Toluca Lake is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley 12 miles (19 km) northwest of downtown.

Prior to the paving of the Los Angeles River in 1938 and L.A. well extraction in the late 19th and 20th century which lowered the water table, Toluca Lake was fed by artesian springs.

More recently, it has been the home of entertainers such as Hilary Duff, Joseph Campanella, Steve Carell, Wayne Knight, Joe Mantegna, Andy Garcia, Richard Zanuck, Ray Romano, Rick Dees, Patricia Heaton, Melissa McCarthy and Peter Bogdanovich.

[2] The Tongvan settlement Cahuenga used the springs and marsh in the Toluca Lake locale for water, fishing, hunting, harvesting, and building supplies (tule plants).

After the 1823 Independence of Mexico, the secularization of missions in Alta California included the issuing of a Mexican land grant for Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando.

General Charles Forman, a wealthy local landowner and one of the proponents of the petition, later stated that he had chosen the name "Toluca" from a Paiute word meaning "fertile" or "beautiful" valley.

[6] Aviator Amelia Earhart lived in Toluca Lake on Valley Spring Lane after marrying publishing magnate George P. Putnam in 1931.

The Spanish colonial-style home, which exists today, features a front-yard tree under which she signed her round-the-world flight plan.

[13][14] In the 1938 Little Rascals film Three Men in a Tub, the kids hold a regatta on the lake, which was largely surrounded by open country at that time.

[citation needed] Actors Bette Davis, W. C. Fields, Dorothy Lamour, Billie Dove, Dick Powell, and Bing Crosby also moved into the community.

[6] Frank Sinatra moved into the home featured player and screen icon Mary Astor built on Toluca Lake in the 1940s.

[15] Notable residents have included Steve Carell,[16] Miley Cyrus,[16] Viola Davis,[17] Kirsten Dunst,[18] Melissa McCarthy,[19] and Octavia Spencer.

The historic natural lake was fed by springs of upwelling groundwater from the Los Angeles River and San Fernando Valley subterranean aquifers.

According to the Los Angeles Times, its percentage of white people, 71.9%, was high for the county; with black and Asian residents accounting for only 5.3% and 5% of the population, respectively.

The Metro Studio Project involves upwards of 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of space and would house employees leaving NBC's Burbank facility.

[citation needed] The 2000 census found that 48.4% of Toluca Lake residents within Los Angeles had earned a four-year degree, a high figure for both the city and the county.

In the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds's song "Higgs Boson Blues" (2013), Miley Cyrus is described as floating in a swimming pool in Toluca Lake.