Looking at the U.S. Presidents and Studio City

It's Presidents Day, so it's a good time to look at the impact of the U.S. Presidents and how many of them have ever set foot in Studio City.

We know that Ronald Reagan and Nancy were married in the Little Brown Church (March 4, 1952) We know Gerald Ford hit some rounds of golf at Weddington Golf Course. We know that Jimmy Carter signed books at Bookstar during his last book tour.

Mack Sennett, who started the studios in Studio City (now the CBS Radford Studios), was told by not-yet-president Calvin Coolidge that his dabbling in the entertainment business was silly, and tried to talk him out of it.

But, Studio City's involvement with U.S. Presidents goes back to before the Civil War and involves perhaps one of the most important historical spots this side of the Mississippi—the Campo de Cahuenga in Studio City. That's where (right across from Universal Studios) on Jan. 13, 1847, the Treaty of Cahuenga helped create California.

Guy Weddington McCreary, a longtime San Fernando Valley political activist and historian, said he believes that President James K. Polk fulfilled the idea of the American West by pushing for an agreement with Mexico to sign the treaty. It happened right here.

More than a century later just across the street, there are photos of Lyndon Baines Johnson with Universal Studios chief Lew Wasserman, and also  George W. Bush visited Universal for a tour.

At the NBC Studios in nearby Burbank, Richard Nixon was the first U.S. president to appear on a comedy show, Laugh-In. He asked, "Sock it to me?" (See two video clips of the excerpt and one of the producers talking about the scene.)

In more recent years, we know that the presidential visits have caused major traffic jams even if they didn't make it over to Studio City to spend quality time.

When Bill Clinton held his birthday party at the Hollywood Bowl, there were strange sightings of a triangular UFO over the freeways in the Studio City skies.

With Barack Obama's visits, his motorcade makes it through the local streets so he can get to the NBC Studios to tape the Jay Leno Show, and he has a special taste for Jerry's Famous Deli (see photos in the gallery).

One of the legends of the Sportsmen's Lodge is that Robert F. Kennedy, while campaigning for presidency, stayed the night before in Studio City before heading to the Ambassador Hotel where he was shot and killed. Studio City Patch disspelled the legend, but the rumor is still posted on the hotel's website. There is also a rumor that some of the liaisons with John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were held locally.

And although there's no marker or street name for any U.S. President in Studio City, there is an intersection named after Russian political dissident Andrei Sakharov—it's the area's busiest crossroads: Laurel Canyon and Ventura Boulevard!