Burbank, California
City
Looking northwest over Burbank from Griffith Park
Flag Seal
Motto(s):  "A city built by People, Pride, and Progress"
Show Burbank Show Los Angeles County Show California Show the United States
Coordinates: 34°10′49″N 118°19′42″W / 34.18028°N 118.32833°W / 34.18028; -118.32833
Country	United States
State	California
County	Los Angeles
Founded	May 1, 1887
Incorporated	July 8, 1911[1]
Named for	David Burbank
Government
• Type	Council–manager[2]
• Mayor	Nick Schultz[3]
• Vice mayor	Nikki Perez[3]
• City council	Tamala Takahashi Zizette Mullins Konstantine Anthony[3]
• Row Officials	City Officers City manager – Justin Hess[4] City treasurer – Krystle Ang Palmer[3] City clerk – Kimberley Clarke[3]
Area [5]
• Total	17.35 sq mi (44.94 km2)
• Land	17.32 sq mi (44.85 km2)
• Water	0.04 sq mi (0.09 km2)  0.22%
Elevation [6]	607 ft (185 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	107,337
• Rank	14th in Los Angeles County 66th in California
• Density	6,198.72/sq mi (2,393.34/km2)
Demonym	Burbanker
Time zone	UTC−8 (Pacific)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−7 (PDT)
ZIP Codes[7]	91501–91508, 91510, 91521–91523, 91526
Area codes	747/818
FIPS code	06-08954
GNIS feature IDs	1652677, 2409939
Website	www.burbankca.gov

Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located 12 miles (19 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337.^[8] The city was named after David Burbank, who established a sheep ranch there in 1867.^[9] Burbank consists of two distinct areas: a downtown/foothill section, in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains, and the flatland section.

Often called the "Media Capital of the World"^[10] and only a few miles northeast of Hollywood, numerous media and entertainment companies are headquartered or have significant production facilities in Burbank, including Warner Bros. Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Nickelodeon Animation Studio, The Burbank Studios, Cartoon Network Studios with the West Coast branch of Cartoon Network, and Insomniac Games. The broadcast network The CW is also headquartered in Burbank. "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" was stated often as a joke on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, as both shows were taped at NBC's former studios. The Hollywood Burbank Airport was the location of Lockheed's Skunk Works, which produced some of the most secret and technologically advanced airplanes, including the U-2 spy planes. In addition, the city contains the largest IKEA in the U.S.^[11]

History

Indigenous peoples and Spanish era

The history of the Burbank area can be traced back to the Tongva people, the indigenous people of the area, who lived in the region for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans.^[12][13][14] In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Spanish explorers and mission priests arrived in the Los Angeles area. The city of Burbank occupies land that was previously part of two Spanish and Mexican-era colonial land grants, the 36,400-acre (147 km²) Rancho San Rafael, granted to Jose Maria Verdugo by the Spanish Bourbon government in 1784, and the 4,063-acre (16.44 km²) Rancho Providencia created in 1821. This area was the scene of a military skirmish which resulted in the unseating of the Spanish Governor of California, and his replacement by the Mexican leader Pio Pico.^[15]

Mexican rancho era and early American era

New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, and from 1824, Rancho San Rafael existed within the new Mexican Republic.

Dr. David Burbank purchased over 4,600 acres (19 km²) of the former Verdugo holding and another 4,600 acres (19 km²) of the Rancho Providencia in 1867 and built a ranch house and began to raise sheep and grow wheat on the ranch.^[9] By 1876, the San Fernando Valley became the largest wheat-raising area in Los Angeles County. But the droughts of the 1860s and 1870s underlined the need for steady water supplies.

A professionally trained dentist, Burbank began his career in Waterville, Maine. He joined the great migration westward in the early 1850s and, by 1853 was living in San Francisco. At the time the American Civil War broke out, he was again well established in his profession as a dentist in Pueblo de Los Angeles. In 1867, he purchased Rancho La Providencia from David W. Alexander and Francis Mellus, and he purchased the western portion of the Rancho San Rafael (4,603 acres) from Jonathan R. Scott. Burbank's property reached nearly 9,200 acres (37 km²) at a cost of $9,000.^[16] Burbank would not acquire full titles to both properties until after a court decision known as the "Great Partition" was made in 1871 dissolving the Rancho San Rafael. He eventually became known as one of the largest and most successful sheep raisers in southern California, and as a result, he closed his dentistry practice and invested heavily in real estate in Los Angeles.^[17]

When the area that became Burbank was settled in the 1870s and 1880s, the streets were aligned along what is now Olive Avenue, the road to the Cahuenga Pass and downtown Los Angeles. These were largely the roads the Native Americans traveled and the early settlers took their produce down to Los Angeles to sell and to buy supplies along these routes.

