Boeing built planes on the field. Lockheed Aircraft had its own nearby airfield. Lockheed bought the airport in and renamed it Lockheed Air Terminal , which it was known as until , when it became Hollywood-Burbank Airport. In , the city of Burbank and the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, which owns and operates the airport, reached a development agreement. The agreement forbids further airport expansion until Unlike most other regional airports in California, Burbank's airport sits on land that was specifically zoned for airport use.
The growth of companies such as Lockheed, and the burgeoning entertainment industry drew more people to the area, and Burbank's population doubled between and to 34, The name came from a secret, ill-smelling backwoods distillery called "Skonk Works" in cartoonist Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip. Dozens of hamburger stands, restaurants and shops appeared around Lockheed to accommodate the employees.
Some of the restaurants operated 24 hours a day. When Lockheed left, the economic loss was huge. Between the Lockheed and Vega plants, some 7,, square feet , m 2 of manufacturing space was located in Burbank at the peak in Burbank's growth did not slow as war production ceased, and over 7, new residents created a postwar real estate boom. Real estate values soared as housing tracts appeared in the Magnolia Park area of Burbank between and But new homes were built, the economy improved, and the military presence in Burbank continued to expand.
Lockheed employees numbered 66, and expanded from aircraft to include spacecraft, missiles, electronics and shipbuilding. Lockheed's presence in Burbank attracted dozens of firms making aircraft parts. One of them was Weber Aircraft Corporation, an aircraft interior manufacturer situated adjacent to Lockheed at the edge of the airport.
In , Weber closed its Burbank manufacturing plant, which then employed 1, people. Weber produced seats, galleys, lavatories and other equipment for commercial and military aircraft. Weber had been in Burbank for 37 years. By the mids, Hollywood-Burbank Airport handled 1. As of August [update] , Southwest represents two-thirds of the airport's operations. In , JetBlue Airways began the first non-stop coast-to-coast service out of the airport. Avjet Corporation, a private jet service, operates out of several hangars on the south side of the airport.
Atlantic Aviation, formerly Mercury Air Center also provides jet services for several prominent companies. In , Burbank's airport became the first to require flight carriers to fly quieter "Stage 3" jets. By , Burbank's Bob Hope Airport had 4. In early , American Airlines announced it would cease flights in and out of Burbank. The decision followed American's parent company filing for bankruptcy protection in November For October , Southwest flew roughly , passengers that month while American was just under 30, passengers.
A study found Burbank ranks among the lowest in terms of tax burdens for travelers, according to a trade group for travel managers. RITC opened in June RITC links the airport to other transportation systems, including regional bus lines, shuttles, as well as the Amtrak and Metrolink rail services, and includes an elevated covered moving walkway to the terminal building.
An adjacent multi-story parking structure also is planned on the site. RITC also will serve as a command center for emergency operations. Reversing recent passenger declines, the airport reported the number of passengers in the first seven months of rose 2. That marked a turnaround from slow passenger trends experience since Meanwhile, There have been discussions in recent years by members of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority to rebrand the Bob Hope Airport to identify the location more with Hollywood and the Burbank area.
Prodded by the U. Federal Aviation Administration , airport officials are looking to replace the aging terminal at Bob Hope Airport with something up to two-thirds bigger in size.
The current terminal dates back to the s and is deemed too close to the runways by current standards — roughly feet 76 m instead of the required feet. The new terminal still requires Burbank voter approval but would have 14 gates and be roughly , square feet 33, m 2 compared with the current one with , square feet 19, m 2. The ballot measure is expected to put before voters in June , and would take about six years to build. The motion picture business arrived in Burbank in the s.
The property included a acre , m 2 hog ranch and the original David Burbank house, both owned by rancher Stephen A. In —29, First National was taken over by a company founded by the four Warner Brothers. Columbia Pictures purchased property in Burbank as a ranch facility, used primarily for outdoor shooting. Walt Disney 's company, which had outgrown its Hollywood quarters, bought 51 acres , m 2 in Burbank.
Disney originally wanted to build "Mickey Mouse Park," as he first called it, next to the Burbank studio. But his aides finally convinced him that the space was too small, and there was opposition from the Burbank City Council.
One council member told Disney: "We don't want the carny atmosphere in Burbank. Burbank saw its first real civil strife as the culmination of a six-month labor dispute between the set decorator's union and the studios resulted in the Battle of Burbank on October 5, By the s and s, more of the Hollywood entertainment industry was relocating to Burbank.
