why did the San Fernando Valley become the porn capital of the world?

Low rents and access to mainstream movie industry.

Been that way since the 70s

R1 I'd say both of those, plus access to a lot of young struggling actors, who come to town looking to make the big time and find it harder than they thought.

Gay porn, too? I thought it was mostly straight.

Gay porn was there until the internet happened.

Because it's a vast, soulless place, devoid of culture and humanity.

The sleazy valley

Because they are stars, and Hollywood got too crowded.

The San Pornando Valley produced nearly 90% of legally distributed porn films in the US until the advent of internet and amateur porn.

The condom law which passed seemed to hurt them as well.

The valley is beautiful, R6, what are you talking about?

I remember the 9/11 attacks got nocked out of the front headline by a story about unprotected gay porn.

That is a very important story R12.

Not so random, OP, when you consider that the SFV is just over the hill from Hollywood, and lots of wannabe actors, models, cameramen and filmmakers who couldn't find regular work in the legitimate industry had to find work somehow.

The vast soulless lacking in humanity San Fernando Valley didn’t vote Trump

^^You’re welcome I meant to say.

Lots of porny looking people out there.

Only certain parts, R17.

The land of shitty apartments.

I enjoy the vintage Valley.

The Valley is unlivable without a gorgeous pool, a hot tub, and alcohol-fueled orgies.

Is this song popular there?

I can never wrap my head around the confusing geography of LA. So the Valley is part of LA?

The Valley is where the failures live.

Oh yeah, all those failures in their multi million dollar homes in Sherman Oaks, Toluca Lake, Woodland Hills, Encino ...

You're insane, Erna, which is not news to us. Now go eat some crap and shut up.

multi million dollar homes that are owned by banks (aka mortgaged), not by the failures.

Go clean the shit off your lips, Erna.

Another vote for "right over the hill."

Thanks, R25 - voice of reason finally. "The Valley" includes very chic areas of the LA metroplex like Calabasas, Toluca Lake, Hidden Hills, the hills of Studio City, hills of Sherman Oaks, etc. (there are so many parts of the Valley to mention - it would take another thread..). Cheap rents barely exist these days - anywhere near Los Angeles and even in ugly parts of the Valley. In actuality, the ugly parts of East Hollywood are far cheaper and for good reason (if you either live in or visit LA you get it). Suburban sprawl spawned the Valley back in the day, but considering that both Bob Hope and Bing Crosby landed in Toluca WAY back in the day - these were not trashy areas as a whole and were never designed to be.

Parts of it look grim.

No hot sister would admit to living in The Valley. Only fuglies live there.

R30, I would not disagree - but please check out the other parts of LA as well. Lots of beauty and plenty of ugliness. R31 - I have seen more hot flesh in Toluca Lake and Studio City than in WEHO or BH. 80% of the studios are there - so it's a given.

Also, South Bay is nice - but head a few streets inland (East) and things are not so pretty. God forbid that you end up on the other side of the 405 once you drive south of Marina - not only ugly but dangerous...

The Valley=Ornamentals, Mexicans, and fugs

I like it's post modernist vibe.

I can see why it appealed to pornographers. Great environment, lighting and relative inexpense.

Definitely an up and coming environ.

It's just another branch of the motion picture industry and there's always been a crossover between the entertainment industry and the sex industry. Before Broadway was cleaned up for the family tourist industry it was notoriously infested with porn film theaters and "peep shows."

"I live in like a really good part of Encino"

[Never realized how homophobic this song is--the whole thing about her English teacher being a "BuFu" and playing with his rings and flirting with all the guys in the class... and since someone will ask, a "BuFu" was short for "Butt Fucker"]

All I know is that a nice Spanish-Mexican (or is it Spaniard-Mexican?) took me to the back of an alley and deflowered me.

Compared to 90% of America, I would love to live in the Valley. It’s not Beverly Hills but it ain’t Oklahoma. Or Compton for that matter.

It is weird how so mich porn is done there. I was staying in a nice part (south Encino) and there was a porn being shot in the $2 million house next door. Guess it makes sense as a lot of film people - cameramen, directors, lighting as well as actors - are available easily.

Most of "The Valley" is part of the City of Los Angeles: Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Studio City, Encino, Northridge, Reseda, Chatsworth, Sun Valley, Pacoima, Panorama City, Woodland Hills, etc. Burbank, Glendale, and San Fernando are separate independent cities.

There's LOTS of mainstream "Hollywood" in the Valley as well: NBC, Universal, Disney, ABC, and Warner Brothers are all there.

