the area was seen as "famous for its climate beneficial to asthma sufferers". Biker gangs By 1990, however, Tujunga had developed a reputation as a tough community and a center for biker gangs. As a Los Angeles Times writer put it: No one really knows why so many long-haired, bearded young men on motorcycles, aligned in groups with names like "The Devil's Henchmen", chose to hang out in this workingman's community perched on the southwest slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains a half dozen miles north of downtown Glendale. But hang out they did, in droves, and Tujunga developed an unenviable reputation as one of Southern California's premier "biker towns". In 2001, another writer called Sunland-Tujunga "part middle-class suburb, eclectic mountain hideaway, and rundown commercial strip dotted with biker hangouts". That same year, still another writer said this about Tujunga: Police say the bad-apple bikers bring a particular set of problems, mainly the use and sale of speed [ methamphetamine ]. Tujunga's reputation for meth peaked in the 1990s, and the LAPD singled out the area in 1994 as the speed capital of the Valley. Users cruising for a fix were a common sight on some of the narrow side streets off Tujunga Canyon Boulevard. Police say the meth scene, though still active in Tujunga, is no longer the problem it was, thanks to block-by-block community policing efforts and the town's relative gentrification. Even Marlene Hitt, the community's newly appointed poet laureate, said in 2001 that she got the job in part to counter Sunland-Tujunga's image as a home to drug dealers. Education About 22% of Sunland and Tujunga residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, an average percentage for the city and the county. Local schools Schools within the Sunland-Tujunga boundaries are: Public Mount Gleason Middle School, 10965 Mount Gleason Avenue, Sunland Sunland Elementary School, 8350 Hillrose Street, Sunland Apperson Street Elementary School, 10233 Woodward Avenue, Sunland Verdugo Hills High School, 10625 Plainview Avenue, Tujunga Plainview Avenue Elementary School, 10819 Plainview Avenue, Tujunga Mt. Lukens Continuation School, 7705 Summitrose Street, Tujunga Pinewood Avenue Elementary School, 10111 Silverton Avenue, Tujunga Mountain View Elementary School, 6410 Olcott Street, Tujunga Private Trinity Christian School, 10614 Oro Vista Avenue, Sunland Fairhaven Christian Academy, 10438 Oro Vista Avenue, Sunland Canyon View Academy, 8100 McGroarty Street, Sunland Our Lady of Lourdes School, elementary, 7324 Apperson Street Smart Academy / Christian,