NBC moved its west coast headquarters to a new location at Olive and Alameda avenues. By , NBC's multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art complex was completed. In the early s, Burbank imposed growth restrictions in the Media District. Since then, to house its growing workforce, Disney has focused on developing the site of the former Grand Central Airport in the nearby city of Glendale. Only Disney's most senior executives and some film, television, and animation operations are still based at the main Disney studio lot in Burbank.
In , NBC Universal management informed employees that the company planned to sell much of the Burbank complex. However, O'Brien's hosting role lasted only 7 months, and Leno, who launched a failed primetime 10pm show in fall , was asked to resume his Tonight Show role after O'Brien controversially left NBC. The show returned to the NBC Burbank lot and had been expected to remain there until at least The change became effective in February The relocation plans changed following Comcast Corp.
In the early s, Burbank tried unsuccessfully to lure Sony Pictures Entertainment , the Columbia and TriStar studios owner based in Culver City , and 20th Century Fox , which had threatened to move from its West Los Angeles lot unless the city granted permission to upgrade its facility. In , the city managed to gain Cartoon Network Studios which took up residence in an old commercial bakery building located on North 3rd St. Animation in Sherman Oaks, CA. Burbank has a rich cinematic history.
Hundreds of major feature films have filmed in Burbank over the years, but perhaps none more famous than Casablanca , starring Humphrey Bogart. The movie began production a few months after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Due to World War II, location shooting was restricted and filming near airports was banned. As a result, Casablanca shot most of its major scenes on Stage 1 at the Warner Bros. Burbank Studios, including the film's famous airport scene. It featured a foggy Moroccan runway created on the stage where Bogart's character doesn't fly away with Ingrid Bergman. Bonnie and Clyde was also filmed at the Warner Bros. Burbank Studios. The ranch facility is situated less than a mile north of Warner's main lot in Burbank.
The classic to Yuma also filmed on the old Columbia Ranch, and much of the outdoor filming for the Three Stooges took place at Columbia Ranch, including most of the chase scenes.
In , Warner Bros. The Mel Brooks classic Blazing Saddles gives viewer a brief glance behind the scenes as they literally break the fourth wall onto an adjacent stage, and through the Warner Bros. In , a fire broke out on the Disney's Burbank lot, damaging a sound stage where a set was under construction for Disney's feature film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl No one was injured in the blaze. True Romance also filmed on location at the motel. Back to the Future shot extensively on the Universal Studios backlot but also filmed band audition scenes at the Burbank Community Center.
The city's mall, Burbank Town Center, is a popular backdrop for shooting films, television series and commercials. The ABC show Desperate Housewives also was known to frequently use the Magnolia Park area for show scenes, along with the city's retail district along Riverside and adjacent to Toluca Lake, California. During , Burbank experienced a surge in on-location commercial and TV production. The city's film permit official reported 32 permits were issued in December alone, up from 24 permits in the year-earlier period.
In , an international filmmaking and acting academy opened its doors in Burbank. The first class will include students from 30 countries. Burbank is home to many employees of the motion picture , digital cinema and television studios located in the area.
Entertainment has generally replaced the defense industry as the primary employer, who are attracted by the relative safety and security offered by its own police and fire departments, highly rated schools and hospital.
Other reasons cited are its small town feel while located only 10 minutes away by car to the hip clubs and restaurants of Hollywood. The eatery features a soaring pylon sign, an open kitchen and big picture windows, all of which are elements of Googie architecture. In , the restaurant's new owner sought to raze the structure and replace it with an office building or shopping center, but the landmark designation made it legally more difficult to make significant changes.
Residents enjoy the music of the Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, the Starlight Bowl, fine restaurants, the city's Downtown Burbank Mall, a burgeoning "Burbank Village" shopping district, and many theatres , parks , and libraries.
Visitors to Burbank are attracted to the Warner Bros. Studio VIP tour and close proximity to all other entertainments and attractions that Los Angeles offers. Burbank became the first American city in to pass an ordinance requiring new buildings to ensure adequate first responder communications.
