Los Angeles Guide
The San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys
Running north of central LA, below the crests of their respective mountain ranges, lie the expansive SAN GABRIEL and SAN FERNANDO VALLEYS, which start close to one another a few miles north of Downtown and span outwards in opposite directions – east to the deserts around Palm Springs for the sloped foothills of the San Gabriel, west to Ventura on the California coast for the relatively flat San Fernando.
In the San Gabriel Valley, on the east side of the Verdugo Mountains, Pasadena is a cultural counterweight of sorts to the city of LA, a small, patrician town full of great architecture and diligent historic preservation, for years the province of old money but more recently enlivened by tourist shopping dollars. The neighboring cities of South Pasadena and San Marino also have their charms, particularly the latter's Huntington Library and Gardens, though the rest of the San Gabriel Valley holds much more dispersed pleasures – notably the LA Arboretum– worth a look only if you're staying in the LA region for at least a week.
North of the Hollywood Hills, the San Fernando Valley offers a more sprawling landscape, stitched together by seemingly endless ribbons of asphalt under a boiling summer sun. The upper-middle-class suburb of Glendale is mainly home to the famous cemetery Forest Lawn; while Burbank, further west, is studio central, accommodating the likes of Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, and, in its own municipal enclave, Universal – all but Disney are tourable. Further west are the bulk of LA's suburbs, known collectively as "the Valley," with historic attractions here and there, but mostly known for their copious minimalls. At the apex of the triangular San Fernando Valley, places like San Fernando have a rich heritage, while further north, exciting Magic Mountain easily outdoes Disneyland for death-defying rides.