BURBANK, CALIFORNIA

'Burbank' is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of 2004, the city had a population of 105,400.
Burbank is located in the eastern region of the San Fernando Valley, north of Downtown Los Angeles.
Billed as the ''"Media Capital of the World"'', many media and entertainment companies are headquartered or have significant production facilities in Burbank, including NBC Universal, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Entertainment.
The town has come a long way from the days when it was ironically referred to as ''"Beautiful Downtown Burbank"'' on ''Laugh-In'' and ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''.
Although commonly believed to be named for famous horticulturalist Luther Burbank who once lived in Santa Rosa, California, the city is actually named for David Burbank, a New Hampshire-born dentist and entrepreneur.

Contents

Early history

The City of Burbank

Burbank today

Sister cities

Geography

Demographics

Economy

Education

Famous residents

References

External links

Maps

Early history

Originally part of two large Spanish land grants, the vast Rancho San Rafael, granted to Don Jose Maria Verdugo by the Spanish government in 1798 and the Rancho La Providencia created in 1821.
Dr. David Burbank purchased over 4600 acres (19 km²) of the former Verdugo holding and another 4600 acres (19 km²) of the Rancho La Providencia in 1867 and operated a successful sheep ranch for many years.
A shrewd businessman, foreseeing the value of rail transport, Burbank sold Southern Pacific Railroad a right-of-way through the property for one dollar. A boom created by a rate war between the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific would bring people streaming into California shortly thereafter and a group of land speculators would purchase much of Burbank's land holdings in 1886 for $250,000 USD.

The speculators formed the Providencia Land, Water, and Development Company and began developing the land, calling the new town "Burbank" after its enterprising founder and began offering farm lots on May 1, 1887.
Laid out and surveyed with a modern a business district surrounded by residential lots, wide boulevards were carved out as the ''Los Angeles Express'' printed:

Burbank, the town, being built in the midst of the new farming community, has been laid out in such a manner as to make it by and by an unusually pretty town. The streets and avenues are wide and, all have been handsomely graded. All improvements being made would do credit to a city.... Everything done at Burbank has been done right.

Burbank as envisioned by Providencia Co.

The City of Burbank

The town grew steadily, weathering the drought and depression that hit Los Angeles in the 1890s and in 20 years, the community now consisted of its own bank, newspaper, high school and a thriving business district with a hardware store, livery stable, dry goods store, general store, and a bicycle repair shop.
The population would petition the State Legislature to incorporate and formally become a city on July 8, 1911, naming Thomas Story, a local businessman, as their first mayor.
By 1916, 1,500 residents claimed Burbank as home. By 1930, as First National Studios, Andrew Jergens Company, The Lockheed Company, McNeill and Libby Canning Company, the Moreland Company, and Northrop Aircraft Corporation opened factories and studios there, the numbers had swelled to 16,662.

The Federal government officially recognized Burbank's status in 1923 when the United States Postal Service reclassified the city from the rural ''village mail delivery'' classification to ''city postal delivery service''.
In the meantime, the United States Department of Commerce recommended Burbank as the most favorable airport location in the Los Angeles area. Dedicated on Memorial Day Weekend (May 30 - June 1), 1930, the United Airport was the largest commercial airport in the Los Angeles area until it was eclipsed in 1946 by the Los Angeles Municipal Airport in Inglewood when that facility (the former ''Mines Field'') commenced commercial operations.
Burbank's airport has undergone a number of name changes since its opening day in 1930. It remained ''United Airport'' until 1934, when it was renamed ''Union Air Terminal'' (1934–1940). Lockheed bought the airport in 1940 and renamed it the ''Lockheed Air Terminal'', which it was known as until 1967, when its name changed again, to ''Hollywood-Burbank Airport''. It remained Hollywood-Burbank Airport for over a decade, until 1978, when it was renamed ''Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport'' (1978–2003). Most recently, in December 2003, the facility was renamed Bob Hope Airport in honor of the famous comedian who lived in nearby Toluca Lake.
The growth of companies such as Lockheed and the burgeoning entertainment industry drew more and more people to the area as Burbank's population doubled again between 1930 and 1940 to 34,337. Burbank saw its greatest growth during World War II due to Lockheed's strong presence in the city, employing some 80,800 men and women to contribute to the war effort producing aircraft such as the Hudson, P-38 Lightning, PV-1 Ventura and America's first jet fighter, the P-80 Shooting Star, arriving too late to participate in the war, but would see service in the Korean War, logging the world's first jet-to-jet aerial kill in history. Lockheed would go on to create the super secret spy planes U2, SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Nighthawk at its Burbank-based "skunk works."

