Panorama City is a neighborhood in the city of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

. It has a generally young age range as well as the highest population density in the Valley. More than half of the neighborhood's population was born abroad, the majority being from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. Known as the Valley's first planned community after a transition from agriculture to a post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

housing boom, it has been home to several notable residents. It is now a mixture of single-family homes and low-rise apartment buildings. Panorama City has three high schools, two recreational centers, a senior center, ice rink, two hospitals and a chamber of commerce.

History

Panorama City is known as the San Fernando Valley's first planned community. In 1948, it was developed as such by residential developer Fritz B. Burns and industrialist

Henry J. Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known for his shipbuilding and construction projects, then later for his involvement in fostering modern American health care. Prior to World War II, ...

. The master plan was created by architectural firm

Wurdeman & Becket Wurdeman & Becket was an architectural firm, a partnership of Walter Wurdeman, Welton Becket and Charles F. Plummer. The Moderne Pan-Pacific Auditorium, dating from 1935, brought them local fame. Besides those works ascribed to Mr. Wurdemann and M ...

. Burns, seeing the tremendous potential fortune that could be made as large numbers of

veterans came home and started families, teamed up with Kaiser in 1945 to form Kaiser Community Homes. The vast majority of the houses were bought with loans issued by the

Federal Housing Administration The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a Independent agencies of the United States government, United States government agency founded by Pr ...

or the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

. Homes in the area were sold with racially discriminatory covenants. A "Conditions, Covenants, Restrictions" document filed with the county recorder declared that no Panorama City lot could be "used or occupied by any person whose blood is not entirely that of the white or Caucasian race." Such restrictive covenants, which sometimes also limited ownership to people "of the Christian faith," were then common in many communities at the time. Although rendered legally unenforceable by the

Civil Rights Act of 1968 The Civil Rights Act of 1968 () is a Lists of landmark court decisions, landmark law in the United States signed into law by President of the United States, United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the King assassination riots. Titles ...

, most of these documents have not been amended to remove the superfluous language. '' De facto'' integration was accelerated by the

Community Reinvestment Act The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA, P.L. 95-128, 91 Stat. 1147, title VIII of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1977, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to h ...

of 1977. The CRA-insured credit was provided to the entire community without regard to race or income, causing

white flight The white flight, also known as white exodus, is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the Racism ...

as with many other areas of the San Fernando Valley. During the period of

desegregation busing Desegregation busing (also known as integrated busing, forced busing, or simply busing) was an attempt to diversify the racial make-up of schools in the United States by transporting students to more distant schools with less diverse student pop ...

, Panorama City was exempted due to its diversity. Panorama City was once adjacent to

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

' largest assembly plant to date. Today, the

Van Nuys Assembly Van Nuys Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Van Nuys, California. The plant opened in 1947 producing Chevrolet Advance Design trucks. Later it would produce several different models including Chevrolet full-size ( Caprice, Imp ...

plant has been replaced with a large shopping center called The Plant. A mural on both sides of Van Nuys Boulevard, under the rail bridge across from the Van Nuys Station, pays homage to the glory years of the GM plant.

Geography

Panorama City touches Mission Hills on the north, Arleta on the northeast, Sun Valley on the east,

Valley Glen Valley Glen is a neighborhood in the southeastern section of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. Once part of Van Nuys and North Hollywood, it became a separate neighborhood in 1998. Valley Glen is home to Los Angeles Valley Coll ...

on the southeast,

Van Nuys Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1 ...

on the south and North Hills on the west. For the most part, the community is a mixture of small single-family homes and low-rise apartment buildings.

Demographics

The 2010 U.S. census counted 69,817 residents in the neighborhood’s 91402 ZIP code. The median age was 30.1, and the median yearly household income at that time was USD$41,467. In 2008, the ''Los Angeles Times''

Mapping L.A. Mapping L.A. was a 2009 project of the ''Los Angeles Times''. It identified 158 cities and Unincorporated area, unincorporated areas within Los Angeles County, California. It also drew boundary lines for 114 neighborhoods within the Los Angeles, C ...

project described Panorama City as an area that was "moderately diverse" ethnically, with a high percentage of

Latinos Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spanish or Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race. According to th ...

and a significant population of

Filipinos Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino language, Filipino, Philippine English, English, or other Philippine language ...

. Filipinos and Mexicans were the most common ancestries in the neighborhood. At that time, the breakdown was

, 70.1%;

whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

, 11.5%;

Asians "Asian people" (sometimes "Asiatic people")United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purposes. is an umbrella term ...

, 11.9%;

blacks Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ch ...

, 4.3%; and others, 2.2%. Mexico (52.1%) and El Salvador (13.4%) were the most common places of birth for the 55.0% of the residents who were born outside of the United States—a high percentage for Los Angeles. As of the 2010 census, renters were occupying 64.8% of the housing stock, while owners held 35.2%. There were 2,849 families headed by single parents. The rate of 20.2% was considered to be a high one. There were 1,837 veterans, or 4.3% of the population, a low percentage compared to the rest of the city and county.

