Reseda/rəˈsiːdə/ is a neighborhood in theSan Fernando Valley region ofLos Angeles,California. It was founded in 1912, and its central business district started developing in 1915. The neighborhood was devoted to agriculture for many years. Earthquakes struck the area in1971 and1994.
The neighborhood has 15 public and five private schools. The community includes public parks, a senior center and a regional branch library.
In 1909 the Suburban Homes Company, a syndicate led byH. J. Whitley, general manager of the Board of Control,Harry Chandler,H. G. Otis,M. H. Sherman and O. F. Brandt purchased 48,000 acres of the Farming and Milling Company for $2,500,000.[2]Henry E. Huntington extended hisPacific Electric Railway (Red Cars) through the Valley toOwensmouth (now Canoga Park). The Suburban Home Company laid out plans for roads and the towns of Van Nuys, Reseda (Marian) and Canoga Park (Owensmouth). Los Angeles annexed the rural areas in 1915.[3][4]
On land that was originally part of theSan Fernando Mission, Reseda originated in 1912 as the town of Marian. It was named after Marian Otis Chandler, the daughter ofLos Angeles Times publisherHarrison Gray Otis and wife ofHarry Chandler.[5] The name Reseda refers to the fragrant plantReseda odorata (mignonette)[6] which was commonly found in gardens of the time and is native to many areas with a Mediterranean climate.
The geographic name "Reseda" was first used for a siding on a branch of theSouthern Pacific Railroad, which ran between the cities ofBurbank andChatsworth in the San Fernando Valley. In the 1920s, the name was transferred from the Southern Pacific Railroad to the Western Division of thePacific Electric Railway "Red Cars Line", which had expedited development after the building of theLos Angeles Aqueduct. Later, it was used as the name of a stop on the Pacific Electric interurban railway along Sherman Way.[7][8]
Throughout this time, the town's name of Marian remained; then in 1921, when aFourth Class Post Office was found to be necessary, the town's name had to be changed. As theZelzah Tribune reported:
The Marian territory has made application for a post office to serve that district. To avoid confusion in mail distribution it is necessary that the name of the town be changed and the people of that community have decided upon the name Reseda, and if the application is granted it will be the only post office in the United States by that name. Mrs. Turner, we are told, who has taken an active interest in the canvass and to create a sentiment for post office advantages, will possibly be the postmistress.[9]
Ninety-two residents convened and agreed to rename the town Reseda.[10] The new post office bearing the name was established on May 9, 1922, although local records show that the post office was dedicated on May 26.[6] The post office officially opened on July 1, with receipts of $1.59.[6]
The central business district began in 1915, at what is now the intersection ofReseda Boulevard andSherman Way, with the construction of a hardware store. Soon a blacksmith shop and an auto repair garage were built nearby, followed by a grocery store and a drugstore. There were no sidewalks or pavement yet; most were added between 1918 and the early 1920s. On the southwest corner of Sherman Way a wooden building housed the volunteer fire department until 1922, when the present brick building was erected, as was the Reseda Bank. The wooden building housing the fire department was then moved to the southeast side of Sherman Way, where it remained until 1933.[10] In May 1929, the city's namesake roadway, Reseda Avenue, was renamed Reseda Boulevard by a Los Angeles City ordinance.[11] Parts of the original 1920s and 1930s residential neighborhood remain southwest of Sherman Way and Reseda Boulevard as well as in Reseda Ranch nearGrover Cleveland High School.
Reseda grew slowly, with the stock market crash of 1929 and subsequentGreat Depression further slowing expansion.
During the late 1920s and 1930s, the area's reputation developed for its production of lettuce, lima beans, sugar beets, and walnuts, becoming known as one of the nation's largest producers of lettuce by the late 1930s. The Southern Pacific Railroad trains came up the middle of Sherman Way to pick up freight cars of lettuce daily during the lettuce harvest season. Around that time, manufacturing roof tile, canning poultry products, and processing walnuts began to emerge as viable businesses as well.[10]
Reseda remained primarily an agricultural community, with a population of 1,805 in 1930. By 1940 the population had increased to 4,147.[12] The mid- to late 1940s saw a large increase in the numbers of single-family dwellings and the loss of numerous acres of agriculture, and the addition of First Class Postal Service.[10] Reseda was one of the early suburbs in theSan Fernando Valley. The large ranches were subdivided, and the area was developed by realtors just as World War II veterans were returning home. The familiar orange groves were successively plowed under in favor of housing. At the time, most jobs were in theLos Angeles Basin and to the south, over the Santa Monica mountains.
