Valley 200

For 200 days, to commemorate the bicentennial of the San Fernando Mission, the Valley Edition has been featuring daily, thumbnail portraits of people who have left their mark on the area.

Reflecting the vast tapestry that has become the San Fernando Valley, the Valley 200 series has featured artists, authors, business people and community activists. It wrote about infamous Valley criminals as well as educational pioneers and a variety of entertainers. Also included were historical figures, physicians, politicians, religious figures and sports legends, all of whom have called the Valley home.

Today, on the actual anniversary of the mission’s founding 200 years ago, we publish the complete list of the Valley 200.

A

Merritt and Rhoda Adamson Sr.

Dairy farmers

Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows

Entertainers, (Allen) honorary mayor of Encino

Richard Alarcon

Los Angeles city councilman

Rodolfo F. Acuna

Educator, Chicano historian, political activist

Art Aragon

World-ranked boxer, bail bondsman

Hal Arthur

Teacher, murder victim

Mike Antonovich

Los Angeles County supervisor

*

B

Barone family

Restaurateurs

William Bendix

Actor

Bert Boeckmann

Businessman, civic leader

Walter and Kathleen Beachy

(Walter) inventor, (Kathleen) community preservationist

Thelma Barrios

Newspaper editor and publisher

Fritz Burns

Owner of entertainment ranch and film location

The Rev. Dennis Bennett

Episcopalian pastor, speaker in tongues

Paula Boland

Assemblywoman, community activist

Marvin Braude

Los Angeles city councilman

Howard Berman

U.S. representative

Ed Begley Jr.

Actor, environmentalist

Dr. David Burbank

Burbank founder

Edward Fitzgerald Beale

Directed creation of a passage between the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys

Sherman Block

Los Angeles County sheriff

The Brady Bunch

Fictional TV family of Valley residents

Broadous family

Civic and religious activists

Anthony Beilenson

U.S. representative

*

C

Mae Clarke

Actress

Tiffany Chin

Olympic ice skater

Bobby Chacon

World champion featherweight boxer

Eulogio de Celis

Original Valley landowner

Nudie Cohn

Western fashion designer, entrepreneur

Yvonne Chan

Educator, charter school founder

James M. Cain

Author

Tony Cardenas

First Valley Latino state assemblyman

James Cleary

President of Cal State Northridge

James Corman

U.S. representative

Carrillo family

Owners of tortilleria

Denny Crum

Legendary collegiate basketball coach

Padre Juan Crespi

Explorer, missionary

*

D

Sheila Cornell Douty

Olympic softball gold medalist

Dean Daily

Van Nuys Airport owner

Anthony Davis

USC football and baseball great

Terry Donahue

Longtime UCLA football coach

Don Drysdale

Hall of Fame baseball pitcher

Roy E. Disney

Nephew of Walt who rejuvenated Disney’s animation department

*

E

Harlan Ellison

Award-winning author, screenwriter

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

Cowboy stars, singers

Joseph Eichler

Residential developer, open-housing pioneer

Dr. Hubert Eaton

Builder of Forest Lawn

John Elway

Three-time Super Bowl quarterback

Dick Enberg

Professional sports announcer

*

F

David Fleming

Attorney, philanthropist, civic activist

Sally Field

Oscar-winning actress

John C. Fremont

Cartographer, signer of Articles of Capitulation

Jack Fujimoto

Mission College president

Bobbi Fiedler

Anti-school-busing activist, U.S. representative

Howard Finn

Los Angeles city councilman

Farley

Sunland-Tujunga honorary mayoral canine candidate

Ferdinand III

Spanish king and saint after whom the mission and Valley are named

Padre Fermin Francisco de Lasuen

Mission founder

Chumash, Fernande~nos and Gabriele~nos

Indian tribes, pre-Mission Valley residents

*

G

Victor Girard

Founder of what became Woodland Hills

Robert Ellsworth Gross

Lockheed aviation pioneer

Gail Goodrich

Basketball Hall of Famer

Art Ginsburg

Owner of Art’s Deli

Sam Greenberg

Pioneer of equipment rental business

1963 Granada Hills Little League team

World Series champion

Beverly Garland

Actress, hotelier

David M. Gonzales

First L.A. resident to receive the Medal of Honor in World War II

Dr. A. Richard Grossman

Burn specialist

*

H

John D. Hertz

Car rental magnate

The Rev. Jack Hayford

Leading Pentecostal clergyman, composer

Marsha Hunt

Actress, Sherman Oaks honorary mayor

George Holliday

Plummer, Rodney King videographer

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Author

Edward Everett Horton

Actor

Marshall Headle

Pioneer aviator, test pilot

*

I

Gabriel Injejikian

Founded first U.S. Armenian day school

Joe Iverson

Owner of the Iverson Movie Location Ranch

*

J

Clarence “Kelly” Johnson

Leading aeronautical engineer at Lockheed “Skunk Works”

Ann and Neils Johnson

Chatsworth homesteaders

Gordon Jenkins

Writer of hit song “The San Fernando Valley”

Florence Griffith Joyner

Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter

Keith Jackson

The voice of college football

Jackson family

Musical performing clan

*

K

Emilee Klein

Professional golfer

Julie Korenstein

President of board of the Los Angeles Unified School District

*

L

Judge Ronald S. W. Lew

U.S. District Court

Francis Lederer

Actor, West Valley landowner

Sandra Tsing Loh

Writer

Isaac Lankershim

Landowner, rancher

Geronimo and Catalina Lopez

Opened Valley’s first post office and English-speaking school

Miguel and Maria Espiritu Leonis

Early Southwest Valley landowners, builders of Leonis Adobe

Mike Larrabee

The oldest man to win the 400-meter race in Olympic history

Carl Laemmle

Universal Studios founder

*

M

Tom Mix

Cowboy movie star

Ferdinand Mendenhall

Newspaper publisher, community activist

Montie Montana

Cowboy movie star

Sanford Meisner

Acting teacher

Catherine Mulholland

Historian, author

The Rev. John F. MacArthur Jr.

