From Cantaloupes to Blockbusters: A Journey Through Burbank’s History
Have you ever looked at a modern city street and wondered what stood in that exact spot a hundred years ago?
The Burbank Historical Society has spent hours diving into Burbank’s past, pinning archival photos to a custom Google Map to see how our city evolved. Looking at those digital pins, it’s wild to see how a quiet valley of sheep ranches and fruit orchards transformed into the "Media Capital of the World."
Grab your virtual passport—here is a stroll through the history of Burbank, based on the historical landmarks that shaped it.
Burbank History Map Legend
1. The Roots: Rancho La Providencia and Dr. Burbank
Long before the neon lights of studios took over, the area we call Burbank was comprised of two massive Spanish land grants: Rancho San Rafael and Rancho La Providencia.
In the 1870s, a New Hampshire dentist named Dr. David Burbank bought chunks of this land. He built a massive ranch house and raised sheep, but he had a vision for something bigger. In 1886, he sold his land to a group of speculative speculators who formed the Burbank Land and Water Company. By May 1, 1887, the townsite of Burbank was officially open for business.
Fun Fact: Dr. Burbank’s original home sat right about where the current Warner Bros. Studio lot stands today. Talk about a prime piece of real estate!
2. The Golden Era of Agriculture
If you zoom into the early 1900s pins on our map, you won’t see soundstages. Instead, you'll see endless fields of alfalfa, tomatoes, and—most famously—cantaloupes.
Burbank was once a massive agricultural hub. The soil was so rich that Burbank’s truck farms supplied produce to the entire Los Angeles region. The city officially incorporated in 1911 with a population of just over 1,000 people who were deeply proud of their farming roots.
3. The Sky’s the Limit: Lockheed and the Aviation Boom
Everything changed in the late 1920s and 1930s. Burbank stopped looking at the dirt and started looking at the sky.
1928: Allan and Malcolm Loughead (who later changed the spelling to Lockheed) bought land in Burbank and built a manufacturing plant.
The Hub of Aviation: During World War II, Lockheed’s Burbank plant became a massive engine for the war effort, employing nearly 100,000 people.
The Great Disguise: One of the most fascinating historical photos on our map shows the Lockheed plant entirely camouflaged during WWII. The U.S. military hired Hollywood set designers to cover the entire factory with fake trees, fake houses, and burlap to make it look like a harmless suburban neighborhood from the air.
4. Enter Hollywood: The Media Capital of the World
As the aviation industry boomed, Hollywood also realized that Burbank had the space, the light, and the freedom that congested downtown Los Angeles lacked.
First Choice Pictures (First National) & Warner Bros.
In 1926, First National Pictures bought a 78-acre lot in Burbank. A few years later, Warner Bros. acquired them. Classic films like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon were filmed right here in the Valley.
The Mouse Moves to Town
In 1940, Walt Disney used the profits from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to build a state-of-the-art studio on Buena Vista Street. This wasn't just a studio; it was a campus designed specifically for the animation process, and it remains Disney's global headquarters today.
The NBC Transition
By the 1950s, television was taking over. NBC built its massive color television studios on Alameda Avenue. For decades, Johnny Carson broadcast The Tonight Show live from Burbank, cementing the city's catchphrase into the pop-culture lexicon: "Beautiful downtown Burbank!"
Mapping the Legacy
Looking at the Google Map today, it’s incredible to see how these eras overlap. You can stand on a street corner that was once a cantaloupe patch, look to your left and see a historic mid-century studio building, and look to your right to see where the famous P-38 Lightning fighter planes were built.