Railroad drives growth (1876–1888)

At the time, the primary long-distance transportation methods available to San Fernando Valley residents were stagecoach and train. Stagecoaching between Los Angeles and San Francisco through the Valley began in 1858. The Southern Pacific Railroad arrived in the Valley in 1876, completing the route connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles.^[18]

A shrewd businessman, foreseeing the value of rail transport, Burbank sold Southern Pacific Railroad a right-of-way through the property for one dollar. The first train passed through Burbank on April 5, 1874. A boom created by a rate war between the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific brought people streaming into California shortly thereafter, and a group of speculators purchased much of Burbank's land holdings in 1886 for $250,000.^[19] One account suggests Burbank may have sold his property because of a severe drought that year, which caused a shortage of water and grass for his livestock. Approximately 1,000 of his sheep died due to the drought conditions.^[17]

The group of speculators who bought the acreage formed the Providencia Land, Water, and Development Company and began developing the land, calling the new town Burbank after its founder, and began offering farm lots on May 1, 1887. The townsite had Burbank Boulevard/Walnut Avenue as the northern boundary, Grandview Avenue as the southern boundary, the edge of the Verdugo Mountains as the eastern boundary, and Clybourn Avenue as the western border.^[20] The establishment of a water system in 1887 allowed farmers to irrigate their orchards and provided a stronger base for agricultural development.^[21] The original plot of the new townsite of Burbank extended from what is now Burbank Boulevard on the north, to Grandview Avenue in Glendale, California on the south, and from the top of the Verdugo Hills on the east to what is now known as Clybourn Avenue on the west.^[17]

At the same time, the arrival of the railroad provided immediate access for the farmers to bring crops to market. Packing houses and warehouses were built along the railroad corridors. The railroads also provided access to the county for tourists and immigrants alike. A Southern Pacific Railroad depot in Burbank was completed in 1887.

The boom lifting real estate values in the Los Angeles area proved to be a speculative frenzy that collapsed abruptly in 1889. Much of the newly created wealthy went broke. Many of the lots in Burbank ended up getting sold for taxes.^[17] Vast numbers of people would leave the region before it all ended.^[22] The effects of the downturn were felt for several years, as the economy struggled to recover and many businesses closed. However, the region eventually rebounded and continued to grow and develop in the decades that followed.

Before the downturn, Burbank built a hotel in the town in 1887.^[23] Burbank also later owned the Burbank Theatre, which opened on November 27, 1893, at a cost of $200,000.^[24] Burbank, who came to California in his early thirties, died in 1895 at the age of 73.^[25] The theater continued to operate but struggled for many years and by August 1900 had its thirteenth manager.^[26] The new manager's name was Oliver Morosco, who was already known as a successful theatrical impresario. He put the theater on the path to prosperity for many years. Though the theater was intended to be an opera house, instead it staged plays and became known nationally. The theatre featured leading actors of the day, such as Fay Bainter and Marjorie Rambeau, until it deteriorated into a burlesque house.^[27]

Rapid growth and modernization (1900–1940)

In August 1900, Burbank established its first telephone exchange, making it the first in the San Fernando Valley. Within five years, several other telephone exchanges were established in the Valley, and a company known as the San Fernando Valley Home Telephone Company was formed, based in Glendale.^[28] This company provided telephone service to the entire Valley, connecting communities and facilitating growth. Home Telephone competed with Tropico, and in 1918 both were taken over by Pacific Telephone Company. At this time, there were an estimated 300 hand-cranked telephones in Burbank. The telephone network helped to connect the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas such as Burbank, making it easier for people to move around and do business.

By 1904, Burbank gained worldwide recognition when the renowned heavyweight boxing champion James J. Jeffries became a significant landowner in the town. Jeffries acquired 107 acres (0.43 km²) of land along Victory Boulevard to establish his ranch. He ventured into cattle farming and exported his livestock to Mexico and South America, becoming one of the pioneering residents to participate in foreign trade. Eventually, he constructed a sizable ranch house and barn near the present-day intersection of Victory Boulevard and Buena Vista Street. Subsequently, the barn was relocated and reconstructed at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.^[17]

The town's first bank was formed in 1908 when Burbank State Bank opened its doors near the corner of Olive Avenue and San Fernando Blvd. On the first day, the bank collected $30,000 worth of deposits, and at the time the town had a population of 300 residents.^[29] In 1911, the bank was dissolved; it would then become the Burbank branch of the Security Trust & Savings Bank.^[30]

