Northridge, CA (NRG)

Part of the City of Los Angeles, Northridge is located in the San Fernando Valley about 30 miles northwest of downtown L.A. The station is one mile southwest of the campus of the California State University, Northridge.

Metrolink Station
8775 Wilbur Ave
Los Angeles, CA 91324

Annual Ticket Revenue (FY 2024): $338,943
Annual Station Ridership (FY 2024): 20,539

Ownerships
Routes Served
Contact
Local Community Links

Facility Ownership: Los Angeles County Metro Transportation Authority (LACMTA)
Parking Lot Ownership: Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP)
Platform Ownership: Los Angeles County Metro Transportation Authority (LACMTA)
Track Ownership: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA)

Pacific Surfliner

Alex Khalfin
Regional Contact
governmentaffairsoak@amtrak.com
For information about Amtrak fares and schedules, please visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

Northridge, part of the City of Los Angeles, is located in the western San Fernando Valley about 30 miles northwest of downtown L.A. and covers almost 10 square miles.

The Northridge station is one mile southwest of the campus of the California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Served by Amtrak intercity and Metrolink commuter trains, the station consists of a concrete platform. Trees planted along the platform’s southern edge, and two open-air seating areas sheltered by canopies, provide travelers with protection from the sun. Complementing rail service, the station offers connections to the LADOT – Dash bus and the CSUN Shuttle.

The current passenger facility opened in July 2000; the $3.7 million project, supported through county and state transportation funds, also includes a large parking lot to the south of the tracks. This facility replaced a temporary one opened in February 1994, a month after the 6.8 magnitude Northridge Earthquake struck the region, killing at least 57 people and damaging thousands of buildings, roads and other infrastructure.

Northridge had not been included as a stop on Metrolink’s Ventura County Line when the rail service launched in 1992 between Los Angeles Union Station and Moorpark. But the community was added to the route after the earthquake to help facilitate travel while repairs were made to freeways and other roadways.

The California coast was first explored by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who worked for the Kingdom of Castile. In 1542 he claimed the region for Spain, but no settlements were planned; 60 years later the coast was mapped by Sebastián Vizcaíno. Although known by the Spaniards for more than 200 years, they did not establish permanent settlements in California until the late 18th century when the Russian Empire began to take an interest in the area.

To secure the coast, King Carlos III authorized the creation of a chain of forts and missions to protect strategic sites that could be of future use to the Spanish Empire in North America. The first “presidio” or “fort” and mission complex was established at San Diego in 1769. That same year, an exploratory party of soldiers and Franciscan friars passed through the San Fernando Valley, but it was not until 1797 that a mission was established in the northeastern part of the valley.

The priests named the new mission “San Fernando Rey de España” after King Ferdinand III of Castile, and it was located about six miles northeast of present-day Northridge. The Franciscans worked toward the conversion of the region’s American Indians to Christianity, a stated goal of Spanish colonization. Each mission was supported by large tracts of land for agriculture and grazing that were worked by the friars and converts. The majority of the San Fernando Valley once belonged to the mission.

American Indians were often forcibly settled at the missions where the friars provided instruction not simply in religion, but also in crafts and skills such as tanning and woodworking. Those associated with Mission San Fernando Rey de España were referred to as “Fernandeño” (“of Ferdinand”). According to historic accounts, the Fernandeño, who called themselves Tataviam, meaning “people facing the sun,” were one of two American Indian peoples to populate the area encompassing present day Northridge. The other was the Tongva, or “people of the earth,” who the Spanish referred to as “Gabrieliño” because of their association with the nearby Mission San Gabriel. Further west could be found the Chumash, or “bead makers/seashell people.”

These groups inhabited territories stretching from the coast to the mountains. The Tongva and Chumash were among the few American Indian peoples to navigate the coast in canoes that were water-proofed with pine pitch or tar. When Cabrillo sailed into the region, they went to observe the explorer.

The community at San Fernando grew grains and beans and raised livestock, and the mission was also noted for its red wine. Following Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821, the missions were secularized and many of the buildings and land holdings were sold off to private owners, who created large “ranchos” or ranches used primarily for sheep and cattle grazing. Many of the ranchos survived into the American period following the Mexican American War of 1845-1848 and the resulting cession of California and much of the Southwest to the United States.

Modern Northridge largely sits on land that was once part of Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando. Sold to Spaniard Eulogio de Celis in 1846, the 116,000-acre estate encompassed most of the San Fernando Valley. A decade later, the rancho was divided between de Celis and Andres Pico, brother of a two-time Mexican governor of California. The dividing line roughly followed present-day Roscoe Boulevard, and de Celis retained the upper half that includes Northridge.

