The San Fernando Valley: America's Suburb

A journalist and native son of the San Fernando Valley, arguably America's quintessential suburb, returns to his

old neighborhoods and discovers a long, rich history filled with the sort of lore and traditions that make a place a home.

Kevin Roderick came to the subject of the San Fernando Valley both as a curious journalist and as a product himself of the suburbs. He grew up in Northridge, roaming the tracts of newly minted neighborhoods that came into being in the 1950s and 1960s. After attending James Monroe High School and studying the craft of journalism at California State University, Northridge, he went to work for the Los Angeles Times as a cub reporter covering the Valley. His career path steered him into other reporting endeavors and the newspaper’s senior editor ranks, but the untold stories of the Valley always beckoned. Roderick is currently the Los Angeles bureau chief for The Industry Standard magazine and lives in Santa Monica, Calif.