Since then municipalities nationwide have copied Burbank's action. Burbank's ordinance allows for spot field-testing by police or fire department personnel. The ordinance required an in-building coverage system, adding expense but increasing safety for building occupants. Burbank is considered a trailblazer of sorts in the anti-smoking area. In late , Burbank passed an ordinance prohibiting smoking in multi-family residences sharing ventilation systems. The rule went into effect in mid The new anti-smoking ordinance, which also prohibits smoking on private balconies and patios in multi-family residences, is considered the first of its kind in California.
Since , Burbank has prohibited smoking at all city-owned properties, downtown Burbank, the Chandler Bikeway, and sidewalk and pedestrian areas. The city's namesake street, Burbank Boulevard, started getting a makeover in Today, an estimated , people work in Burbank every day. The physical imprints of the city's aviation industry remain. In late , the Burbank Empire Center opened with aviation as the theme.
By , many of the center's retailers and restaurants were among the top national performers in their franchise, if not the top. Work started in summer to open a Walmart Supercenter on the site of the former Great Indoors store. The project had been halted since due to lawsuits.
Walmart officials have maintained the store should be opened and cited its economic benefits to the city. The mixed-use development will include apartment units above the store. The project has faced controversy due to traffic concerns and street barriers in the adjacent neighborhood. The Bob Hope Airport serves 4. The airport, located in the northwestern corner of the city, is the source of most street traffic in the city.
Noise from the airport has been a source of concern for nearly decades. A bill introduced in May by two California congressmen would put into law an overnight curfew on flights from 10 p. The U. Federal Aviation Administration had rejected the airports' applications for a curfew. In December , a slowdown in passenger traffic led the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority to curtail spending plans, including deferring multimillion-dollar construction projects. In , a Southwest Airlines Boeing flight with persons aboard overshot the runway and went through the fence, coming to a stop on Hollywood Way near a Chevron gas station.
The construction of major freeways through and around the city of Burbank starting in the s both divided the city from itself and linked it to the rapidly growing Los Angeles region. Burbank is easily accessible by and can easily access the Southern California freeways via the Golden State Freeway I-5 , which bisects the city from northwest to southeast, and the Ventura Freeway which connects Burbank to the U.
Route on the south and the nearby Foothill Freeway to the east. The Ventura Freeway was completed in In , Burbank sold his holdings to the Providencia Land, Water, and Development Company for approximately a quarter of a million dollars.
Developers then drafted plans for a business district, small farms, and residential lots. The new development was opened on May 8, , and named in honor of Dr. In the s, Burbank devoted his time and capital to commercial interests, building his own theater in Downtown Los Angeles, which opened on November 27, at 6 th and Main.
Special Collections and Archives also holds several publications which focus on the history of Burbank. Partnered with over thirty libraries, museums, churches, archival institutions, historical societies, and even private individuals, the library digitized more than 4, photographs and records which document the San Fernando Valley.
If one searches for Burbank, the digital library finds nearly images. Square Miles. Burbank Junior High School, The building was gloomy and well worn. The new building was the latest word in California educational buildings with roomy classrooms, large sunny windows, and special rooms for science, art, and home economics.
The library was in the principal's office and the principal watched over the fifty books that the library contained. John Muir Junior High School, In , the ninth grade was transferred from the high school to the new junior high and by the school had been enlarged. A cafeteria, an auditorium, shops, and a gymnasium had been added. The gym was built on the site of the old Burbank Union High School.
After the earthquake, the third floor art room at John Muir Junior High School was removed and that school shared its classrooms with Burbank High School while the earthquake damage to the high school's main building was being repaired. Burbank was now growing rapidly. The schools had to keep pace.
Each building had four classrooms when it opened in Roosevelt School, pictured below in , is, representative of the architecture of these schools. In , the Ralph Waldo Emerson School, consisting of six classrooms, a kindergarten, an auditorium, offices, and storage spaces was built. Through the years, all of these schools have been enlarged and some have been completely rehabilitated or rebuilt. Then in , the name of the system was changed to the Burbank Unified School District.
Burbank's population had grown enough by to meet the California requirement for "Home Rule. The Burbank electors chose fifteen freeholders real estate owners to prepare a charter.
Miss Octavia Lesueur is generally credited with doing the major portion of the work of writing the charter. Other writers were J. Barnum, Roy Campbell, L. Collins, A. Fillbach, Ray G. Ludlow, C. Thompson, J. Radcliff, Earl L. After eight months' work, a charter was presented by the Board of Trustees to the voters.
