Saddleridge Fire

Balboa Boulevard is a major north–south street in the city of Los Angeles, and it cuts through many communities and is one of the main thoroughfares in the San Fernando Valley. The southern end of Balboa Boulevard starts at Ventura Boulevard in the Encino section of Los Angeles. From there, it passes under the Ventura Freeway (US 101), goes through a portion of the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, and runs through the communities of Lake Balboa, Van Nuys, Northridge, North Hills, and Granada Hills. As Balboa Boulevard passes through Granada Hills, it passes under the Ronald Reagan Freeway (SR 118) before ending at Foothill Boulevard in the vicinity of the Newhall Pass interchange. Metro Local lines 235 and 236 run along Balboa Boulevard. The G Line serves a station at its intersection with Victory Boulevard in Lake Balboa.

The Sylmar Converter Station is the southern converter station of the Pacific DC Intertie, an electric power transmission line which transmits electricity from the Celilo Converter Station outside The Dalles, Oregon to Sylmar, a neighborhood in the northeastern San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. The station converts the 500 kV direct current coming from the northern converter station Celilo to alternating current at 60 Hz and 230 kV synchronized with the Los Angeles power grid. The station capacity is 3,100 megawatts. It is jointly owned by two electric utility providers, Southern California Edison and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

The Sayre Fire, also known as the Sylmar Fire, was a November 2008 wildfire that resulted in the loss of 489 residences in Los Angeles, California, United States, the "worst loss of homes due to fire" in the city's history. The fire was first reported at 10:29 p.m. PDT on November 14, 2008, in the Sylmar section of Los Angeles. As of November 20, 2008, the fire was 100% contained, had burned 11,262 acres (46 km2) and destroyed more than 600 structures (480 mobile homes, nine single-family homes, 104 outbuildings and 10 commercial buildings). The number of homes lost in the Sayre fire exceeded the prior record set in 1961 by the Bel Air Fire which claimed 484 homes. There were no fatalities, just minor injuries to five firefighters and one civilian.

The Nethercutt Collection is a multi-storied museum and car collection complex located in Sylmar, California. It was founded by J.B. Nethercutt in 1971 and its centerpiece is the prestigious automobile collection of the Nethercutt-Richards family that contains over 250 cars. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest car museums in the world.§As J.B. Nethercutt's former private estate, the San Sylmar penthouse tower was one of the largest houses in the United States at 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2).The museum also houses collections of mechanical musical instruments, including orchestrions, player pianos, music boxes, antique furniture, and an automotive research library. Another unique piece in the collection is the Canadian Pacific Railway's famous Royal Hudson steam locomotive No. 2839 built in 1937. The semi-streamlined Royal Hudson steam locomotive is one of four that survive today.The Collection is considered as one of the greatest teams of all time in Concours d'Elegance competitions and car shows with its world-class restoration shop, holding the most Concours titles of any competitor worldwide including a record six Best of Show victories at Pebble Beach.

The Newhall Pass interchange (officially Clarence Wayne Dean Memorial Interchange) is a highway interchange at Newhall Pass in Southern California, United States. It is south of the city of Santa Clarita and north of the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Granada Hills and Sylmar. It connects Interstate 5 (I-5, Golden State Freeway) with California State Route 14 (SR 14, Antelope Valley Freeway). It is officially named in the memory of Los Angeles Police officer Clarence Wayne Dean, who was killed when the interchange collapsed during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The 5-14 Split, as the interchange is commonly referred to as by locals, is the northernmost of five freeway interchanges on I-5 within a 10-mile (16 km) stretch. From south to north, the freeways that interchange with I-5 include: SR 170 in Sun Valley, SR 118 in Mission Hills, I-405 also in Mission Hills, I-210, in Sylmar, and ultimately the SR 14. The interchange is extremely large, and consists of numerous flyover ramps and two tunnels. Portions of I-5 in the pass reach up to 21 lanes wide. The complex structure combines a directional T-interchange with a collector–distributor bypass. The bypass, signed as truck lanes, allows traffic to and from SR 14 to avoid the congested pass summit. These truck lanes extend south to the I-210 interchange, and have direct ramps to and from the Foothill Freeway. The bypass is the original four-lane freeway, built as U.S. Route 99.

San Fernando Pioneer Memorial Cemetery, earlier known as Morningside Cemetery, is a cemetery in the Sylmar district of Los Angeles. Located on a 3.8-acre (15,000 m2) site at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Bledsoe Street, the Pioneer Cemetery was thought to be originally a 40-acre or 10-acre (400,000 m2) site.