R39, I knew a camera man/DP who was hired for several Pamela Anderson projects back in the day. He knew how to light and shoot her at all her best angles, so she frequently asked for him. He honed his craft shooting adult videos in the Valley during his salad days.

You know in the movie CRASH Ludacris is freaked out about going into the Valley because it’s so white.

Did that make sense even then, in 2004?

Very little in Crash makes sense. Haggis was hopped up on thetans when he wrote it.

No - Pacoima in the Valley is - or was - one of the roughest Latino gang centers in Los Angeles. There’s a lot of sketchy and non-white areas in the Valley.

[R42] The notion that the Valley is "white" as a whole is laughable. Only the parts Haggis has stepped in are white - even back in 2004. It's majority Latino with lots of Armenians who've colonized in recent years. Yes, the close-in-to-the-hills-parts may have a lot of whites, but there are also large populations of affluent black and Asians. And remember, as this is L.A., no one bats an eye over the zillions of mixed-raced couples and their children

Erna and non-failure are not two things I ever put in the same sentence. Ever.

Ol’ Shiteater probably makes a tidy living off starring in scheisse porn, dontcha, Ern?

R45, Also, the close-to-the-hills parts have many well-heeled Iranians, especially the Encino-Tarzana area.

R19, hey now! Some of those apartment complexes have pools!

I have fond memories of The Valley from the 70s and 80s. I'm a Northern Californian but some of my friends came from there and we'd go down and hang out (mostly when the parents were out of town).

Once I was sitting with my friend in the family room of his parent's modern home on a hillside in Sherman Oaks when I spotted a big spider on the wall across the room. I had a bad feeling about it and noticed it as it moved closer. Next thing I know it's on the arm of the chair I was in, I swear to God! I brushed it off but and don't remember if I saw it again. Really creeped me out.

Another friend's parent's had a ranch style home in the flats of Van Nuys. The were world travelers, quite hip, and brought back lots of stuff from their travels. The house was entirely fenced and they had a Japanese garden out front and lots of Japanese features inside, along with rugs and objects of art from an array of countrys. The whole family was extremely creative, as was my designer friend.

We enjoyed the diners of Burbank where we'd find ancient Jewish fellows dining on lox and bagels. I am an avid old school diner fan, especially of Jewish diners. He also knew all the best places in old downtown LA where you could find materials needed for designing one of a kind clothing and hats. I still have some vintage feathers and hat making decor. Never made a hat, I just love the bits and pieces needed.

We also visited an old nondescript building in the Valley where folk and international dances were regularly held. We went there one night for line dancing with a ton of old hippies and quirky people. Great wooden floor and lots of fun. Spent a lot of time in Santa Monica, the Hollywood Hills, and Westwood Village, too. LA was great in those days. Traffic was much better than now.

Great memories.

[quote]We enjoyed the diners of Burbank where we'd find ancient Jewish fellows dining on lox and bagels. I am an avid old school diner fan, especially of [bold]Jewish diners[/bold].

You mean delis?

I kept hoping there was a point to R49...

R51 needs conflict.

Being gay, I take exception to that with my infatuation with San Diego marine porn. Many of those jarheads were delicious.

R51, R49 was doing something that people of older generations tend to do: tell stories. I'm afraid that this passtime is lost to a young generation of texting, instant gratification, and quick soundbites.

It was once the suburbs and pretty white, but just like the LA basin, it's filled up and crowded and multi-ethnic. Anyone remember Keith's restaurant/bar on Ventura? Ate many a Sunday brunch there.

R51, I understand your confusion and maybe I'm confused, too. I don't know if the places in Burbank called themselves delis or diners. I don't remember if there were classic deli counters in them or not. I would call Katz in NY a diner because of all the seating but it calls itself a Deli. So I googled.

From Trip Adviser: Diner and Deli alike or different?

"Different. Diners are often open 24 hours a day, serve a variety of hot foods, with an emphasis on breakfast foods (pancakes, eggs, etc.), foods cooked on a flat top grill (burgers, etc.), and often Greek or Italian foods (Spanikopita, Greek salad, spaghetti with meatballs, etc.) Diners tend to be sit-down places.

There are two kinds of delis: Jewish delis and the other kind. (Is there a term for the other kind?) Jewish delis specialize in cold cut sandwiches, chicken soup, and other traditionally eastern European and Jewish foods. Jewish delis tend to be sit-down places. The other kind of deli also serves cold cut sandwiches, and also often has a salad bar, and sometimes a variety of other cold and pre-packaged foods. Regular delis are often take-out places."

