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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEIGHBORHOOD PAGES
Click on the cities and neighborhoods below for descriptions of life in these Los Angeles areas.
Burbank, the self-proclaimed "Media Capital of the World," is in the eastern San Fernando Valley. The steep Verdugo Mountains create a dramatic backdrop to a revitalized urban center.
Although nearby Hollywood gets credit for being the glamorous base of the entertainment industry, much of the real work is done in Burbank. Companies with headquarters or outposts in Burbank include the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. Entertainment, NBC Universal, Cartoon Network and Dick Clark Productions. Businesses such as DreamWorks, Universal Studios and CBS Studio Center also are located nearby.
These employers give Burbank its dynamic flow of creative residents – a mix of young singles, established families and newly transplanted entertainment execs who crowd the streets, restaurants and shops of the newly minted Downtown Village area.
Originally settled as a sheep ranch in 1867, the city had its first small housing boom in the 1920s when businesses, including First National Studios (now Warner Bros.), Cinecolor and Bendix Aviation, set up shop. The aviation industry increasingly drew people to Burbank because of what is now Bob Hope Airport. Originally called United Airport, it was the largest commercial airport in Los Angeles until LAX was built in 1946.
During World War II, Lockheed, a longtime Burbank business, employed about 80,000 men and women to produce aircraft including fighter jets at its headquarters, triggering another population influx.
Residents have access to the local airport and various downtown areas via a range of freeways, including the 5 and 134, as well as public transportation systems such as Metrolink and Amtrak. They have their own police department, fire department and public school system. Woodbury University and several makeup and beauty trade schools are located in Burbank. Also within easy reach are the amenities in Griffith Park, hiking at the Stough Canyon Nature Center and golfing at the DeBell Municipal course.
Single-family homes make up most of the housing in Burbank, with a percentage of condominiums and rental apartments available. Although median prices for single-family homes have risen steadily for the last several years, they have slowed in 2006 and 2007. At $600,000 in March 2007, median prices were down 4% from the same month last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
But real estate analysts attribute this to a general slowdown in the Southern California market and point to stable prices in several desirable Burbank neighborhoods as a sign that the market still holds a lot of value.
Magnolia Park, first developed in the 1920s and expanded in the 1940s, is close to the media district and downtown but retains a small-town charm and intimacy. Houses in the area, about 1,500 square feet, typically sell in the $700,000 to $800,000 range. The Rancho area, near the Equestrian Center, is zoned for boarding horses and offers buyers an equestrian lifestyle. These homes typically sell in the high $800,000 to $1.5-million range. Newer hillside developments – Halston Estates and Highridge Estates – feature larger homes in the $1.6-million vicinity.