In 1911, wealthy farmer Joseph Fawkes grew apricots and owned a house on West Olive Avenue. He was also fascinated with machinery, and soon began developing what became known as the "Fawkes Folly" aerial trolley.^[31] He and his wife Ellen C. Fawkes secured two patents for the nation's first monorail. The two formed the Aerial Trolley Car Company and set about building a prototype they believed would revolutionize transportation.^[32]

Joseph Fawkes called the trolley his Aerial Swallow, a cigar-shaped, suspended monorail driven by a propeller that he promised would carry passengers from Burbank to downtown Los Angeles in 10 minutes. The first open car accommodated about 20 passengers and was suspended from an overhead track and supported by wooden beams. In 1911, the monorail car made its first and only run through his Burbank ranch, with a line between Lake and Flower Streets. The monorail was considered a failure after gliding just a foot or so and falling to pieces. Nobody was injured but Joseph Fawkes' pride was badly hurt as Aerial Swallow became known as "Fawkes' Folly." City officials viewed his test run as a failure and focused on getting a Pacific Electric Streetcar line into Burbank.^[33]

Laid out and surveyed with a modern 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.

The citizens of Burbank had to put up a $48,000 subsidy to get the reluctant Pacific Electric Streetcar officials to agree to extend the line from Glendale to Burbank.^[21] The first Red Car rolled into Burbank on September 6, 1911, with a tremendous celebration. That was about two months after the town became a city. The "Burbank Review" newspaper ran a special edition that day^[32] advising all local residents that:

On Wednesday, the first electric car running on a regular passenger-carrying schedule left the Pacific Electric station at Sixth and Main streets, Los Angeles, for Burbank at 6:30 a.m. and the first car from Burbank to Los Angeles left at 6:20 a.m. the same day. Upon arrival of this car on its maiden trip, many citizens gave evidence of their great joy by ringing bells and discharging firearms. A big crowd of both men and women boarded the first car and rode to Glendale and there changed to a second car coming from Los Angeles and rode home again. Every face was an expression of happiness and satisfaction.

The Burbank Line was completed through to Cypress Avenue in Burbank, and by mid-1925 this line was extended about a mile further along Glenoaks Boulevard to Eton Drive. A small wooden station was erected in Burbank in 1911 at Orange Grove Avenue with a small storage yard in its rear. This depot was destroyed by fire in 1942 and in 1947 a small passenger shelter was constructed.

On May 26, 1942, the California State Railroad Commission proposed an extension of the Burbank Line to the Lockheed plant.^[34] The proposal called for a double-track line from Arden Junction along Glenoaks to San Fernando Boulevard and Empire Way, just northeast of Lockheed's main facility. But this extension never materialized and the commission moved on to other projects in the San Fernando Valley. The Red Car line in Burbank was abandoned and the tracks removed in 1956.

The city marshal's office was changed to the Burbank Police Department in 1923. The early department consisted of only a handful of officers who were responsible for maintaining law and order in a rapidly growing community. The first police chief was George Cole, who later became a U.S. Treasury prohibition officer. Through the decades, the department has grown and evolved, adapting to the changing needs of the city. Today, the Burbank Police Department is a well-respected agency, known for its professionalism and commitment to serving the community. The department has a diverse range of specialized units, including a SWAT team, K-9 unit, air support, and a detective bureau.^[35]

In 1928, Burbank was one of the first 13 cities to join the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, one of the largest suppliers of water in the world. This contrasted with other San Fernando Valley communities that obtained water through political annexation to Los Angeles. By 1937, the first power from Hoover Dam was distributed over Burbank's own electricity lines.^[36] The city purchases about 55% of its water from the MWD.^[37]

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 had a bank, newspaper, high school and a thriving business district with a hardware store, livery stable, dry goods store, general store, and bicycle repair shop. The city's first newspaper, Burbank Review, was established in 1906.

The populace petitioned the State Legislature to incorporate as a city on July 8, 1911, with businessman Thomas Story as the mayor. Voters approved incorporation by a vote of 81 to 51. At the time, the Board of Trustees governed the community which numbered 500 residents. With the action of the Legislature, Burbank thus became the first independent city in the San Fernando Valley.

The establishment of Burbank as a city was a crucial milestone in the area's progress, triggering a fresh phase of growth and advancement. This cityhood meant that Burbank gained the ability to govern itself, making decisions independently regarding its development and expansion. It also granted the city greater authority over its valuable resources, such as land, water, and other assets. With this newfound control, Burbank could shape its own future and manage its local affairs more effectively.

The first city seal adopted by Burbank featured a cantaloupe, which was a crop that helped save the town's life when the land boom collapsed.^[32] In 1931, the original city seal was replaced and in 1978 the modern seal was adopted. The new seal shows City Hall beneath a banner. An airplane symbolizes the city's aircraft industry, the strip of film and stage light represent motion picture production. The bottom portion depicts the sun rising over the Verdugo Mountains.

