Moving Days Are Sad (hardwood floors, foreclosure, rent)

[FondFamilyMemories]

Hi Cathy in Sacramento

How is everything?

[FondFamilyMemories]

Christmas is going to be sad this year.

[FondFamilyMemories]

Merry Christmas to everyone one who has an empty seat at your house.

[serialdriller]

ho ho ho merry christmas.....

[The Floridian]

The youtube video made me cry.....

Charles, when I lived in the SF Valley in 90-95, the Canoga Park area was more minority, a lot of Mexicans... I can see in your b-day pic, a lot of blond kids... how do feel now that the valley is slowing becoming all mexican? Does that bother you? And sadly, your home looks terrible. As white dude, blonde hair guy living in the SF valley back in the day, I felt like I was living in another country... It was hard to make friends, hard to identify. I would drive to Rick's Hamburgers on Van Nuys Blvd and see deadbeats. Van Nuys was a beautiful place.... I remember dating a gal in Newbury park, and her friends would chuckle when I said 'I live in van Nuys'.

Seems like all the whites moved out west....

[Charles]

Originally Posted by The Floridian

how do feel now that the valley is slowing becoming all mexican?

Does that bother you? And sadly, your home looks terrible. As white dude, blonde hair guy living in the SF valley back in the day, I felt like I was living in another country... It was hard to make friends, hard to identify. I would drive to Rick's Hamburgers on Van Nuys Blvd and see deadbeats. Van Nuys was a beautiful place.... I remember dating a gal in Newbury park, and her friends would chuckle when I said 'I live in van Nuys'.

Seems like all the whites moved out west....

Doesn't bother me that the Valley is becoming more Hispanic. (The people who bought my parents' home were white and they park their cars on the lawn and don't care about the neighborhood.)

The valley is sort of old, and because of that it is kind of ugly: above ground power lines, tacky billboards, inconsistent and hodgepodge zoning, blandness and sameness, minimal geographic diversity on the grid floor, and gaudy mini-malls on every street corner.

By the way, I am now sitting at that same birthday table in that same white and yellow chair as I type this here at my parents home, forty years later.




Van Nuys 1991


Van Nuys 1986


Van Nuys 1979



Van Nuys 1970 (Busch Gardens - We used to hop the fence and sneak in there....)



Don Drysdale, Van Nuys High School (class of 1954) early 1950s


A rare photo, Koufax and Drysdale team up to change parts of a 2 1/2-ton truck at the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Van Nuys, in 1966 during their two weeks of active duty for training


Kids in Van Nuys 1962


Van Nuys Boulevard 1962


Lockheed plant (my dad worked here) and GM plant in Van Nuys around 1961


Van Nuys Boulevard 1955


Bob Waterfield, Los Angeles Rams, Van Nuys High & UCLA Grad



Budweiser Brewery under construction, 1953 at present day 405 & Roscoe, Van Nuys


reseda and sherman way 1954



Tampa and Victory late 1950s early 1960s


Sherman Way and Topanga 1953

[The Floridian]

Hey Charles -

Great pics! Althou I'm only 42, I have a fascination with the SF valley.... I ended up there after driving my VW Rabbitt from Gainesville Florida... I didn't know a soul in LA... but felt 'at home' in Sherman Oaks. I looked at Hollywood, Glendale, SM, SB... but the Valley intrigues me. I'm heading back after 13 years next month! But now have a $$$!

People don't know this, but a lot of great actors lived in the valley at one time or another... I used to paint curbs and asked for donations. Chandler Blvd was a great street in Van Nuys... Tom Selleck grew up on that street, Kris McNichol owned there and Marlon Brando.

Charles, where do you see the next SF valley?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by The Floridian

Charles, where do you see the next SF valley?

Maybe northern Orange County? I don't know. I am not to familiar with other parts of Southern California. There are a lot of variables in the mix as to how a community or region developes economically and demographically: zoning, traffic flows and highway routing (construction of), immigration patterns, commercial, retail, and industrial developments, etc. I only wrote north OC because that's what I've read on City Data.

Here are lots of neat SFV photos.

Oviatt Library Digital Collections

Advanced Search

The Valley Observed: San Fernando Valley history and sense of place

[The Floridian]

Thanks, great links!

[FondFamilyMemories]

Happy New Year to all!!!!