Come Home to Valencia

"The best city is one which offers the greatest possible freedom of choice... Valencia wants to become such a city in every sense of the word..."

VICTOR GRUEN
International planner whose firm created Valencia's master plan.

What makes coming home so important to every person?

It's the feeling of being at home when he gets there.

But being "at home" varies with every individual — it's usually what makes him comfortable, what he enjoys and what he needs most for fulfillment. This is why "freedom of choice" is the basis of the entire plan for Valencia, making it a city entirely different from the ones we know. Here is a community that is planned first for people, with their varying tastes, desires, and needs. Here is Valencia.

Valencia's plan is to offer freedom of choice between simplicity and luxury, between activity or leisure. It offers every expression of urbanism along with the opportunity for solitude.

Here in Valencia, the individual will have the opportunity to choose to live on an exclusive hillside estate, in a family home in the valley, or a garden apartment. What's more important, he has the chance to identif y fully, to feel "at home" with his own neighborhood, the surrounding community, and his environment as a whole.

Over the hills to home. You come home to Valencia by means of a wide, uncrowded freeway that winds through oak-studded hills. These hills are important. They separate Valencia's way of living from the rest of the crowded, noisy, smoggy bustle of Southern California.

Look all around you. Tree­covered hills surround the entire valley of Valencia. Clear, blue sky is above. Grass, lakes, and greenery are everywhere. Valencia's planners chose this untouched, secluded area, so that they might begin uninhibited by existing influences — at the beginning — in planning this city for people.

Could man improve on this beautiful natural scene? We think Valencia's planners did. They added more grass, more trees and water. They even added more hills. And lastly, nestled among this natural beauty, the planners specified beautiful new homes by Southern California's most renowned and respected home builders.

Look again. What you don't see in this new community is just as important. There are no unsightly buildings. No utility wires. No TV antennae. No eyesores of any kind are allowed in Valencia to mar the peaceful scene.

This fertile Valencia valley was settled by the Spaniards, who found the climate and terrain much like their native homeland. Actual title to Valencia land traces down through the Newhall family to California Land Company from a 1798 land grant by the King of Spain.

In Valencia, heritage, or "roots," are important. You will see the early California Spanish influence all around you in the architecture of much of the community, in its commercial developments, in its beamed and tiled village shopping centers and in its recreation centers.

The paseo sets the pace in Valencia. Winding brick streets, far too narrow for automobiles, are a charming mistake in Valencia's helter-skelter sister city of Valencia, Spain. In the new Valencia, these pathways are deliberate; we call them "paseos." And they are the key to our plan for living.

You don't walk in Valencia. You stroll. These beautifully landscaped paseos slope and they wind, linking friendly little bricked plazas and pleasant parks. Indeed, if one phrase could be considered as an appropriate description of this new community, it would be "the parks, plazas and paseos of Valencia."

Most any time you'll see families on bikes, friends passing the time of day, toddlers romping on lawns. Nobody is under pressure; hurry is left to the automobile.

Paseos are strictly for people — Streets are for cars. And never the two shall meet, except at a picturesque underpass. That's the practical beauty of the paseo. It provides a safe, pedestrian access to all shopping, schools and recreation without ever crossing a street. Mother need never worry about traffic when she sends the children out to play.

Proximity is part of the plan. In the old days, we called it progress when there were two cars in every garage. But to Valencia's way of thinking, a two-car garage that needs only one car is real progress.

For once you've come home to Valencia, you can forget the automobile. You can bike, jog or just plain amble to all the necessities. The village shopping center with supermarket, drugstore and many personal little shops, the elementary school, its adjoining park and the neighborhood recreation center are just a paseo-stroll away.

An important part of being "at home" in Valencia is the wonderful feeling of belonging. Friendships begin immediately at the recreation centers. There are neighborhood gatherings, classes, games. There are pot luck suppers ... and even old-fashioned ice cream socials.

Privacy is the idea. You can be as social or as alone as you want to be in Valencia. Every residential area is planned that way. Along the paseos, patio homes are walled with privacy a foot thick. The cul-de-sac streets and the arrangement of homes on the lots have your peace in mind. Your freedom of choice is to be a part of the neighborhood when you wish to, or to be apart when you don't.

Good neighbors are valuable in more ways than one. The neighborhood is sparked with the spirit of old-fashioned pride in one's property — a pride which pays off by enhancing property values all around. Each neighborhood has a neighbors' association which can be rather adamant about untidy yards, exposed television aerials or clotheslines, campers or trailers being parked on the street.

When you take care of your property, it's a good thing to be assured that your neighbor will do the same. It's good to know, too, that with every passing year, Valencia will grow even prettier.

Valencia is kind to kids. Houses have room to grow in Valencia, and so do children. Valencia has lots of green wide open spaces for running and rolling and tagging. It's the kind of place you grew up in as a kid (or wish you had). There are so many pleasant spots like the park full of imaginative play equipment and the enclosed baseball field — places where children can go to seek all the fun of after-school adventure safely near their homes.

The children's mental growth is even more important. That's why all Valencia neighborhoods will have an elementary school nearby. These will all be brand new and first class facilities — a part of the highly accredited Newhall school system, one of California's best.

Kids are happier ... grass greener ... schools better ... facilities newer.

Valencia is an at-home resort. Weekending is a wonderful way to get away from it all. But, since Valencia is already away-from-it-all, you'll want to do most of your weekending at home.

Valencia offers you recreation facilities equal to those of the most exclusive and expensive resorts or private clubs. And they're all within walking distance of your front door "as the paseo winds."