I agree, though, that some deli's look like diners. Most of the diners around where I live serve classic American food. Max's Deli, near where I live and one of my favorites, looks like a diner but has a vase array of Jewish sandwiches as well as classic American breakfast and lunch. It's deli counter isn't much and is not open 24/7.

Perhaps you can spot porn stars hanging out after work in some of these Valley diners.

Now I'm craving a pastrami sandwich from Brent's in Northridge.

Sorry, wrong link.

Please banish the term Metroplex

Cher Horowitz wouldn't party there.

The business was mostly in the not so glam parts of the Velley which declined from the 70s onward. Lots of small office park/industrial park spaces that were cheap to rent, plus access to a pool of people who could operate cameras, manage props, etc. SF & NYC also had porn producers in those early days. Atlanta had some super low end gay producers in the late 90s who relocated to For Lauderdale.

I heard my staff talking about the Valley. Not sure where it is but seems quaint. The brown gardener seems to have family there.

Hasn’t been an issue for a while but being reasonably close to film processing and printing facilities would have been a plus back then.

Housing for the unwashed proletariat.

The Valley has lots of great food.

[quote]It was once the suburbs and pretty white,

When the Spanish came in maybe...

I enjoyed R49 rambling story.

We don't often get that level of detail on DL.

R40 is correct. MOST of the studios are right smack in The Valley. Universal, Warner Brothers, Disney, CBS and multiple others basically form a horseshoe around Toluca Lake. This might be a reason that so many stars own homes there. Studio City and Burbank also bump right up against the studios from the other sides. As for star sightings (and more than a handful of porn stars) - you can't miss running into someone notable on a daily basis.

If anyone would know about fuglies, it would be Erna.

large population base, good looking people in general, production facilities galore.

parts of the valley are highly desireable real estate wise. Anything south of ventura blvd up to mulholland is good, same is true for Encino, south of the blvd. Also Hidden Hills up further in the valley is a nice upscale area. Toluca lake is good..........its incorrect to say losers live in the valley. Bob Hope lived in the Valley for 65 years and he wasnt a loser.

As one of the early OP said, it is mostly because of the proximity to Hollywood. Girls from around the country who went to LA with dreams of being movie stars and struggled once there were an easy target for the adult industry.

Is it the same Valley from where that slut Brooke Logan came from?

Why do people pay $3-4 million to live in the Valley - even if it’s south of Ventura? Never understood why friends live there instead of Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Bird streets, Los Feliz, WeHo, Santa Monica. Any LA people have opinions why the South Valley is so attractive?

r50 Art's Deli -- Where Every Sandwich is a Work of Art!

R75, This $12 million home in Encino would cost $30 million in Bel Air. Home prices are comparatively cheaper in the nice parts of the Valley than in the Golden Triangle.

I guess it’s relative R77. Amazing how out of control LA real estate is when a house in Encino just off Ventura is $12MM. And a crappy condo 70s condo in WeHo is a $1MM

The Valley is where failed actors and non A listers go to die...

R75 - well obviously The Valley is more affordable. Brentwood, Bel Air and BH are insanely pricey even for celebrities and sports stars. Another factor is the INSANE traffic that one has to contend with over the hill. WEHO as a whole is insane (parking is an utter nightmare, the crappy old condos are uber $$$ and the few homes sit on postage stamp lots). All of the streets leading up and down the Hollywood Hills (Bird Streets, etc.) have to contend with Sunset to get in or out for menial little things like running to Trader Joe's or going out to eat. Sunset is ALWAYS a traffic jam - always...all day and all night. Also, the streets themselves are teeny tiny and hard to drive past another car much less to park on. The hills of Studio City have far better streets, decent sized lots and beautiful views with equally beautiful homes that cost less. If you live near Laurel Canyon or even Coldwater Canyon - you can pretty quickly head over the hill for anything that you want to do in WEHO or BH. Santa Monica has the same issues as WEHO only it is even more run down but does have proximity to the beach. What is the draw for Los Feliz? The hills are beautiful but it is WAY further from hot spots (WEHO/BH) than the hills of Studio City. Basically, you are close to Glendale and Silver Lake and not much else.

It's so crazy, R78. One CAN still buy a home in Encino, south of the Blvd. (near Tarzana border), for less than $1 million. This is what it will get ya':

Or, this:

The nephew of a VERY VERY famous singer was a very generou$ gentleman who was also hung! When he would call us to vi$it him we knew that we would have much $$ in our pocket plus a good gob of his leche deep inside our no-no! He lived in The Valley.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

It's all so glamorous to us outsiders.

