Beautiful Downtown Burbank - Located within the Los Angeles Metropolitan region at the eastern end of the San Fernando Valley, the city of Burbank, has been the brunt of many a joke from television's ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN/NBC/1968-73 and Johnny Carson's THE TONIGHT SHOW/NBC/1962-92. The term "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" is really a sarcastic description of the city which for the most part is flat, ugly, and smoggy with Forest Lawn Cemetery on one side and a dry river bed on the other. Some humorous accounts of Burbank: "Burbank is the only city that needs someone riding shotgun on its garbage trucks," and "Beautiful downtown Burbank weather report: 15% chance of precipitation, 30% chance of wind, 99% chance of smog and 5% chance of SURVIVAL." Many people mistakenly believe that the city of Burbank was named after Luther Burbank, an American plant breeder (1849-1926). However, it was actually named after Los Angeles dentist David Burbank who operated a ranch on the land until he sold it to Providencia Land and Water Development company in 1887 for subdivision. The City of Burbank was incorporated on July 8, 1911.