Sylmar, Los Angeles, California
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Sylmar is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, California. It is bounded by the Los Angeles city limit on two sides, Hubbard Street and Interstate 5.
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History of Sylmar
Some 1500 years before the Spaniards settled here in the 1700s, the area we now know as Sylmar was inhabited by the Shoshone. They built tule grass and willow branch wickiups. They found ample food, water from springs, and traded with friendly tribes as far away as Catalina Island and Arizona.
Centuries later, the Spaniards came to California and founded the San Fernando Mission in 1797. Father Iballa, Padre at the Mission from 1820 to 1834, was indirectly responsible for Sylmar’s olives. He recognized the similarity of the climate and soil to those found in Europe where olives had been cultivated for centuries. He sent to Spain for young seedlings and planted them around the mission. Sylmar’s existence is so entwined with that of San Fernando that for many years the two were thought of as one. San Fernando became a city in 1874. By 1890, a group of Illinois businessmen bought 2,000 acres (8 km²) east of the railroad tracks on San Fernando Road just south of Roxford Street and planted olives on over 1,100 acres (4.5 km²). Calling themselves the Los Angeles Olive Growers Association, they built a packing plant and sold olives under the Sylmar Packing label. Sylmar’s olives became famous throughout the state for sweetness and purity. Chinese pickers were hired to harvest the crops and produced up to 800 US gallons (3,000 L) of olive oil a day. The pickling plant was located on the corner of Roxford and San Fernando Road.
Along with its near perfect climate for growing olives, Sylmar seemed also ideal for the treatment of respiratory problems. The present Olive View Medical Center has its root in a tuberculosis sanitarium which opened close to the current site in 1920 and was destroyed by a fire in 1962. A new major medical center facility opened in January 1971 and was destroyed in the Sylmar earthquake the following month. The new Olive View Medical Center was completed and opened in 1987.
Pioneer Cemetery:
Located on a 3.8 acre (15,000 m²) site at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Bledsoe Street, it was originally a 10 acre (400,000 m²) site when dedicated in 1892. It was known at the time as the San Fernando Cemetery and also as the Morningside Cemetery and is the 2nd oldest cemetery in the San Fernando Valley. Over 740 outstanding residents were buried there between 1892 and 1939. The cemetery was officially abandoned in 1960. Edith Reber, a long time resident of Sylmar and an active member of the Chamber, for many years ran a volunteer effort to maintain the grounds with the help of local volunteer groups.
Sylmar lifestyles:
Sylmar is a community conveniently located in the northernmost section of the San Fernando Valley and is part of the City of Los Angeles. Sylmar is served by the Los Angeles City and County governments. It’s adopted motto is “It All Comes Together In Sylmar” reflects both the vision of the community and the easy access to and from the area via the four major freeways that serve it.
The topography is generally flat with sloping hills of the San Gabriel Mountains to the north. Sylmar is the terminus of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and was once the site of the world’s largest olive groves- hence its name, which means “Sea of Trees”. Average summer temperature is 88 degrees, dropping down to 68 degrees in winter with cooler evenings. It is the one area in the Los Angeles basin that is relatively smog free due to the occasionally strong winds along the foothills.
Stetson Ranch, Equestrian Park is located just below the mountains and adjacent to Angelus National Forest, is one of only two located in Los Angeles City. Hang gliders can be seen soaring in the mountain areas and landing in Sylmar. Several other city and county parks and two golf courses are also located within Sylmar’s boundaries.
A Veterans hospital built in 1926 at the top of Sayre Street was destroyed by the 1971 earthquake and the entire 97 acres (390,000 m²) were dedicated to Los Angeles County in 1977 as Veterans Memorial Park.
The first public park was formally dedicated in 1964 on the site of the old El Retiro School for Girls at Polk Street and Borden Avenue. Sylmar fell heir to 160 acres (650,000 m²) of land among Hubbard Street at Eldridge Avenue when the state abandoned plans for a regional mental hospital. Eleven acres (45,000 m²) were bought by the Los Angeles Unified School District for a future junior high school and subsequently sold to the Community College District, and Los Angels Mission College was built. The remaining land is now El Cariso County Park.
Note to reader: The above information was taken from a flyer passed out to parade viewers at the Annual Sylmar Parade.
Power supply facilities
Near Sylmar there is the static inverter plant of the HVDC powerline Pacific Intertie, which was inaugaurated in 1970, destroyed in the earthquake of 1971 and rebuilt in 1972. It was extended in 1985. At the extension of Pacific Intertie in 1989 a second static invertor station, called Sylmar-East was built a few kilometres apart.
- History of Pacific Intertie (http://www.abb.com/GLOBAL/GAD/GAD02181.NSF/viewUNID/C1256D71001E0037C1256B80003B6405!OpenDocument)
- Extension of Pacific Intertie (http://www.abb.com/GLOBAL/GAD/GAD02181.NSF/viewUNID/C1256D71001E0037C1256B81002F0A81!OpenDocument)