Talk:Simi Valley, California

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Candidates For Inclusion

• Information on "the wash" ie the flood control channel that runs the the length of Simi Valley - by Rancho Simi Park, Frontier Park & Darrah Park. I was told while being raised there that "the wash" was built by the Army Corps of Engineers. What brought them into do that? When was that done? Possibly to be rooted under the Infrastructure section.
• Information on the water supply. Again rooted under Infrastructure.
• Royal Ave. was named after a horse named "Royal". The horse took this path from one end of Simi to the other.

   The horse's name was Queenie. She needed a royal path to trot on. That's the story I heard, anyway. I wouldn't know how to source that story, though.

• Corriganville. The movie sets for Lassie, The Lone Ranger & African Queen etc.

--MD (talk) 21:17, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

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I removed the reference to contamination from the SSFL being in Simi Valley. While this is a claim that some have made, there is no objective evidence that any contamination from the operations at SSFL have ever made it to Simi Valley, nor effected residents of Simi Valley, simply from just living there. There has been some chemical and tritium contamination verified past the borders of the SSFL property but these area are not in the City of Simi Valley and therefore the Health and Hazards of living in Simi Valley should not be miligned by this allegation. Just trying to keep the record straight.... 17:08, 11 August 2007 (UTC)rktnomad17:08, 11 August 2007 (UTC)~

I reintroduced the section on radioactive contamination under hazards. If it doesn't belong there perhaps under industry or somewhere under notable historical occurrences or somewhere. Ozmaweezer 15:19, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Hazards - the recent entry: "While most of Ventura County is known for its mild year-round climate, Simi Valley has a similar climate to that of the San Fernando Valley. This means extreme summer heat alternates with milder winters" seems to be in the wrong category (suggest creating "Climate") and using verbiage that is debatable (_extreme_ summer heat). More useful would be information on average temperature, rainfall, trends, etc.

Rodney King Trial

Simi Valley was not "the location of the infamous Rodney King trial that sparked riots in Los Angeles in 1992." This statement is only partialy true. It was the location of the trial for the OFFICERS that were accused of beating Rodney King. The trial was located there because the media had saturated the Los Angeles area to the point that the officers lawyers were not confident that they would recieve a fair trial. They chose Ventura county as the original location but the Ventura County Courthouses were too far from Los Angeles. Conveniently, the new East Ventura County Courthouse in Simi Valley had just been finished so it was decided to locate the trial there.

The aquittal of the officers on April 29, 1992 was the spark that started the riots.

I know this because I lived in Simi Valley.

A more accurate way to rewrite this sentence would be to say "the location of the infamous Los Angeles Police Officers' (Rodney King Beating) Trials that sparked riots in Los Angeles on April 29, 1992."

Simi Valley received some controversy for holding that trial, in belief the city was one of the least diverse/most white communities in Southern California was thought to be "safe" to hold that trial. 71.102.13.174 (talk) 01:32, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

This section is far too long. It is a very minor part of the story of the valley. Valetude (talk) 11:13, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

Simi Valley in film

I changed the east to west under In film, in reference to the Cat in the Hat movie. I live in West Simi, and it was next to my house. Also, The Benchwarmers was filmed in East Simi, but I don't know how much of it was. In addition, I believe that The Lone Ranger had some sequences filmed in East Simi, but have only heard this, and do not know if this is correct. - signed by anon IP

In the movie Joe Dirt the main character found his long lost parents living in Simi Valley. 71.102.13.174 (talk) 01:32, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Jason Dolley

This now-16-year-old actor(famous for ABC's Complete Savages and currently of "Cory in the House") is a Simi Valley native...please include him under the Famous Residents category/listing...Michaela92399 03:24, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Someone keeps DELETING Simi Valley as Jason's birthplace and replacing it w/ "Los Angeles";please stop!...not EVERY celebrity is/was born in(or still lives in) Los Angeles!...Michaela92399 (talk) 03:43, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Tunnel 26

The Cascade tunnel is longer, and was completed sooner. See Cascade Tunnel LorenzoB (talk) 23:02, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

One of the sources cited for the claim actually states that the tunnel connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Clara Valley was the longest tunnel when it was completed in 1876. Someone has confused this tunnel with the Santa Susana Tunnel. The Claim that Tunnel 26 was at one time the longest in the USA should be deleted.

