One account of the early days of the San Fernando Valley noted the significance of the Lopez family : In the late 1860s and early 1870s a traveler riding through the high wild mustard fields of the San Fernando Valley would find little evidence of people except for the mission , a few other adobes , cattle grazing in the fields and a stage house built by Geronimo Lopez and his wife , Catalina . ... The Lopez family played an important role in the valley 's development and were responsible for establishing the first post office and the first English-speaking school . The original Lopez Station adobe was destroyed in the 1910s for the construction of the San Fernando Reservoir ( later renamed Van Norman Reservoir ) , part of the then new Los Angeles Aqueduct system . After the 1971 San Fernando earthquake the foundation was again exposed in the reservoir basin . It was later covered by the vehicle track when the Los Angeles Police Department built the Davis Training Center in the late 1990s
1971 San Fernando earthquake
1971 San Fernando earthquake
Lopez Adobe