Sepulveda Ca

They are Sepulveda residents no longer. After years of trying to divorce themselves from what they characterize as crime-ridden neighborhoods to the east, residents on the west side of the San Diego Freeway were officially recognized Monday as a new community. They chose the name "North Hills"--smack in the flatlands of the central San Fernando Valley.

The ghost of Sepulveda loomed large over the San Fernando Valley on Friday. A day after what remained of Sepulveda was renamed North Hills, a Los Angeles city councilman and some residents called for new procedures to handle the kinds of name changes that have altered Valley maps this year. "There needs to be a more standardized way for the city to handle this," said Greig Smith, chief deputy for Councilman Hal Bernson. "Currently, we have no rules, no guidelines, no minimum standards."

Homeowners trying to secede from the community of Sepulveda said Monday they will present Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson this week with a petition signed by more than 2,800 residents who want to rename their neighborhood North Hills. Residents west of the San Diego Freeway began the secession campaign last fall to dissociate themselves from what they regard as crime-plagued neighborhoods east of the freeway.

Six months after some Sepulveda residents broke away to form a new neighborhood called North Hills, the rest of the community they considered too crime-ridden and seedy has changed its name to North Hills, too. Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, who as the area's representative approved the name change, said Thursday that it will take effect immediately.

Carrying complaints from disgruntled constituents right to the top, Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson appealed to the postmaster general Wednesday to grant a divorce to San Fernando Valley residents unhappy over their shotgun postal marriage to much-scornedSepulveda. "I'm very encouraged by his willingness to cooperate and to help solve our problem," Bernson said after meeting in Washington with Anthony Frank.

One day after residents of western Sepulveda changed their community's name to North Hills, the neighbors they left behind east of the San Diego Freeway said they want to join North Hills and dump the name Sepulveda altogether. The campaign was not welcomed by North Hills homeowners, who adopted the new name because they said they felt stigmatized by association with the eastern neighborhood's reputation for drug-dealing and street crime.

A Los Angeles city zoning panel Tuesday vetoed a request to expand a Sepulveda nightclub by almost 50%, after police vice officers testified that the expansion would increase the already rampant criminal activity in the area. "This one block is a nightmare," Los Angeles Police Sgt. Ken Kreider told the city's Board of Zoning Appeals as the panel heard the expansion request from the owners of Las Brisas, in the 15300 block of Parthenia Avenue.

The western portion of Sepulveda in the central San Fernando Valley was officially renamed North Hills on Monday, a victory for residents who complained that Sepulveda's name had become tarnished by drug dealing and street crime in the eastern part of the community. The new community, formerly the portion of Sepulveda west of the San Diego Freeway, is also bounded by Roscoe Boulevard on the north, the Bull Creek Flood Control Channel on the west and Lassen Street on the south.

Add another verse to the Sepulveda Blues--this one sung by a group of Northridge residents tired of being called Sepulveda by the post office. Inspired by the movement to create North Hills from the western half of Sepulveda, residents in a tiny sliver of Northridge between Balboa Boulevard and the Bull Creek Wash want their mail addressed to them in Northridge 91325, instead of Sepulveda 91343. "We are Northridge," resident Jeannie Lamalfa said Monday. "We have always been Northridge."

Six months after some Sepulveda residents broke away to form a new neighborhood called North Hills, the rest of the community they considered too crime-ridden and seedy has changed its name to North Hills, too. Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, who as the area's representative approved the name change, said Thursday that it will take effect immediately.

Sepulveda has died of shame and loneliness. Six months after residents of part of Sepulveda changed their region's name to North Hills--to escape the stigma of crime and seediness they said had become attached to the name--the community they fled rejoined them Thursday. What remained of Sepulveda will now be named North Hills too, Councilman Joel Wachs told a meeting Thursday night at Sepulveda Junior High School.

Carrying complaints from disgruntled constituents right to the top, Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson appealed to the postmaster general Wednesday to grant a divorce to San Fernando Valley residents unhappy over their shotgun postal marriage to much-scornedSepulveda. "I'm very encouraged by his willingness to cooperate and to help solve our problem," Bernson said after meeting in Washington with Anthony Frank.

A Los Angeles city zoning panel Tuesday vetoed a request to expand a Sepulveda nightclub by almost 50%, after police vice officers testified that the expansion would increase the already rampant criminal activity in the area. "This one block is a nightmare," Los Angeles Police Sgt. Ken Kreider told the city's Board of Zoning Appeals as the panel heard the expansion request from the owners of Las Brisas, in the 15300 block of Parthenia Avenue.

Add another verse to the Sepulveda Blues--this one sung by a group of Northridge residents tired of being called Sepulveda by the post office. Inspired by the movement to create North Hills from the western half of Sepulveda, residents in a tiny sliver of Northridge between Balboa Boulevard and the Bull Creek Wash want their mail addressed to them in Northridge 91325, instead of Sepulveda 91343. "We are Northridge," resident Jeannie Lamalfa said Monday. "We have always been Northridge."

Police and homeowners urged city officials Monday to close a Sepulveda club that features topless dancers, saying the club contributes to rampant prostitution, drug dealing, public drunkenness and other crime problems in the Sepulveda Boulevard corridor. However, the owners of the Classy Lady in the 8300 block of Sepulveda Boulevard did not get a chance to defend themselves at the public hearing held by the Los Angeles office of zoning administration in Van Nuys.

One day after residents of western Sepulveda changed their community's name to North Hills, the neighbors they left behind east of the San Diego Freeway said they want to join North Hills and dump the name Sepulveda altogether. The campaign was not welcomed by North Hills homeowners, who adopted the new name because they said they felt stigmatized by association with the eastern neighborhood's reputation for drug-dealing and street crime.

If you walked around the neighborhood of Sepulveda, out near the Budweiser plant in the Valley, and asked the people exactly when they decided to ditch the name of their neighborhood, it's my guess you would get many different answers. They might say it was the year the Budweiser plant opened and began sending wafts of malt-scented steam over the streets. Certainly, that was a bad year for Sepulveda.

The ghost of Sepulveda loomed large over the San Fernando Valley on Friday. A day after what remained of Sepulveda was renamed North Hills, a Los Angeles city councilman and some residents called for new procedures to handle the kinds of name changes that have altered Valley maps this year. "There needs to be a more standardized way for the city to handle this," said Greig Smith, chief deputy for Councilman Hal Bernson. "Currently, we have no rules, no guidelines, no minimum standards."

If you walked around the neighborhood of Sepulveda, out near the Budweiser plant in the Valley, and asked the people exactly when they decided to ditch the name of their neighborhood, it's my guess you would get many different answers. They might say it was the year the Budweiser plant opened and began sending wafts of malt-scented steam over the streets. Certainly, that was a bad year for Sepulveda.

One day after residents of western Sepulveda changed its name to North Hills, their neighbors east of the San Diego Freeway on Tuesday revived a campaign to join them--which would eliminate the community name of Sepulveda altogether. The campaign was not welcomed by North Hills homeowners, who adopted the new name because they said they felt stigmatized by association with the eastern neighborhood's reputation for drug dealing and street crime.