It’s no secret that North Hollywood has a lot of potential to be a great cycling hub. With the Metro Red & Orange Line station, a thriving Arts District and stacks of new housing, the revitalization of NoHo is in full swing.

You already see a high volume of cyclists around the area, but few would think it’s always been part of our fabric.

On North Hollywood High School’s web page, you’ll find a picture from 1927 , it’s first year of existence.

Originally, it was known as Lankershim High, but to confuse you, the area was originally called Toluca, changed its name to Lankershim and then settled on North Hollywood to capitalize on the boom on the other side of the hill.

The last mind blowing fact is that even though the school is called North Hollywood High School, this portion ceded into  Valley Village in 1991.

Enough history.

This photo is from the school’s first year of existence and as you can tell, bicycles played a big part of it:

The first thing I’m thinking about is, “What, no bike racks?” I guess that was the sign of the times.

You may think that it isn’t that many bikes, but this is ninety years ago. Things in the San Fernando Valley were just taking shape and while North Hollywood was one of the most populous cities in the area, it still was sparse.

Look at this map from 1926. The plot of land where Lankershim High now sits is marked by a red crosshairs:

 

The other element these cyclists had to face came from the streets themselves, which were still mostly dirt. I take my cyclocross onto fire road and it doesn’t take too long before my water bottle gets caked.

Just like today, despite the elements, people have always wanted to roll.