Charged and later acquited in nation’s first clergy malpractice case

John Steven McGroarty

Playwright, columnist, lawyer, U.S. representative, California poet laureate

The Rev. Jess Moody

Founding pastor of Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch

Willie Morris

World-ranked professional surfer

Cardinal Roger Mahony

Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles

William Mulholland

Engineer who devised plan to bring water from Owens Valley to Los Angeles

Kevin Mitnick

onvicted computer hacker

Barry Minkow

Carpet-cleaning company owner and scam artist extraordinaire

*

N

Kay Nielsen

Artist

Patrick Nolan

State assemblyman convicted of felony racketeering

1994 Northridge Little League Team

National champion

*

O

Antonio Maria Ortega

Believed to be the last American Indian to speak the Fernande~no dialect

Msgr. Peter O’Sullivan

Founding pastor of St. John Baptist de la Salle Catholic Church in Granada Hills

Kay Bogendorger Orner

Civic activist, first woman postmaster of Van Nuys

Delmar T. Oviatt

Dean of what is now Cal State Northridge

Fred Okrand

First legal director of Los Angeles American Civil Liberties Union

Msgr. Michael J. O’Connor

Founding pastor of St. Mel Catholic Church in Woodland Hills

Vicente de la Ossa

Owner of Rancho Los Encinos

Mary Logan Orcutt

Canoga Park civic activist

*

P

Andres Pico

Mexican general, signer of the Articles of Capitulation

Ralph Prator

First president of what is now Cal State Northridge

Bert Prival

Vaudevillian, founder of Studio City ballet and theater arts school

Clarence Pierce

Physician, mortician, president of school board after whom Pierce College is named

Charles Maclay and George K. Porter

State senators, early Northeast Valley landowners

Gaspar de Portola

Governor of Baja California, explorer

Joy Picus

Los Angeles city councilwoman

Judge Harry Pregerson

U.S. Court of Appeals

*

Q

*

R

Rogerio Rocha

Chief, or capitan, of the multitribal community of Indians at San Fernando Mission

David Roberti

State senator who served a record 13 years as president pro tem

Maurice Ratner

Businessman, Jewish community leader

Jane Russell

Actress

Alan Robbins

State senator convicted of extorting money from lobbyists and former business partners

Debbie Reynolds

Actress, dancer, singer, Miss Burbank 1948

Ayn Rand

Author, philosopher

S

Rabbi Harold Schulweis

Preacher, writer, thinker and leader of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino

Gen. Moses Hazeltine Sherman

Developer of Sherman Oaks

William Ellsworth Smythe

Founder of Landers utopia, now Tujunga

Kevin Spacey

Oscar-winning actor

Bret Saberhagen

Pitcher and 1985 World Series Most Valuable Player

Mack Sennett

Studio founder

Sabu

Actor, pachyderm keeper

Tom Selleck

Actor, member of a real estate development family

Jose de Sosa

State president for the NAACP

Loyd C. Sigmon

Radio engineer, father of the “SigAlert”

Kathryn Sullivan

Astronaut

*

T

Donald C. Tillman

City engineer who designed Tillman Water Reclamation Plant and Japanese Garden

Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor

Actors, ranchers

*

U

*

V

Krishna Venta

Cult leader

*

W

Henry Waxman

U.S. representative

Weddington family

Early North Hollywood residents and civic activists

Albert Workman

West Valley rancher who introduced eucalyptus trees to U.S.

Nathanael West

Author, screenwriter

John Wooden

Legendary UCLA basketball coach

Mare Winningham

Actress, singer

Blenda J. Wilson

President of Cal State Northridge

Quincy Watts

Olympic gold medal-winning runner

Charles White

Heisman Trophy-winning running back

Willie Williams

Los Angeles police chief

Bob Waterfield

Pro Football Hall of Famer

Isaac Van Nuys, Hobart J. Whitley and William Paul Whitsett

Landowners, developers

Roberta Weintraub

President of the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District

Michael, Monty Jr. and Marvin Westmore

Members of pioneering family of movie makeup artists

Harry Warner

Co-founder of Warner Bros. Studios, founder of Warner Center

Charles Weeks

Founder of Weeks (utopian) Colony, now Winnetka

Msgr. Francis J. Weber

Writer, archivist for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles

*

X

*

Y

Sam Yorty

Los Angeles mayor

Zev Yaroslavsky

Los Angeles County supervisor

Robin Yount

Hall of Fame baseball player

*

Z

Ruben Zacarias

Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District

Frank Zappa

Musician, composer