At a special election on January 4, , the voters approved replacing the trustees with a city council-city manager type government. On January 13, the California State Legislature approved the charter.
One of the first actions of the City Council was to replace the volunteer fire department with a regular department. Two branch fire stations were built in the valley section.
By , Burbank had 1. The picture below shows Burbank in , about the time its original city charter was adopted. Compare this picture with the previous one. In these early years, there were no traffic signals in Burbank and many people drove Model-T Fords. Pepper trees, planted by the Providencia Land Company, lined many of Burbank's streets.
On April 19, , a Park Board was established because of a controversy over the pepper trees. Some Burbank citizens were concerned because anyone who wished could remove trees with no thought of replacing them. Octavia Lesueur was elected president of the Park Board and during her term of office more than 30, trees were planted or replaced in the parkways throughout the city.
Olive Avenue from below San Fernando Road, The city had also established a Playground Commission and a Recreation Commission. At first the two groups operated separately, but eventually they consolidated as the Burbank Park and Recreation Department.
The department was given charge of all parkways and recreational facilities. Many businesses had been added to the San Fernando Road area by A theatre near the corner of Angeleno Avenue showed "Leading Photoplays. Because of the traffic, parallel parking had become necessary.
Above: The Empire China Company in By , the Lockheed Aircraft Company had outgrown its Hollywood headquarters. Through one of its major stockholders, Fred S. Miles of farms, orchards, and vineyards surrounded the plant.
The Burbank Review predicted a future payroll of "as high as men. Twice a year the strip was graded to fill gopher holes and keep down weeds. The company prospered because the Lockheed planes set nearly every speed record of the times.
Wiley Post and Harold Gatty made a trip around the world in 8 days, 15 hours, and 51 minutes. This was in July, Other pilots used Lockheed planes to set both speed and altitude records. Amelia Earhart, in her Lockheed Vega plane, was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. This was in May, , and the flight took 15 hours and 18 minutes.
Wiley Post with his single-engined Lockheed Vega in The sale was disastrous for Lockheed because with the stock market crash in October, , and the depression that followed, the Lockheed branch of Detroit Aircraft Corporation remained the only part of the organization making money.
The company took all the profits of Lockheed to try to keep the parent organization alive. Robert E. Gross, Carl B. Squier, Lloyd C. Stearman, Walter T. Varney, Cyril Chappellet, R.
Walker, and Thomas P. Ryan III were the only bidders for the company assets which included the Lockheed name, the design and manufacturing rights to a series of plywood airplanes, and the experience and service of a few men who were substantial contributors to aviation's development. A two-story house north of the plant was used for the office and engineering sections. Thus Lockheed Aircraft Corporation was born. In the late 's, the Aeronautics Branch of the United States Department of Commerce surveyed the entire Los Angeles area to determine the most favorable airport location and recommended the Burbank area as the best from the standpoint of weather, surrounding terrain, and closeness to populated districts.
Spurred by this report, valley civic leaders spearheaded by the Burbank Chamber of Commerce and the Burbank Review began a drive for an airport early in , and took options on the land. Surveys showed a half million-dollar bond issue was needed to buy land, grade it, and get the airport started. Such a bond issue was considered politically and economically impossible for a town with only a few thousand persons.
United Aircraft and Transport Corporation became interested, conducted surveys that confirmed the Department of Commerce report, and took over the options. The runways were constructed by discing the ground and sprinkling it seven times with heavy oil. Two hangars and a pretentious terminal building were the first structures at the airport. The field was still a vineyard with a dry riverbed running through it.
United Airport was dedicated with a big three-day military and civilian air show that began on Memorial Day, Pacific Air Transport was the only commercial line using the field and their San Diego-Seattle run landed one flight a day. The plane was a single-engined Boeing 40B that carried four passengers and a pilot. United Airport dedication ceremonies, May 30, United Airports Company of California, Ltd.
The field became known as Union Air Terminal. By , 16, people called Burbank their home. Most of them lived close to the business district or in the Magnolia Park area. Many vineyards were still maintained both north and south of the developed area above San Fernando Road. The last of the grapevines gave way to housing in the 's.
Above: The valley area in showing United Airport in the distance. The angled street along the bottom of the picture is Olive Avenue.
Above: An aerial view showing the air terminal and surrounding area in The street that runs across the center of the picture is San Fernando Road. Burbank citizens traded their skills as carpenters, barbers, or professional people for food and services. The city used people who were unemployed to pave streets, build flood control channels, or to cut fire breaks in the hills.
