Val Verde (pronunciationⓘ) (Spanish for "Green Valley") is an unincorporated community in the southeastern Topatopa Mountains foothills, and in northwestern Los Angeles County, California.

Val Verde is located in the San Martinez Chiquito Canyon[3] in the southeastern foothills of the Topatopa Mountains at an elevation ranging from 1,250–1,400 feet (380–430 m).

It is about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of the county seat in downtown Los Angeles and west of the community of Valencia and city of Santa Clarita.

[4] According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP boundary has a total area of 1,641.81 acres (2.56533 sq mi; 6.6442 km2), all of it land.

[4] The area of modern-day Val Verde was part of the territory of the Tataviam people who had migrated to the region before the mid-5th century AD.

One of the nearest settlements to the Val Verde area was called Chaguibit, located to the east of the confluence of the Santa Clara River and Castaic Creek.

The former estancia lands were sold as Rancho San Francisco by California governor Juan Bautista Alvarado to his friend lieutenant Antonio del Valle on January 22, 1839.

[7] The northern boundaries of this rancho ran along the north bank of the Santa Clara River up to an area near the current intersection of Chiquito Canyon Road and Henry Mayo Drive and up along the mountains east of Val Verde.

[8] The original settlement of Val Verde was a short-lived boom town built by colonial Mexican settlers.

[10] The rancho stayed in the Del Valle family through the occupation and annexation of Alta California by the United States until 1862 when economic strife caused by floods and droughts forced him to sell most of the land to speculators, eventually ending up in the hands of Henry Newhall.

[11][12] By the early 1900s, the Janes family owned the 10,200-acre Val Verde Ranch (4,100 ha) where the modern settlement is located.

Laura C. Janes, a wealthy white woman from Pasadena, opened her ranch to African Americans in the 1910s in response to the discrimination they faced which excluded them from public recreational facilities and prevented them from owning and developing property in certain areas.

Under these conditions of segregation and discrimination, a group of prominent members of the African American community in Los Angeles searched for locations to create a place of recreation for their families.

The group was led by real estate entrepreneur Sidney Preston Dones and other investors like Norman O. Houston, Charlotta Bass, and Hattie S. Baldwin.

Newspaper promotions focused on Black Angelenos and encouraged them to invest in these properties to build vacation homes.

50 by 80 feet (15 by 24 m) and larger sites were offered starting at $75, including the full deed and title and a paid lifetime membership to the community club.

[4] In 1927, a 53-acre property (21 ha) was donated to the county by white landowners led by Harry M. Waterman which later became Val Verde Park.

In 1939, the cornerstone for the Olympic swimming pool was laid[14] in a ceremony attended by the community and thousands of others and presided over by actress Hattie McDaniel.

[4] In the 1950s and 60s, the main employers in the community were Thatcher Glass in Saugus, Burmite Powder Company, and Kaiser Manufacturing.

[4][20] The Val Verde Chamber of Commerce appointed Marguerite Carr as president in 1960 after James Barksdale resigned due to declining health.

She had promoted the park's first Goodwill Relationship Day to bring together members of different racial groups in the area starting in 1952.

In 1964, a home owned by Frank D. Godden, an African American World War II veteran and community developer, was burned down by members of the Klan who had a "nucleus" in the area at that time.

In November 1971, the California Institute of the Arts established their Valencia campus and instructors and alumni moved to the area.

[4] In the early 1990s the Chiquita Canyon Landfill,[22] which had been constructed near the community in 1971, faced resistance as its expansion was sought.

[23] In 2011, Verizon Wireless attempted to build a 30,000 watt, 12-panel antenna array cell site in Val Verde, less than 50 feet (15 m) from an adjacent residence.

Verizon Wireless and its contractor claimed that the main reason for the cell site was for community of Val Verde, but inquiries were made and the cell site is designed to fill coverage holes in the adjacent Valencia Commerce Center industrial park, Hasley Hills housing tract, and for future developments outside of Val Verde.

Local residents banded together and protested the cell site, claiming that big business was trying to run rampant over the little community of Val Verde.

[24] On May 16, 2017, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department seized 7,000 cockfighting birds at a ranch on Jackson Street in Val Verde.

According to the 2010 United States Census, Val Verde had a median household income of $58,971, with 18.6% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

The CATC is the liaison between the LA County 5th District Supervisor, community leaders and the residents of the 5 areas of Castaic.