Decoro Drive under construction by The Newhall Land and Farming Co. in Seco Canyon, ~1990. The view is to the east (east at top). Seco Canyon Road would be just out of frame to the left. The main buildings in the photograph are Arroyo Seco Junior High School in the William S. Hart Union High School District. The circular structure at lower left is the back side of Santa Clarita Elementary School in the Saugus Union School District.

The residential area under development at the bottom right side of the photograph is the portion of Newhall Land's Valencia-Northbridge subdivision that's north of Decoro, on the hill above the elementary school. As shown on the 2013 view at left, the area that's being graded is Edenton Place, off of Blueridge Drive. (Click image at left to enlarge.)

After the rapid growth of the SCV in the 1980s, residential and commercial construction ground to a virtual halt during the recession of 1990-1992. It picked up again when the economy rebounded, albeit more cautiously.

The homes that aren't yet built in this photograph were built in 1992-93. Newhall Land also completed and opened the Valencia Town Center mall in 1992.

About the photographer: Photojournalist Gary Thornhill chronicled the history of the Santa Clarita Valley as it unfolded in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. From car races in Saugus to fatal car wrecks in Valencia; from topless beauty contests in Canyon Country to fires and floods in the various canyons; from city formation in 1987 to the Northridge earthquake in 1994 — Thornhill's photographs were published in The Los Angeles Times, The Newhall Signal, The Santa Clarita Valley Citizen newspaper, California Highway Patrolman magazine and elsewhere. He penned the occasional breaking news story for Signal and Citizen editors Scott and Ruth Newhall under the pseudonym of Victor Valencia, and he was the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff Station's very first volunteer — and only the second in the entire LASD. Thornhill retained the rights to the images he created; in 2012, he donated his SCV photographs to two nonprofit organizations — SCVTV and the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society — so that his work might continue to educate and inform the public.