Disney and Warner ''(formerly First National Studio)'' contributed to the war effort by producing training films and morale films for the armed services and cartoons promoting the sale of war bonds. Disney artists designed more than 1000 unit mascot designs for units from every branch of the armed forces. Walt Disney had authorized that the creation of these insignias were to be designed for free and by the end of the war was estimated to have cost Disney over thirty thousand dollars.
Burbank would also witness its first real civil strife as the culmination of a six month labor dispute between the set decorator's union and the studios resulted in the Battle of Burbank on October 5, 1945.
Burbank's growth did not slow as war production ceased and over 7,000 new residents created a postwar real estate boom and real estate values soared as housing tracts sprang up on formerly vacant land in the Magnolia Park area of Burbank between 1945 and 1950.
As America entered the atomic age, the city's industries thrived and as the world changed around it, Burbank continued to evolve to meet its demands ushering in the 21st century vastly different from the town's sheep-farm roots.

Burbank today

A predominantly upper-middle class community, Burbank is home to many employees of the motion picture and television studios located in and around the city, including Nicktoons Network, a sister channel of Nickelodeon.
Entertainment has generally replaced the defense industry as the primary employer of its citizens, who are attracted by the relative safety and security offered by its own police and fire departments, highly rated schools and hospital. Other reasons cited are its small-town feel while located only 10 minutes away by car to the hip clubs and restaurants of Hollywood.

The convenience of a local airport and proximity to major freeways is crucial in today's world, and Burbank is no exception. The Bob Hope Airport services 4.9 million travelers per year on seven major carriers, with more than 70 flights daily. Burbank is easily accessible by and can easily access the Southern California freeways via the Golden State Freeway, which bisects the city from northwest to southeast, and the Ventura Freeway which connects Burbank to the U.S. Route 101 on the south and the nearby Foothill Freeway to the east.
Those without cars can take advantage of the Metro which operates public transport throughout Los Angeles County, connecting her citizens to 18,500 stops on 189 bus lines including those in Burbank while commuters can easily access the Metrolink and Amtrak for service south into Downtown and Union Station, west to Ventura and north to Palmdale and all points beyond.
The Bob's Big Boy Restaurant in Burbank (est. 1949) is the oldest remaining Bob's Big Boy in America, and in 1993 was designated a California Point of Historical Interest.
While at home, residents enjoy the high-quality music of their very own Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, the Starlight Bowl, fine restaurants, the city's Downtown Burbank Mall, a burgeoning "Burbank Village" shopping district, and many theatres, parks, and libraries. Visitors to Burbank are attracted to the Warner Bros. Studio VIP tour and close proximity to all other entertainments and attractions that Los Angeles offers.
Recently, the murder of Burbank police officer Matthew Pavelka by a local gang known as the Vineland Boys sparked an intensive investigation in conjunction with several other cities and resulted in the arrest of a number of gang members and other citizens in and around Burbank. Among those arrested was Burbank city councilwoman Stacey Murphy, implicated in trading guns in exchange for drugs.

Sister cities

Burbank is also affiliated with the following sister cities :

★ Gaborone, Botswana

★ Incheon, South Korea

★ Ota, Japan

★ Solna, Sweden

Geography

Burbank is located at (34.180170, -118.328341).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 45.0 km² (17.4 mi²). 44.9 km² (17.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.12%) is water.