Parks and recreation

The Panorama Recreation Center is in the community. The center, which also functions as a

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

drop-in facility, has an auditorium, a lighted baseball diamond, lighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, an indoor gymnasium, picnic tables, and unlit tennis courts. The Sepulveda Recreation Center is located in Panorama City.Condon, Lee.
Destroyed Rec Center Rises Anew
" ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. July 20, 2000. Metro Part B Zones Desk. 1. Retrieved on March 20, 2010. "the Sepulveda Recreation Center in Panorama City." The center has two indoor gymnasiums, both of which can be used as auditoriums. The center also has a lighted baseball diamond, lighted indoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, and lighted tennis courts.Sepulveda Recreation Center
" City of Los Angeles. Retrieved on March 20, 2010. The Sepulveda Pool is an outdoor unheated seasonal pool in the Sepulveda center. The Mid-Valley Senior Citizen Center is in Panorama City. The center has an auditorium, a kitchen, and a stage. The building was originally a convalescent home. As of July 2000 the former convalescent home was being converted into the senior center. The LA Kings Valley Ice Center, formerly known as the Valley Skating Center is an ice rink facility located in Panorama City. The facility has two rinks, the "Freeze" rink to the north, and the "Glacier" rink to the south. The facility offers adult and youth

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

programs, learn to play programs, learn to skate for hockey and

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...

. The rink also has public stick times, public skating sessions, and freestyle sessions. Either rink is rentable for birthday parties or other events.

Broomball Broomball is a both a recreational and organized competitive winter sport, winter and ball sport played on ice or snow. It is played either indoors or outdoors, depending on the climate and location. It is most popularly played in Canada and the ...

is available if a rink is rented. The rink is home to the California Heat amateur hockey club, who compete in the Southern California Amateur Hockey Association (SCAHA), a league of the California Amateur Hockey Association, which is the largest youth league in the western United States.

Government and infrastructure

The Panorama City Neighborhood Council is a city agency formed by volunteer elected officials and appointed officials. The purpose of the Panorama City Neighborhood Council is to provide an inclusive open forum for public discussion, and to serve as an advisory body on issues of concern to the Panorama City area and in the governance of the city of Los Angeles. The Council gained its official city role upon certification by the Board Of Neighborhood Commissioners on March 15, 2007.

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

and

LADOT The Los Angeles Department of Transportation, commonly referred to as LADOT, is a municipal agency that oversees transportation planning, design, construction, maintenance and operations within the city of Los Angeles. LADOT was created by city o ...

operates fixed-route transit bus service in Panorama City.

Metro Rapid Metro Rapid is a bus service in Los Angeles County, California, operated as part of the Los Angeles Metro Bus system. Metro Rapid service was introduced in the early 2000s to provide faster service on major corridors in Los Angeles, with stops sp ...

line 761 operates on

Van Nuys Boulevard Van Nuys Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. The boulevard was notable for its Cruising (driving), cruising lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1 ...

Metro Local The Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). Metro Bus operates in the Los Angeles Basin, the San Fernando Valley, and th ...

lines 152, 158, 166, 167, 169, and 233 operate the community. LADOT operates DASH bus service on their Panorama City/Van Nuys route. In 2027, Metro will open the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project light rail project with stations on

at Nordhoff Street and

Roscoe Boulevard Roscoe Boulevard is a major east–west arterial road that runs for across the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. Name There are two theories as to how Roscoe Boulevard got its name. The first is that it is named after a Southern ...

Representation

California's 29th congressional district California's 29th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California based in the north central San Fernando Valley. The district is represented by . It includes the city of San Fernando, as well as the Los Ange ...

* California's 20th State Senate district *

California's 46th State Assembly district California's 46th State Assembly district is one of 80 California State Assembly districts. It is currently represented by Democrat Jesse Gabriel of North Hollywood. District profile The district encompasses the central and southeastern ...

* Panorama City Chamber of Commerce *

Los Angeles City Council District 6 Los Angeles's 6th City Council district is one of the fifteen districts in the Los Angeles City Council. It is currently represented by Imelda Padilla. The district was created in 1925 after a new city charter was passed, which replaced the form ...

* Panorama City Neighborhood Council

Economics

Panorama City was the largest center of major retail outlets in the San Fernando Valley, starting with the opening of what would later become the

Panorama Mall Panorama Mall is a mall in Panorama City, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California. It is an enclosed mall anchored by only one large discount store, Walmart. The mall originally opened as the open-air Broadway–Valley shopping center in 19 ...

in 1955. At the time, this small complex included

The Broadway The Broadway was a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1896 by English-born Arthur Letts Sr., and named after what was once the city's main shopping street, the Broadway became a dominant reta ...

and five other stores. Three other major department stores — Ohrbachs, J. W. Robinson's and

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001; its common nickname was "Monkey Wards". ...

– opened nearby over the next ten years, and they were marketed collectively as the Panorama City Shopping Center. By the 1970s, the area had lost business to nearby communities. The freestanding Ohrbach's building, designed by the architectural firm Welton Becket and Associates, is significant in that it represents "an early and important phase of commercial development" in the neighborhood. It is now the site of the Valley Indoor Swap Meet. The

remains an important local mall, with a

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

and Curacao discount stores, the latter catering to the Hispanic market.