Pronunciation

• Old-timers--those who can remember livery stables on Los Angeles Avenue and days spent picking wildflowers near the Santa Susana Pass--fervently say "Simi" should be pronounced Si-MEE, with the stress on the second vowel. More recent transplants, however, are more apt to say SEE-me, which to just about every longtime resident sounds like fingernails on a blackboard. [..] So which is it? SEE-me or Si-MEE? Pat Havens, the area's unofficial historian, says it's the latter--and she has the documents to prove it. "It's just plain wrong to say it SEE-me," she said. "We've got documentation dating back a couple hundred years that show it's pronounced Si-MEE." [..] It was during this time [18th c.] that both Pico and the mission priests made written reference to El Rancho Simi with an accent placed on the last vowel of Simi, which leads Havens to think that the village Shimiyi was pronounced similarly. [..] Havens added that the correct pronunciation was used up until the 1960s, when the population began to grow dramatically with development. Anxious real-estate agents, who only knew the area as a place where quick profits could be made, began referring to the area as SEE-me Valley--and so did its new residents, said Havens. [..] Irene Clark, director of the University of Southern California's Writing Program, said that while there are plenty of exceptions to the rule, English usually places the stress on the first vowel of every multi-voweled word, thus making Si-MEE about as unnatural to say as Gesundheit. [Irene Clark, director of the University of Southern California's Writing Program, said that while there are plenty of exceptions to the rule, English usually places the stress on the first vowel of every multi-voweled word, thus making Si-MEE about as unnatural to say as Gesundheit. [..] And in the 30 or so years since, the incorrect pronunciation appears to have stuck and has even been used as a mildly clever play on words by some local business owners. [..] However, as the number of people who insist on saying Simi Valley in the manner it was intended dwindles, it appears as if SEE-me Valley is here to stay--and will soon be universally accepted as the city's rightful name.
  • When It Comes to Saying Simi, There's a Pronounced Difference April 24, 1998, COLL METCALFE , Los Angeles Times

This source seems to say that one pronunciation is historically correct, but the other has become more common. I don't think that Wikipedia should decide on one or the other. At a minimum we should say that both are used. If we want to write a paragraph explaining the two pronunciations then that'd be OK too. Any other thoughts?   Will Beback  talk  02:58, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

A paragraph explaining the two would be fine. But when the correct pronunciation is Si-MEE, that should be the only pronunciation listed as such. People pronounce Oregon as Or-Gone but that doesn't make it correct. People pronounce Simi as SEE-MEE and that is correct neither. I think a paragraph explaining the two would be great, but emphasis should be made on the correct pronunciation of Si-MEE. IAmTheWalrus89460 (talk) 03:27, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

A paragraph explaining the various pronunciations would be fine. But when the "correct" pronunciation is disputed, and no actual 'correct' pronunciation exists, then no favorite variation should be listed. People pronounce San Francisco as "sæn frənˈsɪskoʊ", but that doesn't make it correct — just ask any of the Spanish who established the Presidio and Mission there, and named the city, and they will tell you we yanks are massacring the pronunciation. If we are going to emphasize any pronunciation as a "correct" pronunciation, then we would need reliable sources defining that pronunciation. The above source certainly doesn't define it. It only says that "old-timers" and one individual "unofficial historian" prefer the accent on the second syllable, while everyone else prefers the accent on the first syllable. (I think I'll be the unofficial historian tomorrow and for the rest of the week, just for kicks.) If we could find an actual reliable source describing the pronunciation, instead of an article that says more than one pronunciation exists, that would be a good start. Xenophrenic (talk) 05:21, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

'"What's the correct way to pronounce Simi? And what does it mean?" one reporter asked. "It's pronounced 'Si-MEE,' another answered."' http://articles.latimes.com/1992-02-04/news/mn-1215_1_simi-valley

"First off, Pat Havens wants to set the record straight. Simi, as in Simi Valley, is pronounced see-me, not see-me, as most people usually say. The accent is on the second syllable." http://articles.latimes.com/1986-12-29/local/me-1094_1_simi-valley-pioneers IAmTheWalrus89460 (talk) 04:53, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I saw both of those, before I wrote what I did above. Which is why I am still looking for a definitive reliable source that covers that actual pronunciation of Simi. (Interesting how the LA Times says, "Havens ... As the city's official historian..." in 1986, but later in 1998 says, "Pat Havens, the area's unofficial historian...") For the record, I personally pronounce it Si-MEE, because that is how I was first taught to say it, but I don't have a preference between how it used to be pronounced, and how it is more commonly pronounced in today's english. I'm just making sure that whatever appears in the Wikipedia article is supported by reliable sources that establish what the proper pronunciation is — and don't just pick one way or the other arbitrarily (as is done in the two-reporter chat source above).

In California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names By Erwin G. Gudde, William Bright, I see it lists both pronunciations, much as we tried to do in our article here. Regards, Xenophrenic (talk) 08:59, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

"‘Simi’ is derived from a Chumash word ‘Shimiyi’ or ‘Shimiji’ which was the name of a Chumash village that was here before the Spanish arrived. The word refers to the stringy, thread-like clouds that are common in this area. After the Spanish arrived and the missions were established, the Spanish wrote down their interpretation in Spanish of the Chumash village names based on the way they were pronounced in their native language.

• C. Hart Merriam, "Village Names in Twelve California Mission Records," Reports of the University of California Archaeological Survey No. 74 (July 1968).

This includes a tabulation of baptisms at the San Fernando Mission for villages in the Simi area. In these records the village of Simí lists only nine baptisms, all in 1803. Simí was used six times, and Simii was used once.

Note the spelling of Simí. An accent over the last ‘i’ indicates that in Spanish, this is where the emphasis should be placed. Since Simí has the accent over the last ‘i” the emphasis is shown as on the last syllable." -Email from Carolyn Phillips, Strathearn Park Coordinator, Strathearn Historical Park and Museum IAmTheWalrus89460 (talk) 00:57, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Is there any connection between the Half Life 1 mod The Specialists user-made map "Simi Valley" by Rickler and the actual Simi Valley? I was wondering if the game map was modeled after the city's blueprint. Evonsdesigns (talk) 21:47, 17 July 2013 (UTC)