping center located at Victory Boulevard and Fallbrook Avenue in West Hills.
  • Westfield Topanga – opened in 1964 as Topanga Plaza, California's first enclosed shopping mall, and located on Topanga Canyon Boulevard at Victory Boulevard, Westfield Topanga was extensively renovated from 2006 to 2008 and features 230 stores.
  • Los Angeles Pierce College – opened in 1947 as an agricultural college and the San Fernando Valley's first institution of higher learning, Pierce College today is a two-year public college with almost 100 disciplines and 20,000 students, located on 426 acres (172 ha) in the Chalk Hills, with 2,200 trees, thousands of rose bushes, a nature preserve, botanical garden, and a forest area boasting giant redwoods; Pierce still maintains large sections of tillable and range land and a 226-acre (91 ha) farm at the west side of campus, with an equestrian center and small herds of cattle, sheep and goats [8]
  • Reseda High School – a public high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District established in 1955; used as the setting for the high school in The Shield, several episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and in the feature film Grosse Pointe Blank
  • Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies – located in Tarzana, SOCES is the largest magnet school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, 1780 students in grades 4–12; #1 High School API test score in LAUSD [9]
Pedlow Skate Park, in Encino.

Gallery of landmarks

References

  1. ^ a b Roderick, Kevin (2001). The San Fernando Valley: America's Suburb. Los Angeles Times Books. ISBN  188379255X.
  2. ^ Courrier, Kevin (2005). Randy Newman's American Dreams. ECW Press. p. 246. ISBN  9781550226904.
  3. ^ a b c d e "The Valley Observed: How Leesdale became Victory Boulevard". Archived from the original on 2012-11-10. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
  4. ^ "How Leesdale became Victory Blvd". The Valley Observed - archived. Archived from the original on November 10, 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  5. ^ "Tarzana Neighborhood Council: Tarzana Boundary Map". Tarzananc.org. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Valley Glen Map". Valleyglen.org. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  7. ^ "LA Mountains: Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch)". Lamountains.com.
  8. ^ "Los Angeles Pierce College". Piercecollege.edu. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  9. ^ "Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies". soces.lausd.k12.ca.us. Archived from the original on 23 April 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  10. ^ http://ww1.birminghamhs.org/?sub1=5049f908-bde3-11e9-8f7b-0c2bb01c811c. Retrieved 2019-08-13. {{ cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= ( help)
  11. ^ "Rock Show at Birmingham". Archived from the original on 2008-03-03. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
  12. ^ "Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks". www.laparks.org. Archived from the original on 13 December 2004. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  13. ^ Esquivel, Ralph (May 1, 1956). "Survey of Sales Reveals Record by Valley Plaza". Valley Times (North Hollywood, CA).
  14. ^ "Advertisement for Valley Plaza". Los Angeles Times. April 29, 1960.
  15. ^ "Griffith Park". Archived from the original on 2005-02-16.
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