In 1915, major sections of the valley were annexed, helping Los Angeles to more than double its size that year. But Burbank was among a handful of towns with their own water wells and remained independent. By 1916, Burbank had 1,500 residents. In 1922, the Burbank Chamber of Commerce was organized. In 1923, the United States Postal Service reclassified the city from the rural village mail delivery to city postal delivery service.^[32] Burbank's population had grown significantly, from less than 500 people in 1908 to over 3,000 citizens. The city's business district grew on the west side of San Fernando Blvd. and stretched from Verdugo to Cypress avenues, and on the east side to Palm Avenue. In 1927, five miles (8 km) of paved streets had increased to 125 miles (201 km).

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 set off a period of hardship for Burbank where business and residential growth paused. The effects of the Depression also caused tight credit conditions and halted home building throughout the area, including the city's Magnolia Park development. Around this time, major employers began to cut payrolls and some plants closed their doors.^[38]

The Burbank City Council responded by slashing 10% of the wages of city workers. Money was put into an Employee Relief Department to help the unemployed. Local civic and religious groups sprang into action and contributed with food as homeless camps began to form along the city's Southern Pacific railroad tracks. Hundreds began to participate in self-help cooperatives, trading skills such as barbering, tailoring, plumbing or carpentry, for food and other services.^[39]

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 facilities in Burbank and the population jumped to 16,662.

In the 1930s, Burbank and Glendale prevented the Civilian Conservation Corps from stationing African American workers in a local park, citing sundown town ordinances that both cities had adopted.^[40] Sundown towns were municipalities or neighborhoods that practiced racial segregation by excluding non-white individuals, especially African Americans, from living within the city limits after sunset.

Following a San Fernando Valley land bust during the Depression, real estate began to bounce back in the mid-1930s. In Burbank, a 100-home construction project began in 1934. By 1936, property values in the city exceeded pre-Depression levels. By 1950, the population had reached 78,577.^[41] From 1967 to 1989, a six-block stretch of San Fernando Blvd. was pedestrianized as the "Golden Mall".

Early manufacturing

In 1887, the Burbank Furniture Manufacturing Company was the town's first factory.^[42] In 1917, the arrival of the Moreland Motor Truck Company changed the town and resulted in growing a manufacturing and industrial workforce. Within a few years, Moreland trucks were seen bearing the label, "Made in Burbank."^[43] Watt Moreland, its owner, had relocated his plant to Burbank from Los Angeles. He selected 25 acres (100,000 m²) at San Fernando Blvd. and Alameda Avenue. Moreland invested $1 million in the factory and machinery and employed 500 people. It was the largest truck maker west of the Mississippi.^{[citation needed]}

Within the next several decades, factories would dot the area landscape. What had mainly been an agricultural and ranching area would get replaced with a variety of manufacturing industries. Moreland operated from 1917 to 1937. Aerospace supplier Menasco Manufacturing Company would later purchase the property. Menasco's Burbank landing gear factory closed in 1994 due to slow commercial and military orders, affecting 310 people. Within months of Moreland's arrival, Community Manufacturing Company, a $3 million tractor company, arrived in Burbank.^{[citation needed]}

In 1920, the Andrew Jergens Company factory opened at Verdugo Avenue near the railroad tracks in Burbank. Andrew Jergens Jr.—aided by his father, Cincinnati businessman Andrew Jergens Sr. and business partners Frank Adams and Morris Spazier—had purchased the site and built a single-story building. They began with a single product, coconut oil soap, but would later make face creams, lotions, liquid soaps, and deodorants. In 1931, despite the Depression, the Jergens company expanded, building new offices and shipping department facilities. In 1939, the Burbank corporation merged with the Cincinnati company of Andrew Jergens Sr. becoming known as the Andrew Jergens Company of Ohio. The Burbank plant closed in 1992, affecting nearly 90 employees.^{[citation needed]}

Aviation

The establishment of the aircraft industry and a major airport in Burbank during the 1930s set the stage for major growth and development, which was to continue at an accelerated pace into World War II and well into the postwar era. Brothers Allan Loughead and Malcolm Loughead, founders of the Lockheed Aircraft Company, opened a Burbank manufacturing plant in 1928 and, a year later, aviation designer Jack Northrop built his Flying Wing airplane in his own plant nearby.^[44]

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 (now Los Angeles International Airport) in Westchester when that facility (the former Mines Field) commenced commercial operations. Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post and Howard Hughes were among the notable aviation pioneers to pilot aircraft in and out of the original Union Air Terminal. By 1935, Union Air Terminal in Burbank ranked as the third-largest air terminal in the nation, with 46 airliners flying out of it daily. The airport served 9,895 passengers in 1931 and 98,485 passengers in 1936.