It is bordered by Glendale to the east, Toluca Lake on the west, and Griffith Park to the South. Hollywood is easily accessible from Burbank by driving down Barham Blvd. (past Warner Bros. Studios & Universal Studios) to Cahuenga Blvd., formerly known as the Cahuenga Pass.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 100,316 people, 41,608 households, and 24,382 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,232.4/km² (5,782.4/mi²). There were 42,847 housing units at an average density of 953.5/km² (2,469.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 72.18% White (including a mentionable body of Armenian-Americans and other census unqualified Indo-European subsets), 2.06% Black or African American, 0.55% Native American not including Latinos of Native American descent , 9.15% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 9.88% from other races, and 6.04% from two or more races. 24.87% of the population were Latino of any race, including African descended like many Colombian-Americans.
There were 41,608 households out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.8% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.4% were non-families. 33.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 35.4% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $62,347, and the median income for a family was $67,767. Males had a median income of $41,792 versus $35,273 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,713. About 8.1% of families and 10.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.3% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.
The number of violent crimes recorded by the FBI in its 2004 Uniform Crime Reports was 262 of which there were 4 murders and homicides. The violent crime rate was approximately 2.5 per 1,000 people, well below the national average as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice in the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Economy

Much of Burbank's economy is based on the entertainment industry. While Hollywood is considered a symbol of the glamorous entertainment industry, much of the actual production takes place in Burbank. Many companies have their headquarters or facilities in Burbank, including ABC, DIC Entertainment, Dick Clark Productions, NBC, Nickelodeon, New Wave Entertainnment,Technicolor/Thomson, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros., Warner Music Group.
Many ancillary companies from Arri cameras, to Cinelease, Entertainment Partners, JL Fisher, and Matthews Studio Equipment also maintain a presence in Burbank.
Burbank is also conveniently located close to CBS Studio Center, DreamWorks, and Universal Studios in neighboring Studio City, Glendale, and Universal City, respectively. Capitol Records and Paramount are just south of Burbank in Hollywood proper.
Local IATSE union offices for the Stagehands Local 33, Grips Local 80, Make-up and Hairstylist Local 706 and Set Painters Local 729 also make their home in Burbank with Teamsters Local 399, IBEW Local 40 and many other IATSE locals nearby.

Education

Burbank is within the Burbank Unified School District.
Burbank is home to several California Distinguished Schools including the confusingly named Luther Burbank Middle School (see history above). Both its public and private K-12 schools routinely score above state and national average test scores. A number of colleges are also located in Burbank including the Woodbury University with its renowned design program and several make up and beauty trade schools servicing the entertainment industry.

Famous residents

A number of famous people have lived in Burbank at one time or another, here's a partial list of some of people who have called Burbank home.

★ Wally Albright (1925-1999) actor. ''The Little Rascals''

★ Rod Beck (1968-2007) Major League Baseball player. ''San Francisco Giants'', ''Boston Red Sox''

★ Rodger Bumpass (1951-) voice actor. ''SpongeBob SquarePants''.

★ Tim Burton (1958-) writer and director. ''Edward Scissorhands'', ''The Nightmare Before Christmas''

★ Dick Clark (1929-) TV personality. "America's oldest teenager". ''American Bandstand'', ''New Year's Rockin' Eve''

★ Holly Marie Combs (1973-) actress. ''Charmed''

★ John Debney (1956-) Film Composer. ''The Passion of the Christ'', ''Bruce Almighty'', ''Elf''

★ Geoff Downes (1952-) musician. Keyboardist and Composer for the bands Asia and The Buggles

★ Debbe Dunning (1966-) actress. ''Home Improvement''

★ Soleil Moon Frye (1976-) actress. ''Punky Brewster'', ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch''

★ Dimitri Giameos (1983-) actor

★ Mark Harmon (1951-) actor. ''St. Elsewhere'', ''Stealing Home''

★ Jack Heine - radio personality. The Jamie, Jack, and Stench morning show

★ Clint Howard (1958-) actor. ''Gentle Ben'', ''

★ Ron Howard (1954-) actor and film director. ''Happy Days'', ''A Beautiful Mind'', ''The Da Vinci Code''

