Movie makers have used the Valley as scenery since before D.W. Griffith filmed Birth of a Nation beside the Los Angeles River where Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills is now. (Sadly, there was a time when his Klan riders would have fit right in with adjacent Burbank.) Add a couple more movies to the list. The 40 Year Old Virgin set most of its exterior scenes on Ventura Boulevard in Encino, giving some primo camera time to the Cuban restaurant Versailles. And the IMDB plot summary for Bewitched tells all you really need to know: "Out in California's San Fernando Valley, Isabel is trying to reinvent herself. A naïve, good-natured witch, she is determined to disavow her supernatural powers and lead a normal life..."

Random quote, from Bill Murray in Ghostbusters II: "If you had brain one in that huge melon on top of your neck, you’d be living the sweet life out in Southern California’s beautiful San Fernando Valley!’’

The Valley in film and literature