If you drive to the top of the Hollywood Hills, and stop at the summit somewhere along Mulholland Drive, you will find the San Fernando Valley below you, stretching as far as the eye can see. It is a 260 square mile expanse of valley floor, situated between the San Gabriel, Verdugo, Simi Hills, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountain ranges, home to nearly two million and composed of some 40 cities and communities, sprawling from the Narrows to Hidden Hills. Where conquistadores Californianos once waged skirmishes across fertile ranches dotted with Oak trees and populated by grazing cattle, now lies America’s suburbs: tract homes, swimming pools, mini-malls. 100 years ago, California State Senator Charles Mclay overlooked the landscape and proclaimed: “This is the Garden of Eden!” Here, at the tail end of the 20th century, a multi-billion dollar industry was born. Today, this is Porn Valley, USA.
