Porter Ranch is a suburban neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles, in the northwest portion of the San Fernando Valley.

Approximately 50 homes of the original tract was destroyed north of San Fernando Mission Blvd to build the 118 freeway.

The new home construction that was completed in the Porter Ranch area in the 1990s–2000s, including the Renaissance Summit development, was mired in controversy and Los Angeles politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

[1] This largely undeveloped area on the very edge of the San Fernando Valley slated for a master-planned $2 billion real estate and commercial development was opposed by the "slow growth" movement, which was gaining traction through a combination of ballot initiatives and court cases along with growing environmental concerns as L.A. at the time was experiencing multiple environmental and infrastructure problems related to the previous decades rapid expansion, in terms of air quality, sewage capacity, and flood control.

[3] Developments were also criticized for destroying the natural beauty of the brush and wild areas that inhabited the space before the houses were built.

This plan never came to fruition due to demonstrations from the residents of Porter Ranch, the primary opponents of the bridge, who believed that connecting the road to the neighborhood across the canyon would bring "crime...drag racing, and drug dealing".

A company of Texas oil well firefighters, headed by the legendary Paul “Red” Adair, came to Oat Mountain and stopped a 1968 blaze after six days.

[10] By order of the Los Angeles County Dept of Health, the company relocated thousands of families from the Porter Ranch area; the Federal Aviation Administration established a temporary flight restriction over the leak site until March 2016.

[9] On December 15, the county of Los Angeles declared a state of emergency,[11] and two days later it approved a plan to close two schools in the area.

[9] On January 11, 2016 Mitchell Englander, the LA City Councilman representing Porter Ranch, said "Most people weren't aware that one of the largest gas storage facilities in the United States was in their backyard.

[13] On March 12, 2016, Los Angeles County Public Health Department officials say its test of dust in Porter Ranch homes turned up the presence of metals, including barium, that could have caused the kinds of health symptoms some residents have reported experiencing even after the big gas blowout was plugged.

[15] This quake had a major impact on Porter Ranch, on the northwest portion along San Fernando Mission Blvd pools were half emptied, many block walls fell over, the area was without running water for a couple of weeks.

About 5:00 am a brush fire propelled by 70 mph Santa Anna winds crossed Aliso Creek and destroyed 13 homes and damaged 23 mostly on Beaufait Avenue.

[16] On October 10, 2019, the Saddleridge Fire broke out in the nearby community of Sylmar due to an electrical power line short circuit.

Despite efforts to control the fire, the blaze spread to Porter Ranch within a few hours, forcing the entire community to evacuate while burning some of the homes in the eastern part of the neighborhood.

[24] In March 2022, the Los Angeles City Council backed a proposal to officially change the park's name to "E.T.

[26] Porter Ranch is located in Los Angeles City Council District 12, currently represented by John Lee.

Fifty-one percent of Porter Ranch residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, a high percentage for the city.