Beale's Cut Stagecoach Pass (also known as the Fremont Pass, San Fernando Pass, and the Newhall Cut) was a stagecoach pass built in 1859 in what is now Santa Clarita, California. The Pass was designated a California Historical Landmark (No. 1006) on May 11, 1992. The cut provided a route in the pass between the San Gabriel Mountains and the Santa Susana Mountains ranges. It is located near the current interchange of the Interstate 5 and California State Route 14.The steep pass was made easier to cross with a deep slot-like road cut by Charles H. Brindley, Andrés Pico, and James R. Vineyard, to whom the State of California awarded a twenty-year contract to maintain the turnpike and collect tolls. Thus, the "San Fernando Mountain," the most daunting obstacle along the Fort Tejon Road, the main inland route from Los Angeles to the north, was cut through. Butterfield Overland Mail, a stagecoach that operated mail between St. Louis, Missouri, and San Francisco, began using it directly. In 1861 a landowner and surveyor named Edward Beale was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as the federal Surveyor General of California and Nevada. Beale challenged General Pico's loyalty to the new president and in 1863, Beale was awarded the right to collect the toll in the pass. Beale maintained rights to the cut for the next twenty years and so it became known as "Beale's Cut." Beale used Chinese immigrants to do most of the work on the cut. Work was completed in 1863, but the LA Board of Supervisors accepted it as complete on March 5, 1864.The cut had major damage in the winter of 1861–62 and wagons could not get through the pass. In March 1862 soldiers under the command of Major Theodore Coult of the Fifth California Volunteer Infantry, repaired the cut and road. The Fifth California Volunteer Infantry headquarters were Camp Latham, California. The soldiers repaired the cut as ammunition wagons could not get to Fort Yuma, California.Beale's Cut was eventually deepened to 90 feet (27.4 m). It lasted as a transportation passage near present-day Newhall Pass until the Newhall Tunnel opened in 1910.Beale's Cut appeared in many silent western movies. The location became a favorite of movie producers like John Ford and D. W. Griffith. In Ford's 1923 film Three Jumps Ahead, American cowboy star Tom Mix is filmed jumping over the pass, although it has been widely debated among film historians whether Mix himself made the jump, with any of a number of stuntmen claiming credit for it while some experts believe the jump was achieved purely through special effects. John Ford used the location in at least four films over a twenty-year period beginning as early as 1917. Still in existence today, it is no longer passable by automobiles. It suffered a partial collapse during the Northridge Earthquake, on January 17, 1994, and now is about 30 feet (9.1 m) deep. It is visible from the Sierra Highway about one mile north from the intersection of The Old Road and Sierra Highway, just after the first bridge under SR 14. It lies between Sierra Highway and the new freeway, about a quarter-mile to the northeast of a stone marker. Beale's Cut is difficult to find today because it is fenced off and not close enough to the Sierra Highway to be easily seen. The pass originally discovered in August 1769 by Catalan explorer Gaspar de Portolà, the pass today is named for Henry Newhall, a businessman in the area during the 19th century. In 1910 the 435 ft (133 m) Newhall Auto Tunnel was built a quarter-mile northwest of Beale's Cut. The tunnel was 17.5 ft (5.3 m) wide and two-way traffic through it was slow. The California Division of Highways decided to replace the tunnel; in July 1938 work started to remove the rock above the tunnel to create a four-lane highway. The road was first known as US Highway 6, then state Highway 14, and finally the present-day Sierra Highway. The cut for the tunnel is west of today's Highway 14.

The Sunshine Canyon Landfill is a large landfill located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sylmar, just south of Newhall Pass. The landfill was commissioned in 1958 and serves Los Angeles County.

Sylmar is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley and is the northernmost neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles. Historically known for its profusion of sylvan olive orchards, Sylmar can trace its past to the 18th century and the founding of the San Fernando Mission. In 1890, olive production was begun systematically. The Sylmar climate was also considered healthy, and so a sanitarium was established, the first in a series of hospitals in the neighborhood. There are fourteen public and eight private schools within Sylmar.

Newhall Pass is a low mountain pass in Los Angeles County, California. Historically called Fremont Pass and San Fernando Pass, with Beale's Cut, it separates the Santa Susana Mountains from the San Gabriel Mountains. Although the pass was visited in August 1769 by Catalan explorer Gaspar de Portolá, it eventually was named for Henry Newhall, a significant businessman in the area during the 19th century. Newhall Pass links the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Clarita Valley and is a main entry to the Greater Los Angeles area. The pass is known for the massive Newhall Pass interchange and the historic San Fernando Tunnel. Weather conditions in the pass can vary from triple-digit heat in the summer to rare below freezing temperatures in winter. Snow is possible from December to February, but is quite uncommon; when it does occur, it can lead to heavy traffic and accidents. The pass also is susceptible to heavy flooding during La Niña and El Niño events. Wildfires have also occasionally closed down the pass and California State Route 14.

Olive View–UCLA Medical Center is a hospital, funded by Los Angeles County, located in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is one of the primary healthcare delivery systems in the north San Fernando Valley, serving the area's large working-class population. Olive View is also the closest county hospital serving the Antelope Valley after High Desert Hospital was converted to an urgent care clinic in 2003.

Western Air Express Flight 7, a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Salt Lake City to Burbank, California, crashed on January 12, 1937 near Newhall, California. The twin engine Boeing 247D, registration NC13315, crashed shortly after 11:00 a.m. in adverse weather conditions. Of the three crew and ten passengers on board, one crew member and four passengers perished. One of the fatalities was noted international adventurer and filmmaker Martin Johnson, of Martin and Osa Johnson fame.The off-course Boeing 247D, en route from Salt Lake City, was on approach to the Union Air Terminal at Burbank, California in severely lowered visibility due to heavy rain and fog. On suddenly spotting a ridge looming directly ahead, pilot William L. Lewis cut power to the engines and "pancaked" onto the hillside to reduce the force of the impact.The airliner first struck the ground with the left wing tip. It then skidded along the side of the mountain in a curved path for approximately 125 feet, finally coming to rest headed in the opposite direction from which it struck. The point of collision was at an elevation of 3550 feet, near the summit of Los Pinetos, the highest mountain in the immediate vicinity.One passenger died immediately and three more died within a week, as did the co-pilot, C. T. Owens. Martin Johnson died of a fractured skull while hospitalized. His wife Osa suffered back and neck injuries but continued with the couple’s lecture circuit, doing so from her wheelchair. She later sued Western Air Express and United Airports Co of California for $502,539 but lost on appeal in 1941.One of the survivors was a 25-year-old passenger who managed to hike five miles down the mountainside where he met rescuers from the Olive View Sanitarium who were searching for the accident site. The accident was investigated by the Accident Board of the Bureau of Air Commerce, under the authority of the Department of Commerce. The cause was attributed to the adverse weather conditions, coupled with the pilot’s decision to descend to a dangerously low altitude without positive knowledge of his position.