In the heart of every neighbor­ hood is the recreation center. There, you can swim in a sparkling swimming pool or bask on the sundeck that surrounds it. You'll find spotless poolside dressing rooms and showers for your family's use. And your young youngsters will find a world of fun at the adjoining "tot lot" and wading pool.

There is an expansive, luxurious clubhouse for games, crafts or meetings at most of the recreation centers. Outdoor game-court facilities await your pleasure. All these features are at your disposal as if you owned them privately, yet they are maintained in immaculate condition without the slightest effort on your part.

Valencia is a golfer's paradise. In play daily is the 7,105 yard championship Valencia Golf Course designed by the famed golf-course architect, Robert Trent Jones. There's the 4,270 yard, 18-hole Vista Valencia executive course with a nine-hole, par three toughie right next to it. Two handsome clubhouses provide hospitable 19th hole facilities, along with excellent restaurants.

Nearby Placerita Canyon offers you an ideal streamside picnic site. Or you can head toward Lake Piru for waterskiing and fishing.

A well-stocked trout stream flows through neighboring Bouquet Canyon to the west.

And just ten minutes north of Valencia is Castaic Lake, which by 1971 will be Southern California's largest fresh water lake for boating, swimming, fishing and water skiing. Castaic Lake's 34 miles of shoreline will be the delight of hikers and horseback riders. And imagine camping out there — just a few minutes from home.

Surrounding the lake — and indeed most of the Valley of Valencia — is Angeles National Forest, one of the great natural parks of the world. It's practically the "back yard" of Valencia.

In 1971, you will see the opening of a 120-acre recreational park built by the same people who created Sea World in San Diego. This park will rival any similar amusement center in the West — or in the nation, for that matter. It will be a landscaped paradise full of exciting rides and fun attractions for the entire family. Perhaps you've seen Sea World. Valencia's new park will incorporate the same family-oriented quality. Except this new park will be much bigger ... a $15 million investment in fun.

Valencia is quietly industrious. Geographically, Valencia, surrounded by forest and mountains, is ideal for growth as a separate self­contained urban entity. Located on the 44,000-acre Newhall Ranch owned by The Newhall Land & Farming Company, Valencia is potentially one of the largest "new cities" now being developed anywhere in the world. The 4,000-acre section presently under development is planned for a community of 30,000 people by 1974. Los Angeles County's Regional Planning Commission projects Valencia as an area with an eventual population of 200,000.

One thousand acres of this Valencia land is now being developed as an attractive, high-standard industrial park, which will serve as a substantial employment base for the new community. The Valencia Industrial Center already employs 2,200, and will provide 3,500 jobs by next year.

Lockheed California Company's 500-acre Rye Canyon Research Laboratory has invested $35 mil­ lion in its Valencia location. Hydraulic Research and Manufacturing Company, a Textron company, has opened a 200,000 square-foot plant, the first phase of an 100-acre industrial complex which will eventually house 1,000,000 square feet of facilities. Fairchild-Hiller Corporation, Bucheimer-Clark, the Lustro Company, Pope Manufacturing Company and M. W. Sausse & Company are opening plants in Valencia.

All industries are carefully screened — no dust, smoke or noise conditions will be permitted. The Industrial Center's location is an ideal one in terms of the Valencia master plan; a natural buffer of hills screens it from Valencia's residential neighborhoods. Yet it's just minutes from everyone's driveway (if you worked there, you could even consider the idea of coming home for lunch).

Then there's the Sea World entertainment center, which will be just west of the Golden State Free­way. It, too, will be a powerful economic attraction, drawing visitors from all over the U.S.

Valencia has a heart. The master planned area of Valencia has been developed by California Land Company, in collaboration with Victor Gruen Associates, and will result in an investment of over $250 million.

The nucleus of Valencia will be a compact, multi-level city center, which will offer all county services, including a large regional public library, courthouse, sheriff's department, county engineering services and health facilities. This "downtown" section will be the hub of major retail business, civic and cultural activities for the entire Valencia community.

The residential villages will surround the city center. Each one clusters around its own shopping facilities, churches, library and apartments which are all within easy walking distance of the homes by paseo. The nucleus for each neighborhood will be the elementary school, adjoining and sharing facilities with its park.

In addition to the twelve elementary schools, the master plan calls for two junior high schools and a senior high school.

All this, and Cal Arts too. California Institute of the Arts is scheduled to open its new four year art and music school for 1200 students in the fall of 1970. This $36 million campus — literally a community of the arts — is the result of a plan conceived by Walt Disney, now being carried forward by the Disney family and associated enterprises. The Institute, devoted to all the visual and performing arts ... painting, design, music, ballet, drama and film ... will be a cultural asset to the community and nation. Its presence will make Valencia an internationally recognized cultural capitol. Events of artistic importance will comprise a year-round schedule of Cal Arts offerings to the people of Valencia.

Valencia is a coming home — and a return. This is Valencia. Its planning begins with the individual. It reaches out through his family, his neighborhood, his village, into the urban and business community.

Here is a community that is totally planned for a purpose: people. It provides every urban amenity ­ and it does it with "hometown" peace and security.

Valencia is for your enjoyment of today and every day. And it promises you a return — a substantial return — on your investment tomorrow. Only in a community of this scope and vision can you be sure of what your dollar is buying ­ today and in the future.

Homes in Valencia less than two years old have already increased in value by an average of 15%. Think what this might mean if you lived here 15 years!

Valencia is the one community with a plan. A workable, practical, secure plan for Home Ownership. A plan for living, a plan for people.

Come home to Valencia, and live.