By 1950, Reseda had over 16,000 residents, and in the early 1950s a population explosion took place, making Reseda one of the most popular and populated Valley communities. Because of this, Reseda's merchants provided bus service to transport shoppers throughout the busy downtown Reseda areas.[10]
In the early 1950s, the Valley's population reached 400,000. The average new Valley home, in 1949, cost $9,000. By 1955, that same house could go for nearly $15,000. Even at that price, though, a household income was about $6,000 per year, making Valley incomes higher than the national average. By 1960, the average market value of a Valley home reached $18,850.
During the 1970s, the above-average residential real estate values and income patterns began to decline. Land and housing costs shot upward, while most incomes only crept. By the beginning of the 1980s, the average price of a home in the Valley reached $110,000. According to a 2004 study by theU.S. Bureau of the Census, it has tripled that of the early 1980s.
The1994 Northridge earthquake struck at 4:31 a.m. on January 17 and measured 6.7 on themoment magnitude scale. It remains the only large earthquake to originate directly under a major U.S. city in modern times as well as the most damaging earthquake to strike the U.S. since theSan Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Its epicenter was between Arminta Street and Ingomar Street, just west of Reseda Boulevard.[13][14][15]
This was the second time in 23 years the area had been affected by a strong earthquake. On February 9, 1971, theSan Fernando earthquake (also known as theSylmar earthquake) struck the area with a magnitude of 6.6.[16]
The 2010 U.S. census counted 74,363 residents in Reseda's 91335 ZIP code. The median age was 35.5, and the median yearly household income was $53,842.[21]
In 2008, theLos Angeles Times, Mapping L.A. project described Reseda as "highly diverse" ethnically within Los Angeles. The breakdown of the population using the 2000 census was 43.5%Latino; 37.2%Non-Hispanic white; 11.2%Asian; 4.2%black; and 3.9% other. Mexico (33.7%) and El Salvador (12.4%) were the most common birthplaces of the 43.1% of the residents who were born abroad.[19]
In 2010, renters occupied 48.5% of the housing stock, and house or apartment-owners held 51.5%.[21]
Mail services are provided by theUnited States Postal Service's branch post office at 7320 Reseda Boulevard.[23] On October 14, 2006, the branch office was renamed the CoachJohn Wooden Post Office on Wooden's 96th birthday. Wooden lived in nearbyEncino and his daughter lived in Reseda.[24]
Nineteen percent of Reseda residents 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, an average figure for both the city and the county. The proportion of residents with a high school diploma was high for the county.[19]
In 1982, the board considered closing Garden Grove Elementary School. In April 1983, an advisory committee of theLos Angeles Unified School District recommended closing eight schools, including Garden Grove School and Newcastle Avenue School.[29] In August 1983, the board publicly considered closing Garden Grove, which had 176 students at the time, and Newcastle Avenue, which had 314 students.[30] In 1984, the board voted to close the Garden Grove and Newcastle Avenue schools.[31]
A decade after the schools closed, which occurred due to thousands of parents withdrawing their children from the Los Angeles Unified School District in the wake of mandatory busing, they were reopened. With the advent of class-size reduction becoming the priority, many parents began returning their children to the city's schools, and the number of newly arrived immigrants was boosting enrollments, officials said.[32]
TheReseda Country Club was a well-known concert venue during the Los Angelespunk rock andnew wave scenes of the 1980s. At the intersection of Canby Avenue and Sherman Way, the Country Club hosted bands, includingOingo Boingo,U2,Culture Club,Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, andRoxy Music, from 1980 to 1982.[33] The site began in the 1950s as one of the first Sav-On Drug stores in the San Fernando Valley, then became a nightclub, and remained a dancehall and music venue during the 1990s; it was also used as a boxing venue.[34] It later became and remains a Spanish-language Christian church.[35]
The Reseda Theater, at 18443 Sherman Way, was built in 1948 and closed in 1988. The exterior was briefly seen at the beginning of the filmBoogie Nights.[36]
Reseda Park and Recreation Center has barbecue pits, a baseball diamond, basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, picnic tables, an outdoor unheated pool, table tennis, tennis courts, and volleyball courts.[37] The Recreation Center offers a variety of sports programs and classes.[38] Reseda Park also hosts an ornamental lake for fishing and a large duck pond.[39] During the 1950s and 1960s, the duck pond also had a boathouse, where one could rent electric boats by the hour.[12]
Randal D. Simmons Park is a several acre park adjacent to the West Valley Regional Library. A tribute to officer Randal D. Simmons the park offers picnic grounds, walking, and jogging trails, shade trees, and a children's playground[41]
West Valley Family YMCA offers classes and has a soccer field, playground, daycare center, and swimming pool.[42]
Reseda Blvd. has the longest stretch of protected bike lanes in Southern California and hosted Ready for Reseda aCiclavia event after opening in March 2024.[43]
A number of movies have been filmed or set in Reseda:[12]
Targets (1968) features the Reseda Drive-In Theatre (demolished in the mid-1970s) in a long sequence in which a deranged gunman hiding behind its screen goes on a killing spree, randomly shooting audience members as they sit in their cars. Other scenes offer various glimpses of Reseda and environs as they were in 1967, the year the film was made.