The downward trend in employment continued into at which time city relief programs listed 1, heads of families as unemployed. The Lockheed Company, which incorporated in , grew in contrast to other businesses. Within a year's time following incorporation, , shares of stock were sold. A new all metal, twin-ruddered, two-engined plane was developed called the Electra.
A smaller version of the Electra, known as the Electra Jr. This model was called the XC Above: Lockheed Hudson bomber. In , the United States Army Air Corps asked the aircraft industry to submit designs for a pursuit plane capable of reaching an altitude of 20, feet in six minutes and a top speed of miles per hour. Lockheed engineers submitted the design for the P Lightning, destined to become one of the most widely known and used fighter planes in World War II.
Above: P Lightning fighter. Employment at Lockheed jumped to 7, in September, , and continued to increase. Lockheed expanded its facility at Empire Avenue and Victory Place and bought a distillery on San Fernando Road to be converted into a factory to build the P's. While Lockheed was building war planes, its engineers were anticipating the future peacetime need for luxury-class, four-engined commercial transports.
When World War 11 ended and commercial planes could again be manufactured, Lockheed was prepared to meet the need with the new, distinctively designed Constellation.
In spite of the depression, the Burbank City Council optimistically believed that the city would one day need more electricity than the Public Works Department could provide. In , a contract was signed with the Bureau of Reclamation for 25 million kilowatt-hours per year of electricity from Hoover Dam. This electricity was on a take-or-pay basis be- cause the city was using only 13 million kilowatt-hours per year at that time.
Three years later, the entire city electrical system was changed from 50 cycles to 60 cycles. The change was necessary to use the power from Hoover Dam. The conversion was extended all the way down to electric clocks, and city workers went to homes to adjust higher priced clocks or simply to supply new clocks for lower priced models. Also in a new city seal was adopted which replaced the "cantaloupe" seal, and reflected the city as an urban rather than a rural community. The city built a new main library building on Olive Avenue near Glenoaks Boulevard in The county library service operated the library until when the Burbank Public Library became a city department.
May Clarke who owned the hotel and the surrounding property. The hotel was demolished and the post office building was erected. The first post office, in , was located in a red barn on Orange Grove Avenue which was also used for a grocery store and a boarding house for workmen during construction work on the Burbank Villa.
After the barn location, the post office made many moves. One of the more permanent homes of the post office was on the north side of Angeleno Avenue between San Fernando Road and First Street where it remained for 17 years.
Besides changing locations, the post office itself changed very dramatically. It started as a fourth class office with one person, a lady, operating it. People called for their mail at the grocery store. After fourteen years, it became a third class office with a postmaster and a clerk, and provided both residential and business deliveries. As time passed and the population of Burbank increased, more carriers were added. In , the post office attained a first class status.
A special zone variance allowed the "shooting" of pictures any time day or night. The completion of the Disney studios late that year reinforced Burbank's position as the world's motion picture producing center. Inset shows Warner Brothers. Above: Walt Disney Productions, Inc. The growth of Lockheed and the coming of the studios and other industries to Burbank drew people to the area.
Burbank's population more than doubled from to The census of listed 16, people, and 34, inhabitants were counted in To prevent the loss of this major airport to the Burbank and Los Angeles area, and to provide a good field for flying and testing World War II planes then being built in increasing numbers, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation purchased the field in It formed a subsidiary, Lockheed Air Terminal, Inc.
The original acres were increased to acres and the facilities were expanded to 45 major buildings, including 17 hangars, all of which represented an investment of many millions of dollars. Some of these Japanese families had been operating vegetable farms and nurseries in Burbank.
Their farms were subdivided and houses were built on the land. This completed the city's evolution from an agricultural to an industrial community. After World War II started, engineers at Lockheed developed planes for the armed services and for our wartime allies and employment rapidly rose to 80, men and women. Planes built in Burbank made outstanding contributions to the war effort and included not only such famous names as Hudson and P, but also the PV-1, Ventura, and, after the war ended, the P Shooting Star jet fighters.
Vega Aircraft Corporation, the Lockheed subsidiary, pooled its skills with the Boeing and Douglas companies to build 12, B bombers.
Lockheed subcontracted some of the assembly work to other plants in the area. Camouflage changed the appearance of Lockheed from the air.
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