The Crescenta Valley is a small inland valley in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, lying between the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies betw ...

on the northeast and the

Verdugo Mountains The Verdugo Mountains, also known as the Verdugo Hills or simply The Verdugos, are a small, rugged mountain range of the Transverse Ranges system in Los Angeles County, California. Located just south of the western San Gabriel Mountains, the Ve ...

and San Rafael Hills on the southwest. It opens into the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

at the northwest and the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...

at the southeast. It is nearly bisected by the

Verdugo Wash Verdugo Wash is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 16, 2011 tributary of the Los Angeles River, in the Glendale area of Los Angeles County, California. The stre ...

, a smaller valley separating the Verdugo Mountains from the San Rafael Hills. Most of the valley lies at an elevation of over 1,500 feet (450 m).

History

The Crescenta Valley was a pastoral area under the Rancho Tujunga, Rancho San Rafael and Rancho La Cañada

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

s during the Spanish and Mexican periods. The first American settler in the valley was Theodore Pickens, who settled at the top of today's Briggs Avenue in 1871. The western portion of ''Rancho La Cañada'', which included the major portion of the valley, was subdivided in 1881 into 10-acre parcels by Dr. Benjamin B. Briggs. Significant suburban residential development began with the opening of the Montrose subdivision in 1913, accelerating significantly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Today, the Crescenta Valley is a mature

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

an area. The name "Crescenta" does not derive from the Spanish word for "crescent", which is ''el creciente''. Benjamin Briggs coined the name from the English word "crescent" because he could see three crescent-shaped formations from his home,Gudde, Erwin G. (1998). ''California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographic Names'', 4th ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. or because of the shape of the valley.Dougherty, June (1993). ''Sources of History: La Crescenta''. Privately printed. The post office was established in 1888, with the Post Office adding the "La" to the name to distinguish it from Crescent City, California.

Communities

Incorporated cities, districts of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, districts of

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia *Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre * Glendale, Queensland, ...

, and unincorporated

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, suc ...

s in the Crescenta Valley include: * City of La Cañada Flintridge * Crescenta Highlands (also known as "Glendale Annex"): City of Glendale *

La Crescenta-Montrose La Crescenta-Montrose () is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The community is bordered by Glendale to the south and west, La Cañada Flintridge to the east, and Angeles National Forest to the north. Ac ...

: unincorporated LA county & City of Glendale * Montrose: City of Glendale * Sunland: City of Los Angeles * Tujunga: City of Los Angeles * Verdugo City: City of Glendale

Weather

Daytime temperatures are generally 10 to 15 °F (6 to 8 °C) warmer than those in coastal regions during summer. Winter is somewhat colder than most L.A. area stations. Winter snow is rare, but not unknown on the valley floor. Because of proximity to the mountains, rainfall is generally higher than most Los Angeles area locations, averaging around 20 inches per year, mostly falling between November and March.

References

External links

Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce

Historical Society of Crescenta Valley
*
Crescenta Valley Weekly
' {{California Geography of Los Angeles Geography of the San Fernando Valley Geography of the San Gabriel Valley Glendale, California La Cañada Flintridge, California Los Angeles County, California regions San Gabriel Mountains San Rafael Hills Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles Valleys of California Valleys of Los Angeles County, California Verdugo Mountains