In 1931, Lockheed was then part of Detroit Aircraft Corp., which went into bankruptcy with its Lockheed unit. A year later, a group of investors acquired assets of the Lockheed company. The new owners staked their limited funds to develop an all-metal, twin-engine transport, the Model 10 Electra. It first flew in 1934 and quickly gained worldwide notice.^[45]

A brochure celebrating Burbank's 50th anniversary as a city touted Lockheed payroll having "nearly 1,200" by the end of 1936. The aircraft company's hiring contributed to what was a favorable employment environment at the time.^[46]

Moreland's truck plant was later used by Lockheed's Vega Aircraft Corporation, which made what was widely known as "the explorer's aircraft." Amelia Earhart flew one across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1936, Lockheed officially took over Vega Aircraft in Burbank.^[47][48]

During World War II, the entire area of Lockheed's Vega factory was camouflaged to fool an enemy reconnaissance effort. The factory was hidden beneath a rural neighborhood scenes painted on canvas.^[49] Hundreds of fake trees and shrubs were positioned to give the entire area a three-dimensional appearance. The fake trees and shrubs were created to provide a leafy texture. Air ducts disguised as fire hydrants made it possible for the Lockheed-Vega employees to continue working underneath the huge camouflage umbrella designed to conceal their factory.^[50]

The growth of companies such as Lockheed, and the burgeoning entertainment industry drew more people to the area, and Burbank's population doubled between 1930 and 1940 to 34,337. Burbank saw its greatest growth during World War II due to Lockheed's presence, employing some 80,800 men and women producing aircraft such as the Lockheed Hudson, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Lockheed PV-1 Ventura, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, and America's first jet fighter, the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star.^[51][52] Lockheed later created the U2, SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Nighthawk at its Burbank-based "Skunk Works". The name came from a secret, ill-smelling backwoods distillery called "Skonk Works" in cartoonist Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip.^[53]

Dozens of hamburger stands, restaurants and shops appeared around Lockheed to accommodate the employees. Some of the restaurants operated 24 hours a day. At one time, Lockheed paid utility rates representing 25% of the city's total utilities revenue, making Lockheed the city's cash cow. When Lockheed left, the economic loss was huge. At its height during World War II, the Lockheed facility employed up to 98,000 people.^[54] Between the Lockheed and Vega plants, some 7,700,000 square feet (720,000 m²) of manufacturing space was located in Burbank at the peak in 1943. Burbank's growth did not slow as war production ceased, and over 7,000 new residents created a postwar real estate boom. Real estate values soared as housing tracts appeared in the Magnolia Park area of Burbank between 1945 and 1950. More than 62% of the city's housing stock was built before 1970.^[55]

Following World War II, homeless veterans lived in tent camps in Burbank, in Big Tujunga Canyon and at a decommissioned National Guard base in Griffith Park. The government also set up trailer camps at Hollywood Way and Winona Avenue in Burbank and in nearby Sun Valley. But new homes were built, the economy improved, and the military presence in Burbank continued to expand. Lockheed employees numbered 66,500 and expanded from aircraft to include spacecraft, missiles, electronics and shipbuilding.

Lockheed's presence in Burbank attracted dozens of firms making aircraft parts. One of them was Weber Aircraft Corporation, an aircraft interior manufacturer situated adjacent to Lockheed at the edge of the airport. Throughout the 1950s and into the late 1960s, Weber Aircraft became a leading supplier of seats for a variety of aircraft, including the Boeing 707, the Douglas DC-8, and the Lockheed L-1011. In 1988, Weber closed its Burbank manufacturing plant, which then employed 1,000 people. Weber produced seats, galleys, lavatories and other equipment for commercial and military aircraft. Weber had been in Burbank for 36 years.^[56]

In 1987, Burbank's airport became the first to require flight carriers to fly quieter "Stage 3" jets. By 2010, Burbank's Bob Hope Airport had 4.5 million passengers annually. The airport also was a major facility for FedEx and UPS, with 96.2 million pounds of cargo that year.^[57]

Entertainment industry

The motion picture business arrived in Burbank in the 1920s. In 1926, First National Pictures bought a 78-acre (320,000 m²) site on Olive Avenue near Dark Canyon. The property included a 40-acre (160,000 m²) hog ranch and the original David Burbank house, both owned by rancher Stephen A. Martin.