I think the main point you all make is location, location, location.

Which porn studios still work in that area?

After the Watts riots, the blacks surged north and south and occupied places like Hollywood and Inglewood, Compton and Lynwood, and the displaced whites moved to the Valley, joining their friends who left in the 50s for inexpensive housing and "whiteness". Up through the 70s, there was a push by residents to secede from the City of LA because those people didn't want to pay for the old and new black neighborhoods.

But within a few years, the blacks were mostly pushed back south by a new class of mean immigrants who were not impressed by blacks. In the Valley, however, there was one neighborhood of black people in Van Nuys made up of people who worked in the GM plant, and who were pushed into poverty when the plant closed back in 1992. Then, the formerly white SFV was overrun by the immigrant tsunami on the 80s and 90s, washing away all the image of niceness and becoming a northern slum on the flats.

R86, what a terrible post. People in America have the right to live wherever they choose. Enough of this "surge" bullshit.

The Valley makes sense to me as an immigrant stronghold - more affordable than central LA, safer than south LA. What’s weird to me is the concentration of Orthodox (?) Jews in the Valley. I always think of NYC as the biggest concentration of Jewish people. But I’m curious why the Valley ended up with a concentration similar to Williamsburg.

I love Jerry’s Deli but am always amazed how many EXTREMELY old people there are there. Like 90+ barely breathing old people. I assume it’s because LA was one of the first places to take health consciousness seriously - so these people have always lived healthier than the average American and therefore are living longer. But eating dinner there surrounded by the extreme old and their caretakers is almost motivation to give up exercise and healthy living so you don’t end up like that.

r87 -- what a terrible retort. Even I know there are better arguments against what I said.

I think many Jewish people were pushed out of the Fairfax and other Westside neighborhoods by the black surge, while others appreciated the lower housing costs in the SFV, or both.

R86, R89, and R90, the same person, surging again.

I know there's a section of the Valley that's got some kind of physical demarcation indicating it's OK for orthodox Jews, I think.

This was originally a hit for Bing Crosby.

It's the eruv, r92.

[quote]Spanish-Mexican (or is it Spaniard-Mexican?)

Are you 400? Why not just “Mexican?” Did you research his genealogy?

Because it could?

Hasn't anyone ever heard of "yodeling in the valley"?

[quote]Compared to 90% of America, I would love to live in the Valley. It’s not Beverly Hills but it ain’t Oklahoma. Or Compton for that matter.

You've obviously never lived here. The gangbangers in Pacoima and Van Nuys are just as ruthless as the ones in Compton, and for every nice street, there are 3 shittier ones.

MARY!! R99

R100, I have walked through brains on the sidewalk after a drive-by. Yes, it seems melodramatic, but it's reality for The Poors, of which I am one.

Maybe you should move to Oklahoma...

[quote]You know in the movie CRASH Ludacris is freaked out about going into the Valley because it’s so white. Did that make sense even then, in 2004?

Que?

Now it's *insert valley* in Arizona that takes it place. At least for gay porn.

Miami and Vegas seem to be the new home for porn, more Vegas though.

Again, it all depends on what part of the Valley that you are discussing. This is a really huge area to discuss; some areas are gorgeous and some are really the pits. It would be like me asking you if the entire country of Spain is beautiful or scum? You really need to be specific when it comes to the San Fernando Valley - it encompasses a lot. Before I moved to LA, I assumed that the Valley was some sort of neighborhood; in reality it is fucking huge. Some even consider the San Gabriel Valley as part of it (it isn't btw). We have covered the good areas thoroughly up-thread, but there are little hidden gems spotted all around (Granada Hills is nice for instance).

Lots of marginally attractive, trashy people, OP.

[quote]Are you 400? Why not just “Mexican?” Did you research his genealogy?

It's not my fault everyone is Mexican adjacent around these parts. His Ma was from Spain and his Papa was from Mexico City.

I went to flight school at Van Nuys Airport in the 70s when the SF Valley was mostly white and clean.

I went back a few years ago, and it is now very distressed and criminal.

Here in Barcelona the trash also lives in the valleys!

Well then you must be very comfortable there, Erna. There's no one who's trashier than you!

[quote]in the 70s when the SF Valley was mostly white and clean.

The Valley hasn't been white and clean since the early 1960s.

[quote] it all depends on what part of the Valley that you are discussing. This is a really huge area to discuss; some areas are gorgeous and some are really the pits

True but DLers are not much on subtlety.