Tuff Turf (1985), Morgan Hiller (James Spader) is an intelligent but bullied teenager from Connecticut who relocates to Los Angeles with his strict mother and his father after his father's business goes under.
InTerminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) when the T-1000 searches the computer in the squad car, John Connor's address appears as 19828 Almond Ave., Reseda.
Some scenes inFalling Down (1993) were filmed in Reseda as William Foster (Michael Douglas) makes his way through the Valley.
A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995) places the home of the main character in Reseda. Both the beginning and ending scenes of the movie ostensibly take place on a Reseda baseball field.
InBoogie Nights (1997), the nightclub scenes were filmed at The Country Club building.
Several prominent scenes fromMagnolia (1999) were filmed in Reseda.
Erin Brockovich (2000) contains a number of scenes filmed in Reseda.
Reseda Blvd (2014) contains scenes at Skateland and Reseda Park.
"Errol Flynn", written byAmanda McBroom and performed byBarbara Cook on Cook's 1994 albumLive from London, contains a reference to Reseda as the hometown of the singer and her actor father.[12]
The show10 Items or Less was filmed in Jons Marketplace, an actual grocery store in Reseda, and often used real customers as extras.[12]
The same store is the setting of the notable scene where Eleanor Shellstrop dies inThe Good Place.
The seriesAmerican Dad! mentions Reseda in an episode titledSurro-Gate. The lesbian couple in the episode explain that the reason why they left Reseda was supposedly to change the minds of people who disagreed with their beliefs.
In a season-three episode ofAngel, titled "Birthday", Cordelia's vision leads her to visit a girl who lives in Reseda.
The showMy Name Is Earl often was filmed in Reseda, captured to look like rural small-town America.[12]
In the HBO seriesEntourage, Terrance McQuewick refers to the town when firing Ari Gold during the second season. "That's what Arthur Jansen said in 1973. He was the first conspirator that I ever dealt with. Try finding him now Ari, he's selling auto insurance in Reseda".[This quote needs a citation]
In the web seriesCobra Kai (a follow-up toThe Karate Kid), Johnny Lawrence'sdojo is located at a strip mall in Reseda.
Between February 2008 and May 2018, professional wrestling companyPro Wrestling Guerrilla held all but three of their events in American Legion Post #308 in Reseda.[44]
^Culver, Lawrence (2010).The Frontier of Leisure: Southern California and the Shaping of Modern America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN9780195382631.
^Mulholland, Catherine (1987).The Owensmouth Baby: The Making of a San Fernando Valley Town. Northridge, CA: Santa Susana Press. pp. 18–20.ISBN978-0937048429.
^abcSalley, Harold E. (1977).History of California Post Offices, 1849–1976. Lamesa, CA: Postal History Associates.ISBN0-9601558-1-3.
^Erwin Gustav Gudde (2010).California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names (Fourth ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 267.ISBN978-0520266193.
^Coscia, David (2011).Pacific Electric and the Growth of the San Fernando Valley. Bellflower, CA: Shade Tree Books.ISBN978-1-57864-735-4.
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