In 1928, First National was taken over by a company founded by the four Warner Brothers. Notably, First National had produced and released many of the early "talkie" films of the late 1920s. By 1929, Warner Bros.-First National Pictures was dissolved and the First National name was retired. However, Warner Bros. continued to operate on the site as a standalone studio.^[58]

Columbia Pictures purchased property in Burbank as a ranch facility, used primarily for outdoor shooting. Walt Disney's company, which had outgrown its Hollywood quarters after success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film), bought 51 acres (210,000 m²) in Burbank. Disney's million-dollar studio, designed by Kem Weber, was completed in 1939 on Buena Vista Street. Disney originally wanted to build "Mickey Mouse Park," as he first called it, next to the Burbank studio. But his aides finally convinced him that the space was too small, and there was opposition from the Burbank City Council. One council member told Disney: "We don't want the carny atmosphere in Burbank." Disney later built his successful Disneyland in Anaheim.

Wartime effort

During World War II, many of the movie studios in Burbank were used for war-related production, including civil defense-related films, and the city experienced a population boom as a result of the increased job opportunities. From Disney Studios alone, more than 70 hours of film was produced during the wartime effort. This included films that were used to boost morale on the home front and others that were used to educate and inform the public about the war.^[59] Burbank, which was previously known primarily as a center of the entertainment industry, became a major player in the war effort and a thriving community as a result. As the war came to an end, the movie studios in Burbank returned to their primary function of producing entertainment films, but the city had permanently changed as a result of its wartime experience.

Labor strife

Burbank saw 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, a confrontation that led to the largest wave of strikes in American history. For six months, the union had been negotiating for better pay and working conditions, but the studios refused to budge. Frustrated and desperate, the set decorators decided to take action. The studios responded by hiring non-union workers to replace the striking decorators, but the union was not about to back down. They organized picket lines and rallies, drawing support from other unions in the area.^[60] The studios, in turn, called in police and private security to break up the protests. Streets were filled with striking workers, non-union replacements, and security personnel, all engaged in a violent confrontation. Cars were overturned, windows were smashed, and tear gas was used to disperse the crowds. In the end, studios forced to negotiate with the union, and the decorators eventually won their demands for better pay and working conditions.^[61][62]

Hub of Hollywood

By the 1960s and 1970s, more of the Hollywood entertainment industry was relocating to Burbank. NBC moved its west coast headquarters to a new location at Olive and Alameda avenues. The Burbank studio was purchased in 1951, and NBC arrived in 1952 from its former location at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood. Although NBC promoted its Hollywood image for most of its West Coast telecasts (such as Ed McMahon's introduction to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: "from Hollywood"), comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin began mentioning "beautiful downtown Burbank" on Laugh-in in the 1960s. By 1962, NBC's multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art complex was completed.

One of the biggest productions to come out of the Burbank studios during this time was the hit television series Batman. The show, which aired from 1966 to 1968, was filmed entirely on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank and was a huge success, both critically and commercially. It was instrumental in launching other superhero shows and movies, and its popularity helped to establish the studio as a major player in the television industry. As the 1970s came to a close, the Burbank studios had firmly established themselves as a major player in the industry.

Studio Corridor

Warner Bros., NBC, Disney and Columbia TriStar Home Video (now Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) all ended up located very close to each other along the southern edge of Burbank (and not far from Universal City to the southwest), an area now known as the Media District,^[63] Media Center District or simply Media Center.^[64] In the early 1990s, Burbank imposed growth restrictions in the Media District.^[63] Since then, to house its growing workforce, Disney has focused on developing the site of the former Grand Central Airport in the nearby city of Glendale. Only Disney's most senior executives and some film, television, and animation operations are still based at the main Disney studio lot in Burbank.

Rumors surfaced of NBC leaving Burbank after its parent company General Electric Corporation acquired Universal Studios and renamed the merged division NBC Universal. Since the deal, NBC has been relocating key operations to the Universal property located in Universal City. In 2007, NBC Universal management informed employees that the company planned to sell much of the Burbank complex. NBC Universal would relocate its television and cable operations to the Universal City complex.^[65] When Conan O'Brien took over hosting The Tonight Show from Carson's successor Jay Leno in 2009, he hosted the show from Universal City. However, O'Brien's hosting role lasted only 7 months, and Leno, who launched a failed primetime 10pm show in fall 2009, was asked to resume his Tonight Show role after O'Brien controversially left NBC. The show returned to the NBC Burbank lot and had been expected to remain there until at least 2018.^[66] However, in April 2013 NBC confirmed plans for The Tonight Show to return to New York after 42 years in Burbank, with comic Jimmy Fallon replacing Leno as host. The change became effective in February 2014.^[67]

The relocation plans changed following Comcast Corp.'s $30 billion acquisition of NBC Universal in January 2011. NBC Universal announced in January 2012 it would relocate the NBC Network, Telemundo's L.A. Bureau, as well as local stations KNBC and KVEA to the former Technicolor building located on the lower lot of Universal Studios in Universal City.^[68] The former NBC Studios were renamed The Burbank Studios.

