Why Simi Valley
Simi Valley is a city situated within a valley of the same name in southeastern Ventura County, California, located approximately 37 miles northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Enclosed by the Santa Susana Mountains and the Simi Hills, the valley lies west of the San Fernando Valley and northeast of the Conejo Valley. It borders the neighboring communities of Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, and the Los Angeles neighborhood of Chatsworth.
The city's name derives from the Chumash word Shimiyi, which describes the thin, thread-like wind clouds created when coastal fog drifts into the valley. Indigenous Chumash populations established early settlements in the area and left behind rock art, such as the pictographs in the Burro Flats Painted Cave in the Simi Hills. Spanish contact began with the 1770 Portolá expedition, followed by the creation of Rancho Simí in 1795. The Simi Adobe-Strathearn House served as the headquarters for this expansive land grant. During the pioneer era, American settlers developed an agricultural economy centered on sheep, cattle, grains, citrus, walnuts, and apricots.
Modern Simi Valley was formed in 1969 through the incorporation of several historic settlements. These included the townsite of Simi—which briefly held the name Simiopolis in 1888 and featured pre-cut "colony houses" shipped by rail from Chicago—as well as Santa Susana, Community Center, and Susana Knolls. Following the construction of a freeway over the Santa Susana Pass in the mid-20th century, the region transitioned from a quiet agricultural plain into a growing residential bedroom community serving the broader Los Angeles region.
Today, the city offers access to notable historic and cultural venues. It is home to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where the former U.S. president was buried in 2004. Other points of interest include the historic Santa Susana Train Depot, built in 1903, and the Cultural Arts Center, housed inside a converted 1924 Methodist church. In the adjacent Simi Hills, the Santa Susana Field Laboratory marks a historical site previously utilized for pioneer rocket engine and nuclear reactor testing.
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