Chatsworth, CA

Chatsworth is bordered by the Santa Susana Mountains and unincorporated Los Angeles County lands to the north, Porter Ranch to the northeast, Northridge to the east, West Hills, Canoga Park, and Winnetka to the south, and the Simi Hills, Ventura County, Simi Valley to the west.
The topography of modern Chatsworth is varied, with many industrial areas, home communities, large apartment and condominium complexes, parks, ranches, horse stables, horse trails, and farms, a few shopping centers, restaurants, and a train station.
Chatsworth includes the generally empty Chatsworth Reservoir, fenced in property that belongs to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. It's been said that the area is contaminated. Chatsworth suffers an increase in cancer cases that may be attributed to toxic and radiological waste leaks at the Rocketdyne facility in the nearby Santa Susanna hills.
Chatsworth was originally inhabited by the Fernandeno and Chumash tribes. The first European explorers came into the Chatsworth area on August 5, 1769, led by Gaspar de Portola. After the San Fernando Mission was established in 1797, Spain granted the land of the San Fernando Valley, including Chatsworth, to the new mission.
An Indian trail ran from Chatsworth to the San Fernando Mission, and was part of the El Camino del Santa Susana y Simi trail that connected the San Fernando Mission to the San Buenaventura Mission. The trail crossed into the valley over the Santa Susana Pass near Chatsworth Park. In 1821, after the Mexican people revolted against Spain and claimed independence, the San Fernando Mission became part of Mexico.
In 1834, the Mexican government ordered the sale of all mission lands, and as a result, Chatsworth was divided - the Eastern part became Rancho San Fernando and the Western part became part of the Simi land grant. The border line extended down the center of what is now Andora Avenue.
The town was named after Chatsworth House, in Derbyshire, the country estate of England's Duke of Devonshire. During the late 1800s, Chatsworth was a main thoroughfare for the figures of the American West. Joaquin Murrieta and his bandits hid out in the rocky crevices around Stony Point. In 1861, a stagecoach trail, now called the Old Stagecoach Trail, was established through Chatsworth. It followed the old El Camino del Santa Susana y Simi trail over the Santa Susana Pass. That stagecoach route was used until about 1877.
As late as 1891, another stage line still used the pass to provide a link between the city of San Fernando and Simi Valley. It is now a popular hiking trail in the Santa Susana Hills.
Chatsworth remained mostly rural until the 1980s, and as a result, it became the site for many western films and rural-themed television shows. The setting fit the popular conception of the American West; boulders larger than houses were strewn against a backdrop of mountains. Tumbleweeds were and still are a common sight. Oaks and sycamores, the native trees, along with imported Eucalyptus trees, and orange groves also lent to the rural feeling. Between 1912 and 1960, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and hundreds of other cowboys made movies at Iverson's Movie Ranch.
Chatsworth continues to house numerous mainstream production offices as well as a significant percentage of the world's adult production and distribution studios.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatsworth,_CA