Several readers reflect on their thoughts the first time they moved or visited the SCV:
My wife and I, then SFV renters, bit on an NLF internet ad for "New Homes in Valencia!" We trekked up the 5 (not the 14) and exited Magic Mountain Parkway, following the Valencia® directions to the 'T.' Yes, this is familiar - Magic Mountain. Cool... The New Home signage then led us past the abundant shopping at the Town Center, the Bridgeport Marketplace and its shimmering faux lake, the towering trees in Northbridge on McBean, the grassy suburban park goodness of Chesebrough Park... then we made our left turn on Copper Hill to head to the West Creek models. Whoa... what's all this dirt doing here? It's so... brown.
On our way out, ye olde navigation system took us on the direct route - egressing to the 5 via Rye Canyon. We passed the blighted industrial center, caught a glimpse of the RV parking lot, wondered where the bike lanes went, were intimidated by towering power lines and had a jarring experience on a stretch of The Old Road.
It was obvious from our first visit that there was more to the Santa Clarita Valley than what was being sold. That Newhall Land's sales pitch is orchestrated right down to the damn driving directions.Do NLF maps still instruct newbie SCVers on how to drive only inside The Master Plan? That's hilarious. I know their older maps and brochures don't even mention that there is a place called "Santa Clarita," instead placing NLF's "whirly-gig" logo right smack in the middle of the valley.
Another reader remembers her first time here, and, after settling down, the pressure to conform:
First time I came to SCV was a trip to MM with a girlfriend -- we were 18, it was 1987, and we were living in SD. Summertime. I remember, so very well, seeing the brown dryness, feeling the horrid heat, and saying to my girlfriend, "Who would ever want to live HERE? I would NEVER live HERE!"
Famous last words.
Moved up here fall 1992, right before the Northridge earthquake. I've seriously regretted it ever since. There are good things about SCV -- I've never lived in a place where I felt to safe, that's a biggie for me; I like the paseos and the family activities. But, it is just so dang hard to fit in if you are not Stepford, and as a young wife and mom who didn't tow the conservative Christian parenting line, I felt isolated, and found companionship through on-line support groups (seriously awesome -- we've been on-line pen pals for almost 17 years now). As a 40+ woman, I am now comfortable enough in my own skin that I don't feel the pressure to conform with SCV Stepfords, and have found like-minded raucous women, but, boy, it has been a long, lonely road.
And there has been fall-out - my BIL is assistant pastor at a big church, and not only do I just not fit in, but my faith is questioned, and my opinion is rendered meaningless. Having only previously lived with like-minded friends, who were always up for debating opposing ideas, I wonder if SCV is, truly, intellectually challenged/shallow, or if there is something bigger going on. Does that sound awful? I'm afraid it does, but there it is.I've never lived inside the Master Plan, so I can't relate to the Stepford claim, but I can understand it. Some of those newer neighborhoods in North Valencia, Stevenson Ranch, or the West side are very Stepford-ish, and all the worst stereotypes about competitiveness among suburban residents seem to be true.
Not in my hood though. In my four unit condo building, I share walls with a single black woman, a single white mother, and a Latino family. South of Lyons, anything goes!
Local churches are very competitive too. If you doubt that, check the Signal around Easter or Christmas, when local churches take out full-page ads to attract new
I'm trying to think back to my first visit to the SCV, apart from the one I described in my post. I believe it was when I came out in March or April to visit my dad, who was living in a corporate apartment while we prepped the house in Colorado for sale. The green, rolling hills off I-5 were dotted with cows, beautiful oak trees, and the sky was sunny with big white puffy clouds. It was idyllic.
Clearly if you want to make a good impression on a first-time SCV visitor, you should bring them in the spring to avoid the brown and do it via Highway 126.
Another reader also mentions The Stepford Wives:
I enjoyed your post about Tim Myers exit or shall we say, "escape" from the SCV and his most inauspicious entry to our fair valley.
I moved here about a year after Tim, when I had a toddler and was expecting our second child, and living in a rented house in Glendale. Tired of looking for a year at the tree fort quality consturction and over priced houses in Glendale/Burbank area, we began looking in Valencia, what I called "Land of the Stepford Wives". The first time over the green hills of the Newhall Pass with the view of Stiner's Mule Ranch, little did I expect to fall in love with this little burg, Awesometown, the town Newhall Land and Farm built, with its easy lifestyle, especially for this telecommuter. The people here also what make this place special, especially on my street near the Old Orchard tracts, where we have many retirees, who don't seem to be going anywhere, and whose kids return to raise their families here.
It is tough to move when you are 16 y/o, and I hope you can move where suits you best. I feel fortunate I've been able to find some roots and community here, the biggest city no one has ever heard of.
You are blessed that you can telecommute to work. The Newhall Pass represents a geographic and topographic choke-hold on the valley, an imposing pass that blessedly insulates us from LA yet also isolates us in a sometimes dramatic way. Anyone remember how choked City streets were in 1994 or 2007 when the pass was completely shut down?
And there seems to be no long-term thought into expanding options in & out of the valley.
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