In 2019, the Conan O'Brien moved his TBS talk show, Conan, to Stage 15 on the Warner Bros. studios lot in Burbank, where it continued to tape until 2021 when the show ended.^[69] Stage 15, constructed in the late 1920s, was used to shoot films such as Calamity Jane (1953), Blazing Saddles (1974), A Star Is Born (1976) and Ghostbusters (1984).

In the early 1990s, Burbank tried unsuccessfully to lure Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Columbia and TriStar studios owner based in Culver City, and 20th Century Fox, which had threatened to move from its West Los Angeles lot unless the city granted permission to upgrade its facility. Fox stayed after getting Los Angeles city approval on its $200 million expansion plan. In 1999, the city managed to gain Cartoon Network Studios which took up residence in an old commercial bakery building located on North 3rd St. when it separated its production operations from Warner Bros. Animation in Sherman Oaks.

Cinema history

Hundreds of major feature films have been filmed in the studios in Burbank including Casablanca (1942), starring Humphrey Bogart.^[70] The movie began production a few months after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Due to World War II, location shooting was restricted and filming near airports was banned. As a result, Casablanca shot most of its major scenes on Stage 1 at the Warner Bros. Burbank Studios, including the film's airport scene. It featured a foggy Moroccan runway created on the stage where Bogart's character does not fly away with Ingrid Bergman. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) was also filmed at the Warner Bros. Burbank Studios.

The Gary Cooper film High Noon (1952) was shot on a western street at the Warner Brothers "Ranch", then known as the Columbia Ranch.^[70] The ranch facility is situated less than a mile north of Warner's main lot in Burbank. 3:10 to Yuma (1957) was also filmed on the old Columbia Ranch, and much of the outdoor filming for the Three Stooges took place at Columbia Ranch, including most of the chase scenes. In 1993, Warner Bros. bulldozed the Burbank-based sets used to film High Noon and Lee Marvin's Oscar-winning Western comedy Cat Ballou (1965), as well as several other features and television shows. A $500-million redevelopment of the Warner Bros. Ranch Lot is currently underway, which will add new offices and soundstages to the historic production facility.^[71]

While filming Apollo 13 (1995) and Coach Carter (2005), the producers shot scenes at Burbank's Safari Inn Motel. True Romance (1993) also filmed on location at the motel. Back to the Future (1985) shot extensively on the Universal Studios backlot but also filmed band audition scenes at the Burbank Community Center. San Fernando Blvd. doubled for San Diego in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) while much of Christopher Nolan's Memento was shot in and around Burbank with scenes on Burbank Blvd., at the Blue Room (a local bar also featured in the 1994 Michael Mann feature Heat), the tattoo parlor, as well as the character Natalie's home.

The city's indoor shopping mall, Burbank Town Center, is often used as a backdrop for shooting films, television series and commercials. Over the years, it was the site for scenes in Bad News Bears (2005) to location shooting for Cold Case, Gilmore Girls, ER and Desperate Housewives.^[72] The ABC show Desperate Housewives also frequently used the Magnolia Park area for show scenes, along with the city's retail district along Riverside and adjacent to Toluca Lake, California. Also, Universal Pictures' Larry Crowne shot exterior scenes outside Burbank's Kmart, the store doubled for 'U Mart',^[73] and in The Hangover Part II (2011) a breakfast scene was filmed at the IHOP restaurant across the street.

The Burbank Airport is also an important part of the city's cinematic history. In the early days of Hollywood, many stars and filmmakers used the airport to travel to and from Los Angeles. The airport has also been featured in a number of films and television shows over the years, including The Hindenburg (film), Wonder Woman (TV series), and Perry Mason (1957 TV series).

In 2012, an international filmmaking and acting academy opened its doors in Burbank. The school, the International Academy of Film and Television, traces its roots to the Philippines. The first class will include students from 30 countries.^[74]

Burbank today

Burbank, like other cities in California, has been facing many economic, political and social challenges in recent years. One of the main issues is the lack of affordable housing in the city. The cost of single-family homes in Burbank topped $1 million by early 2021.^[75] According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average rent price in Burbank is around $1,800 and 29% of Burbank residents spend over half of their income on rent.^[76] These high housing costs are putting a strain on many residents, and as a result, a rent-control ordinance known as Measure RC was put on the ballot in 2021 to cap rent increases at 7% annually on at least 24,000 residential units; the measure failed to pass 36 to 64%.^[77] California law bars communities in the state from putting rent control on complexes built after February 1995. Rising housing costs in California in the last decade have contributed to a shortage of affordable housing in large metropolitan areas. Rent control is seen as a way to keep housing costs affordable but some economists have suggested ordinances limiting rent only contribute to California's chronic housing problem.^[78]

