When I lived in “the valleys” in California, San Gabriel as a teen and later, San Fernando (YES!! I admit it! I’m a Valley Girl fer shur), it was very easy to see, like, the Milky Way in Hacienda Heights in SGV before they installed, like, the street lights and built up the area. ;-P
In Chatsworth, SFV, there was no light pollution at all where our house was, behind a hill and shaded from the city lights, and Hubby and I would go out on the roof and watch the stars and meteors.
Here, it’s cloudy a lot, but on clear nights the stars are spectacular as well.
Having driven Hacienda Blvd (including the non-boulevarded part, very confusing) I can imagine that used to be sparsely populated. :’)