Epicenter
The earthquake struck in the San Fernando Valley about 20 miles (31 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles near the community of Northridge. The exact epicenter of the earthquake was in Reseda, near the intersection of Reseda Boulevard and Strathern Street. However, it took several days to pinpoint the epicenter in detail, and so the media had already dubbed it "The Northridge Earthquake." The name stuck, in part mostly because of the extensive damage and loss of life in Northridge. The National Geophysical Data Center places the hypocenter's geographical coordinates at 34°12′47″N 118°32′13″W / 34.21306°N 118.53694°W / 34.21306; -118.53694 and a depth of 17 km (10.56 mi). Despite the area's proximity to the San Andreas Fault, the Northridge earthquake did not occur along this fault, but rather on the previously undiscovered Northridge blind thrust fault (also known as the Pico thrust fault).
Read more about this topic: 1994 Northridge Earthquake