★ James J. Jeffries (1875-1953) "The Boilermaker" World Heavyweight Boxing Champion

★ Kelly Johnson (1910-1990) chief aeronautical engineer at Lockheed's ''skunk works''

★ Jonna Lee- (1963-) Film and television actress. ''Another World'', ''Making the Grade''

★ Jay Leno- (1950-) Host ''The Tonight Show With Jay Leno'

★ Cady McClain (1969-) actress and singer. ''All My Children'', ''As The World Turns''

★ Bill Miller (1915-2006) pianist for Frank Sinatra and close collaborator.

★ Patton Oswalt (1969-) comedian, actor and writer. ''The King of Queens'', ''Magnolia'', ''The Comedians of Comedy''

★ John Payne (1958-) musician. Lead singer and bassist for the band Asia

★ Sean Penn (1960-) actor, director, activist. ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'', ''Mystic River''.

★ Tom Petty (1950-) musician.

★ Eve Plumb (1958-) actress. ''The Brady Bunch''

★ Jim Pugh (1964-) former tennis player.

★ Bonnie Raitt (1949-), singer/songwriter. ''Luck of the Draw'', ''Longing in Their Hearts''

★ Debbie Reynolds (1932-) actress, Miss Burbank 1948. ''Singin' in the Rain'', ''The Unsinkable Molly Brown''

★ Randy Rhoads (1956-1982) Lead guitarist and founding member of ''Quiet Riot'' (1976-1979) and lead guitarist for ''Ozzy Osbourne'' (1979-1982).

★ John Ritter (1948-2003) actor and comedian of TV's ''Three's Company'' and ''8 Simple Rules''

★ Jimmy Rowles (1918–1996) American jazz pianist

★ Freddy Sanchez (1977-) Major League Baseball player. Pittsburgh Pirates

★ Doug Savant (1964-) actor. ''Melrose Place'', ''Desperate Housewives''

★ Adam Schiff (1960-) Democratic U.S. Congressman from California since 2000.

★ Martin Scorsese (1942-) director. ''Taxi Driver'', ''Raging Bull'', ''Goodfellas''

★ Kyle Searles (1985-) actor. ''7th Heaven''

★ Derek Sherinian (1966-) world-renowned rock and fusion keyboardist

★ Ashley Tisdale (1985-) actress and singer. High School Musical, ''The Suite Life of Zack and Cody''

★ Lalaine Ann Vergara-Paras (1987-) actress and singer. ''Lizzie McGuire''

★ Eddie Van Halen (1955-) Guitarist and singer "Van Halen"

★ Kate Walsh (1967-) actress. ''Grey's Anatomy''

★ Wil Wheaton (1972-) actor and writer. ''Stand By Me'', ''

★ Royce Clayton (1970-) Major League Baseball player. San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays

★ Shia LaBeouf (1986-) Actor Transformers, Disturbia

★ Wayne Static (1975-) Musician for Static-X.

References

★ ''Brief History of Burbank, California'' (Burbank Chamber of Commerce, 1961)

★ ''Of Men and Stars, A History of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation'' (Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, 1957-1958)

★ ''Ranchos de Los Santos, The Story of Burbank'' (The Burbank Branch of the Security Trust and Savings Bank, 1927)

★ ''The Story of Burbank from Her Eventful Pioneer Days'' (The Magnolia Park Chamber of Commerce, 1954)

★ ''Your Burbank Home'' (Burbank Merchant’s Association, 1928)

External links

★ City of Burbank - official

★ Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra

★ Downtown Burbank

★ Burbank Airport Authority

★ Burbank Unified School District

★ Burbank Chamber of Commerce

★ Burbank Community website

★ Burbank Historical Society

★ Burbank live webcam

★ Burbank News and Real Estate on a Google Map

★ Burbankia (Burbank history and lore)

★ ValleyNews.com

★ BetterBurbank.com (Site coming soon)

★ Burbank Tournament of Roses Association

★ BurbankGlendale.com Online business directory for the local community

Maps