Burbank has taken the initiative in various anti-smoking ordinances in the past decade.^[79] In late 2010, Burbank passed an ordinance prohibiting smoking in multi-family residences sharing ventilation systems. The rule went into effect in mid-2011. The new anti-smoking ordinance, which also prohibits smoking on private balconies and patios in multi-family residences, is considered the first of its kind in California. Since 2007, Burbank has prohibited smoking at all city-owned properties, downtown Burbank, the Chandler Bikeway, and sidewalk and pedestrian areas.^[80]

The murder of Burbank police officer Matthew Pavelka in 2003 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 councilwoman Stacey Murphy, implicated in trading guns in exchange for drugs.^[81][82] Pavelka was the first Burbank police officer to be fatally shot in the line of duty in the department's history, according to the California Police Association officials.

The city's namesake street, Burbank Boulevard, started getting a makeover in 2007. The city spent upwards of $10 million to plant palm trees and colorful flowers, a median, new lights, benches and bike racks. Additionally, various utility boxes throughout the city were painted in 2020 with original art inspired by the theme of "A World of Entertainment." Artists were selected through a committee consisting of City of Burbank representatives and members of art communities.^[83]

Today, an estimated 100,000 people work in Burbank. The physical imprints of the city's aviation industry remain. In late 2001, the Burbank Empire Center opened with aviation as the theme. The center, built at a cost of $250 million by Zelman Development Company, sits on Empire Avenue, the former site of Lockheed's top-secret "Skunk Works", and other Lockheed properties.

In a real estate deal announced in April 2019 Warner Bros. plans to open a series of two new Frank Gehry-designed office towers on the new site that have been described as "like icebergs floating alongside the 134 freeway."^[84]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Burbank has a total area of 17.4 square miles (45 km²). 17.4 square miles (45 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km²) of it (0.12%) is water. It is bordered by Glendale to the east, North Hollywood and Toluca Lake on the west, and Griffith Park to the south. The Verdugo Mountains form the northern border.

Elevations in the city range from 500 feet (150 m) in the lower valley areas to about 800 feet (240 m) near the Verdugo Mountains. Most of Burbank features a water table more than 100 feet (30 m) deep, more than the measures found in the 1940s when the water table was within 50 feet (15 m) of the ground surface in some areas of Burbank.

Geology

The geology of the Burbank area is primarily composed of sedimentary rocks, including sandstone, siltstone, and shale. These rocks were formed by sediment deposited by ancient rivers and seas, and have been uplifted and folded due to tectonic activity. Burbank is located within a seismically active area. At least eight major faults are mapped within 13.5 miles (21.7 km) of Burbank's civic center. The San Fernando Fault, located 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Burbank's downtown, caused the 6.6 magnitude 1971 San Fernando earthquake.

The Verdugo Fault, which can reach a maximum estimated 6.5 magnitude earthquake on the Richter Scale, is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the city of Burbank's civic center. This fault extends throughout the city and is located in the alluvium just south of the Verdugo Mountains. The fault is mapped on the surface in northeastern Glendale, and at various locations in Burbank. Other nearby faults include the Northridge Hills Fault (10 miles (16 km) northwest of Burbank), the Newport–Inglewood Fault (12.5 miles (20.1 km)), Whittier Fault (21 miles (34 km)), and lastly the San Andreas Fault (28 miles (45 km)) with its 8.25 magnitude potential on the Richter Scale.^[85]

The 1971 San Fernando earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.6, caused some damage in Burbank. Poorly reinforced and unreinforced masonry fences were damaged as well as masonry chimneys. Pacific Manor care facility on Glenoaks, which was later razed and replaced with a new care facility, was badly damaged and had to be evacuated. Some factories, including Lockheed, had spills of hazardous materials. There were also small fires from electrical or fuel gas-related sources. Lastly, there were cases of flooding in buildings due to broken pipes and risers used for fire sprinklers.^[86]

Burbank suffered $66.1 million in damage from the 1994 Northridge earthquake, according to the city's finance department. There was $58 million in damage to privately owned facilities in commercial, industrial, manufacturing and entertainment businesses. Another $8.1 million in losses included damaged public buildings, roadways and a power station in Sylmar that is partly owned by Burbank. The Burbank Fire Department responded to 292 calls for damage inspections and reports of natural gas leaks. It is to be noted that the damage caused was more extensive than the 1971 San Fernando earthquake but still relatively moderate in nature.^[87][88]

Climate