R108 is VN exclusively GA aviation?

Is that where the stars learn to fly?

In the 70s, VNY was general aviation and the Air National Guard. They lengthened the runway in the 60s to handle the C-130s and other transports stationed there, but those have since relocated to the Channel Islands base and their place taken by private jets who now join the Cessnas and Beechs traditional to the field.

Hollywood also liked using the airfield for flying scenes -- my school was across from the hangers used for Casablanca's famous pre-flight scene.

Many helicopters are also now based on the field, something I didn't see much of in the 70s, including several of the TV news choppers.

R114 Thanks for the update. Where else have you got close by Bob Hope and Whiteman?

Any flight restrictions with LAX being close by?

Whiteman is all little planes. Planes landing on Runway 8 at Bob Hope overfly VNY on the way in so when taking off from Van Nuys, one goes north or south (depending on the wind) and then climbs out and away from that flight path. Controllers maintain the proper separation from those wishing to continue east or west.

That's the only worrisome path around VNY.

PS -- LAX's usual landings are mostly vectored from Santa Monica (where one comes in from the west and then loop east over East LA) or come in from the east just to the south of ELA for a straight in approach. VNY is a good 25 miles north of all that.

PSS LAX's usual departures are over the water, and then, if going east, they loop back and fly over downtown to San Marino to Arcadia, where they are then over 20,000 feet. The others loop over Long Beach and head east over Whittier towards Victorville.

Gotcha. What are VNY landing fees like? Expensive?

I don't know what the landing fees are these days, but I have heard many complaints from people I know who still fly out of there that the FBOs have lately been gouging them (they collect the landing, ramp, etc fees as "handling fees", with markups).

I did wonder!

Is there a CBP the for international flights or do you have to come into LAX or somewhere?

I was just on their website and, yes, they now have CBP (another thing not there when I was there.)

Here's AOPA

A good place to learn to fly is El Monte or Brackett field, out to the east of LA. Very quiet out there.

I've got my twin rating. So I was thinking that I might hire a plane next time I'm over and go and do some flying. Any recommendations of where to go?

I'll have to ask, r125 -- the last time I went up was on a Piper J-3 with a friend from Castle and Cooke, but he co-owns it so YMMV.

I bow to your twin rating.

Tom Petty's ode to the San Fernando Valley

My twin rating was hard fought. Lots of study R126. Great fun though.

We've just had a great series where a disabled pilot has toured Britain in his Cub. It was great. I bet you bad a great time?

My father learned to fly in a J-3 so it was a magical flight.

Fabulous!

The bank I cried all the way to was in the Valley

Sorry, back to The Valley!

The Beatles did the SFV:

Robert Plant playing soccer at Balboa Park, Encino, 1978.

Sepulveda Dam used to be a notorious gay cruising hotspot until the Army Corp of Engineers decided to bulldoze several acres of vegetation and shrubbery.

12 Valley Secrets You Need to Know About

What about the porn?

Was anyone on here involved in it's production?

How LA's 'Porn Valley' became the adult entertainment capital of the world

Porn’s Uncanny Valley

The San Fernando Valley was once the bedroom community of the adult industry. Now technology hopes to disrupt traditional pornography—and the city it calls home.

I worked for Vivid Video, I think that was the name, waaaaay back when i first arrived in CA in 1979. I was living in Van Nuys ($230 for a furnished single next to a hooker motel!)

I worked in the office way out in Woodland Hills doing PR for the owner, who DID NOT want to be associated with porn. He also had a legitimate video distribution company and his big title was: Strawberry Shortcake! Yay. So on weekends I would take Strawberry Shortcake to malls for appearances with the kiddies and during the week, I would try to sneak into the porn editing room in the back of the office to see if they were working on any gay porn. I did watch them edit some gay vampire pron once, Anyhow the job ended when the NYT ran a story about the owner and his double life as pron distributor. My boss was fired that day and I was gone with her.

It was a small nondesript office in an office park. It was like working with a bunch of "Ginny in billing" types. Pron fans would send in their nude pics and other assorted pics and the office ladies would hang the best of them on a bulletin board. The pron stars would also send the ladies all kinds of memorobilia.

Yes, it was 20 years ago ‘Boogie Nights’ bared San Fernando Valley’s druggy porn world

Thank you R142 That's a fascinating insight.

We're a lot of the early porn businesses like that? Did they start as a way of more mainstream video companies needing to raise extra income by going down the porn production route?

Who are the celebrities (or semi-celebrities) who live in Valley Glen (classic actors in particular).