About Sunland-Tujunga

Sunland-Tujunga (/təˈhʌŋɡə/) is nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and is a community served by two post offices in the northeasternmost corner of Los Angeles. Though Sunland and Tujunga began as separate settlements, they are today linked through a single police station, branch library, neighborhood council, chamber of commerce, City Council district, high school and various civic organizations. The merging of these communities under a hyphenated name goes back as far as 1928 with a baseball box score printed in the Los Angeles Times.

The two post-office delivery areas are divided by Mount Gleason Avenue, with Sunland on the west and Tujunga on the east. Mount Lukens within Tujunga is the highest point in Los Angeles at 5,074 ft (1,547 m). For most of its history, the Sunland-Tujunga valley was described as either rural or semirural. Shadow Hills, a neighborhood within Sunland, is one of the few areas in Los Angeles that is zoned for horse ownership.

Sunland and Tujunga were originally home to the Tongva people. In 1840 the area was part of the Rancho Tujunga Mexican land grant, but later developers marked off a plot of land known as the Tejunga Park, or the Tujunga Park, Tract. The name Tujunga is assumed to have meant "old woman's place" in the extinct Tongva language, where Tuhu "old woman" is a term for Mother Earth in Tongva mythology.

Sunland began life as Monte Vista in 1885, when 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of the Tejunga [sic] Park tract were divided into lots ranging from five to 40 acres (160,000 m2). One of the first uses of the new tract was the planting of 40 acres (160,000 m2) of olives, which made it the largest olive orchard in Los Angeles County. In 1887 the Monte Vista Hotel was being served by the Sunland Post Office.By 1906, the appellation Sunland was being used by the Los Angeles Times rather than Monte Vista. A 1907 story noted that Sunland was the "first supply store, and a good one, about seven miles from the railroad" at San Fernando, at the mouth of the Little Tejunga and Big Tejunga canyons (the old spelling).

Tujunga was home to John Steven McGroarty, California Poet Laureate, from 1933 until his death in 1944. McGroarty was also a playwright and U.S. Congressman (Democrat, 11th District). He lived in a home he built himself and completed in 1923, known as Rancho Chupa Rosa. The building is a Historic Cultural Monument (#63) of the City of Los Angeles and is now known as the McGroarty Arts Center.

Tujunga was nevertheless incorporated after an election on April 21, 1925, with the southern border following the Rancho Tujunga boundary. A. Adams was elected treasurer, and Mrs Bertha A. Morgan was chosen as city clerk. Bolton Hall served as the City Hall until Tujunga was consolidated with Los Angeles in 1932.