After de Celis died in 1869, his 56,000-acre property was sold in 1874 to a group of northern Californians, including State Senator Charles Maclay, shoe manufacturer George Porter and his cousin Benjamin Porter. Needing financial assistance to cover the $117,000 purchase price, Maclay turned to his friend Leland Stanford – who happened to lead the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). Maclay received the money and a tip about a future rail line that was to run through his portion of the land in the east. He eventually established the town of San Fernando while Benjamin Porter stuck to wheat farming on the western acreage.

In 1876 the SP opened its tunnel through the Newhall Pass northwest of San Fernando, just as Stanford had indicated. This became the main route between Los Angeles and San Francisco. In 1893 a SP branch line crossed the valley to Chatsworth which acted as the terminus until 1904 when the one-and-a-half mile Santa Susana tunnels were completed through the mountains. This path, easier to traverse than the Newhall route, subsequently became the railroad’s main “Coast Line” between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The presence of the railroad and its connections to regional and national markets encouraged the subdivision of large parcels in the valley to create plots attractive to small-scale farmers. Northridge largely sits on land that was then known as the Hawk Ranch. Once part of Benjamin Porter’s landholdings, the 1,100 acres had been sold in 1887 to Francis Marion Wright and Henry Hubbard. They farmed Hawk Ranch for more than two decades before selling it in 1910 to the Valley Farms Company for subdivision.

Wright’s wife, Emily, is credited with giving the new community its name. She settled on “Zelzah,” derived from Biblical sources. Meaning “watering place in the desert,” it may have been inspired by the area’s natural springs. Within five years, residents voted for annexation to the City of Los Angeles – which came with a bountiful supply of water from the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

The SP built a two-story wooden depot for the young community in 1912. It was located at the crossing of the tracks and Reseda Boulevard – less than a mile southeast of the current Northridge station.

Like many railroads, the SP built depots to different standard designs based on the size of the community served and the potential business opportunities. The Zelzah depot was based on the SP’s “Combination Station No. 22,” meaning that the passenger and freight areas were “combined” under one roof.

It featured a two-story section at one end from which extended a one-story freight room that had large doors allowing for the passage of carts laden with crates and other goods. The two-story section had many windows that permitted light into the interior where travelers found a waiting room, station master’s office and a telegraph office. A projecting bay on the two-story section faced the tracks and had windows on all three sides. This allowed the station master to monitor traffic up and down the line from his office.

In rural locations such as Zelzah, the upper floor housed living space for the station master and perhaps his family. The depot’s exterior was clad in wood clapboard, and the windows were framed with simple surrounds. A gabled roof covered the freight room and continued around the two-story section in the form of a deep eave supported by brackets. This afforded passengers some protection from the elements when waiting outside. A water tower would have stood nearby, as steam engines needed a consistent supply of water to run smoothly.

Many of Zelzah’s early settlers were of Scandinavian descent and had moved to Southern California from the Midwest in search of new farmlands. A remnant of these early years – the former Norwegian Lutheran Church – is found about one mile east of the Northridge station, just off Reseda Boulevard. It was founded in 1917 by a half-dozen Norwegian American families and has hosted various congregations over the last century. Clad in clapboard and punctuated with a corner tower with steeple, the Gothic Revival building now stands as a Los Angeles Landmark.

In 1929, the settlement underwent a name change and became North Los Angeles; Los Angeles Mayor John Clinton Porter was among a group gathered at the train station to switch out the name board on the building. This new identity proved short-lived, with another name change in 1938 to Northridge Village – today shortened to simply Northridge.

Farming remained a mainstay of the San Fernando Valley until the mid-20th century. Los Angeles had continued to attract newcomers looking for sunshine and fresh beginnings, and shipbuilding and other fields that expanded during World War II offered good jobs. Following the war, Southern California became a center of aerospace and defense research and associated industries.

To shelter the growing city, citrus and avocado groves and other farmland began to give way to housing developments. Northridge’s changing economy, which led to declining agricultural shipments, prompted the SP to abandon the railroad depot in February 1960 – and a year later it was torn down.

An orange grove, planted in the 1940s, remains on the CSUN campus as a reminder of the area’s agricultural past. In addition to providing natural beauty, and the intoxicating fragrance of orange blossoms, the trees are used for research, and their fruit is harvested and distributed to organizations serving the needy.

The university, founded in 1956 as a satellite campus of the California State University, Los Angeles, became an independent institution two years later. Today it welcomes nearly 40,000 students across nine colleges and is noted for programs in civil, computer, electrical and mechanical engineering.

Those interested in learning more about the area’s history can head a few blocks north of the Northridge station to the Museum of the San Fernando Valley. It highlights stories, documents and artifacts representing the various people who have called the valley home. The museum includes interactive exhibits and provides popular history walking tours and outreach to schools.

The Pacific Surfliner service is primarily financed through funds made available by the State of California, Department of Transportation, and is managed by the LOSSAN Joint Powers Authority.