what explains the demographics of the San Fernando Valley?

[freepcrusher]

When I moved to LA, i thought the SF Valley would be similar to the area in Waxman's district: largely white, huge jewish population, and very wealthy. But a lot of the SFV looks more like the area found in LRA or Becerra's district. An area like Pacoima is no different from Boyle Heights and its easy to draw a compact 75% hispanic district in the valley. Does anyone know here why there are so many hispanics as opposed to areas like Santa Monica, Malibu etc?

[jimrtex]

When I moved to LA, i thought the SF Valley would be similar to the area in Waxman's district: largely white, huge jewish population, and very wealthy. But a lot of the SFV looks more like the area found in LRA or Becerra's district. An area like Pacoima is no different from Boyle Heights and its easy to draw a compact 75% hispanic district in the valley. Does anyone know here why there are so many hispanics as opposed to areas like Santa Monica, Malibu etc?

It is expensive to live along the coast.

[Torie]

The quality of the housing tracts that were built explains a lot of it. The post WWII cracker boxes now house Hispanics, unless they are in places like Encino, and many have been torn down and replaced by apartments housing Hispanics. Vacant lots on busy streets also have had apartments built there. So the demographics of the valley are pretty classed based. And as usual, in general, topography is key. If it is in the hills, or next to them, it's more upscale; if it is in the middle of the valley on the flats, it isn't except for certain housing tract pockets that were more upscale (nice 2,000 square foot ranch homes, which for example exist in a couple of pockets in now otherwise Hispanic Van Nuys).

Here is a family median income map based on the 2000 census:

[Sbane]

The flats away from the coast are the cheap, working class areas. Hispanics primarily make up the working class in Socal.

[Kevinstat]

I'm like so totally clueless about the San Fernando Valley.

Torie's map is like so grody.

[freepcrusher]

does anyone here remember the busing crisis of the late 70s/early 80s? IIRC, the local ringleader of the antibusing crusade, Bobbi Fiedler, ran against congressman Jimmy Corman and defeated him in 1980.

[Torie]

does anyone here remember the busing crisis of the late 70s/early 80s? IIRC, the local ringleader of the antibusing crusade, Bobbi Fiedler, ran against congressman Jimmy Corman and defeated him in 1980.

Correct. I remember. I also remember quizzing Corman in High School as to why he was supporting speaker McCormick rather than some insurgent running against him. Corman just brushed me off, saying McCormick could get more done. Corman looked like he drank too much.

[All Along The Watchtower]

The San Jose area is like that too. The areas near the city core of San Jose are a lot cheaper than West San Jose, which is an upper-middle class suburban part of Silcion Valley, or South San Jose, which is an affluent bedroom community. West San Jose is near where a lot of the businesses are, and closer to the foothills of the Coast Range. South San Jose is also in a foothills area.

Those areas attract upper-class whites and Asians, while the eastern and central parts of San Jose are heavily working-class Hispanic.  The flatter and less green the land is, the cheaper the real estate is, generally speaking.

[freepcrusher]

so with all the hispanics living there, what happened to the valley girls of twenty or thirty years ago? Are they all living in VentCo now?

[Sbane]

so with all the hispanics living there, what happened to the valley girls of twenty or thirty years ago? Are they all living in VentCo now?

 
Yes, or Santa Clarita and in many cases Arizona.