About Sun Valley

Sun Valley is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood is known for its overall youthful population and moderate racial diversity.

The neighborhood was first known as Roberts, in the 1880s, and in 1896 it became known as Roscoe.

There are three recreation centers in Sun Valley, one of which is a historic site. The neighborhood has thirteen public schools — including John H. Francis Polytechnic High School and Sun Valley High School — and four private schools.

Around the 1880s, Sun Valley was originally known as Roberts, which was the name of a general store—and the only business in the area. At that time, the area was classified as one of the five healthiest places in the United States to live (before smog), and, with the increased accessibility of the railroad, parcels of land in the area were being sold off to families coming to the area. The population of the Greater Los Angeles area at the time was about 200,000.

In 1896, Roberts changed its name to Roscoe. There is speculation that the name for the community came from a railroad employee by the name of Roscoe, who was killed in a train wreck during a train robbery near Sunland Blvd. and San Fernando Road. There are some spurious reports in later years that it was named after famous actor, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, after he had made movies on location in the area. However, Roscoe was already the name of the community before motion pictures were in widespread use. By 1905, there were seven families living in Roscoe. In (or around) 1915, the first gas pump on Route 99 (San Fernando Road/the main route between Glendale and Bakersfield) was installed at Sunland Blvd. and San Fernando Road by Alex Ratner. The Ratners were a new family in town and have remained active and supportive members of the community ever since. Ratner Street is named for this family. Adom Ratner-Stauber, involved in real estate development and property management in the area, is the great-grandson of Alex. The change to the current name of Sun Valley was made in 1948 by residents in a movement spearheaded by the Chamber of Commerce. Vestiges of the former name remain in the name of Roscoe Elementary School and the telephone exchange 76x-xxxx (RO[scoe]x-xxx). Note: The 76 prefix followed by a 7 was ROgers 7 -XXXX in Sun Valley. The prefix 76 followed by a 5 or 6 in North Hollywood was Poplar as in PO 5-xxxx and PO 6-XXXX.