Education

Thirteen percent of Panorama City residents aged 25 and older had earned a

four-year degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years (de ...

by 2000, an average percentage for both the city and the county. The percentage of the same-age residents with less than a

high school diploma A high school diploma (sometimes referred to as a high school degree) is a diploma awarded upon graduation of high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary s ...

was high for the county. Schools within the Panorama City boundaries are:

Public

Panorama High School Panorama Senior High School is a public high school located on Van Nuys Boulevard in the Panorama City district of Los Angeles, California, United States. Designed by architect DLR Group WWCOT, Panorama High School opened in 2006 to students i ...

, 8015 Van Nuys Blvd. * Liggett Street Elementary School, 9373 Moonbeam Avenue * Primary Academy for Success, elementary, 9075 Willis Avenue * Valor Academy Elementary School, 8755 Woodman Avenue * Panorama City Elementary School, 8600 Kester Avenue * Chase Street Elementary School, 14041 Chase Street * Vista Middle School, 15040 Roscoe Boulevard * Burton Street Elementary School, 8111 Calhoun Avenue * Cal Burke High School,

continuation In computer science, a continuation is an abstract representation of the control state of a computer program. A continuation implements ( reifies) the program control state, i.e. the continuation is a data structure that represents the computat ...

, 14630 Lanark Street * Ranchito Avenue Elementary School, 7940 Ranchito Avenue *

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...

Elementary School, 8150 Cedros Avenue *Alta California Elementary School, 14839 Rayen St

Private

* St. Genevieve Elementary School, 14024 Community Street * St. Genevieve High School, 13967 Roscoe Boulevard

Healthcare

Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP) is an American integrated delivery system, integrated managed care consortium headquartered in Oakland, California. Founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield, Sidney R. Garfield, the ...

has a hospital and medical center complex on Woodman Avenue and

serving the central and eastern San Fernando Valley. The complex covers three city blocks as a medical campus first opened in 1963. Mission Community Hospital is a private, for-profit hospital owned by Deanco Healthcare located on Roscoe Blvd. serving the neighborhood. Mission Community Hospital features a basic adult Emergency Room, surgical services, an inpatient psychiatric hospital, and inpatient medical services.

Notable people

* José Benavidez, boxer * Zack Britton,

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) player *

Candace Cameron Bure Candace Helaine Cameron Bure (; Cameron; born April 6, 1976) is an American actress and talk show panelist. She is known for portraying D.J. Tanner on ''Full House'' and its sequel series ''Fuller House (TV series), Fuller House'', and a number ...

, actress *

Kirk Cameron Kirk Thomas Cameron (born October 12, 1970) is an American actor, author, Evangelism, evangelist, television host, documentarian and producer. He first gained fame as a teen actor playing Mike Seaver on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC si ...

, actor and Christian evangelist * Josue Cartagena, soccer player *

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam ( ; born 22 November 1940) is an American-British filmmaker, comedian, collage film, collage animator, and actor. He gained stardom as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Pa ...

, Monty Python member and film director *

Meagan Good Meagan Monique Good (born August 8, 1981) is an American actress and model. She first gained critical attention for her role in the film '' Eve's Bayou'' (1997) prior to landing the role of Nina in the Nickelodeon sitcom '' Cousin Skeeter'' (199 ...

, actress *

Mark-Paul Gosselaar Mark-Paul Harry Gosselaar (; born March 1, 1974) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Zack Morris in the NBC series ''Saved by the Bell'' and both its sequel series, '' Saved by the Bell: The College Years'' and the 2020 Peacock o ...

, actor *

Hopsin Marcus Jamal Hopson (born July 18, 1985), known professionally as Hopsin, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles, California. He is known for his use of white colored eye contacts in his music videos and perform ...

, rapperMarcus Hopson
florida.arrests.org *

Randy Myers Randall Kirk Myers (born September 19, 1962) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and Toronto Bl ...

, animator and director *

Angela Ruggiero Angela Marie Ruggiero (born January 3, 1980) is an American former ice hockey Defenceman (ice hockey), defenseman, gold medalist, and four-time Olympian. She was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 2010 to 2018 and served as a ...

, women's ice hockey player, Gold medalist *

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda ( ; born February 11, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's co-lead vocalist, as well as rhythm guitarist, ...

, musician * David Smith, volleyball player and Olympian *

Giancarlo Stanton Giancarlo Cruz-Michael Stanton (born November 8, 1989), formerly known as Mike Stanton, is an American professional baseball designated hitter and outfielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in ML ...

, MLB player *

Sara Velas Sara Velas is an artist, graphic designer, gardener, curator and Artistic Director of the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles, CA, US. Biography Born in Panorama City, Velas studied the panoramic painting style while a student at the Sam Fox S ...

, artist * Steve Wapnick, MLB player

References

External links

Panorama City Chamber of Commerce

Panorama City Neighborhood Council

Pacoima/Panorama City
- ''CRA/LA'' *
Panorama City crime map and statistics
{{Authority control Neighborhoods in Los Angeles Communities in the San Fernando Valley 1948 establishments in California Populated places established in 1948