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Old 05-05-2011, 04:49 PM
 
3,393 posts, read 5,278,033 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Pip View Post
Almost every time I tell someone I live in the Valley, the film "Valley Girl" gets mentioned. So I watched the film to get some understanding. I now see that the Valley has changed a lot and it's not like it was back in the 80's so I don't know why the film keeps on being mentioned to this day? Back then it was very white. What changed? Where did all those "Valley girls" go? Did they all move to Brentwood? Santa Monica (especially that mall)? Orange County? San Diego especially North County? I'm not seeing them on a daily basis. There's times where I feel like I hardly see white people anymore.

I'm curious to know how and why the valley changed? I can't seem to find much online so maybe people who were born/raised in the Valley can enlighten me. I understand the Iranian revolution but how did it get such a high Armenian, Russian, Israeli and Mexican population? I'm mainly speaking for the areas of Tarzana, Encino, Sherman Oaks and Van Nuys.

Apparently in the film Valley Girl, the yuppy house party was filmed in Canoga Park but I hear that's a really rough/gang related area now.

When I lived in San Diego (UTC, La Jolla), I found that to be more like the Valley from the 80's.

So I'm curious...
Gag you with a spooon. It happened gradually but the Rodney King riots pushed everybody over the edge. I know people personally who moved down to Orange County and out of state.

 
Old 05-05-2011, 05:51 PM
 
3,393 posts, read 5,278,033 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yamota View Post
I was more of a John Hughes teen movie guy, like in The Breakfast Club or Pretty in Pink or Sixteen Candles. These were 80s midwestern teens who would never speak valley speak. They were a little more level headed and smart
Shame you were neither. Just take pride in your obscurity and shut up.
 
Old 05-05-2011, 07:34 PM
 
Location: CA
1,253 posts, read 2,945,311 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay100 View Post
Shame you were neither. Just take pride in your obscurity and shut up.
Hahahahaha wow
 
Old 05-05-2011, 07:40 PM
 
Location: CA
1,253 posts, read 2,945,311 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay100 View Post
Gag you with a spooon. It happened gradually but the Rodney King riots pushed everybody over the edge. I know people personally who moved down to Orange County and out of state.
Just because of the Rodney King riots? So the Koreans rushed to K Town and many whites gave up and left the whole state?
 
Old 05-05-2011, 07:47 PM
 
161 posts, read 328,906 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by majoun View Post
The old Valley white working class culture is gone. The Valley in the old days was based on high paying blue collar jobs (as was L.A. in general). When those went, said culture went with it, except for a few aging holdouts here and there. The most debased Valley white group - the Valley branch of L.A.'s old white criminal class - still can be found here and there. The ex-cons and addicts who make up most of Van Nuys' non-Latino and non-Armenian white population are part of it. They didn't get into the gang culture because they were more about making money from selling drugs without any turf BS.




As I said earlier in the thread, it hasn't completely disappeared or at least existed until recently. My ex-girlfriend's nieces (and this was in 2006) were Valley Girls through and through. They just happened to be Latinas or half-Latinas, but definitely conformed to the stereotype. I suspect even in the Valley Girl's heyday there were a few "brown" Valley Girls.
There was a Black girl in the film ...
 
Old 05-05-2011, 08:22 PM
 
Location: Earth
17,440 posts, read 28,597,011 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Pip View Post
Just because of the Rodney King riots? So the Koreans rushed to K Town and many whites gave up and left the whole state?
The riots barely touched the Valley but the Valley saw the most white flight because of the riots.

The riots were the second of three events that changed the Valley's demographics remarkably - the other two had far more of a direct effect on the Valley:

1. 1989-90. The closing of the GM plant and the Lockheed plant, and with their closing went the high paying blue collar jobs that sustained the Valley. Runaway production and studio cutbacks eliminated many high paying blue collar jobs in the entertainment industry about this time - which also sustained the Valley. This produced some major white flight. This is why the Valley's plight is more comparable to that of Detroit or Cleveland, or many places in the UK, than the plight of Tijuana. When the factories closed, the bottom fell out.

2. April 1992. The riots. Little rioting in the Valley but many of the white folks were scared. Ironically, more than the white folks of the Miracle Mile and South Robertson who were much closer to large black populations (and both of which did see rioting). Not only the Valley but L.A. as a whole has never recovered from the economic damage.

3. January 1994. The Northridge/Reseda earthquake. Wreaked a great deal of destruction in the Valley as the 2nd big quake of the 20th century centered in the Valley. Many apartments and homes in the Valley destroyed or suffered heavy damage. Many whites who could afford to leave, and also some Mexican-Americans, left. The northeast Valley got way more ghetto.

The riots' effect on the Valley can't be viewed as just one event but part of a trilogy of events that changed it. Being from the UK you might be confused by the term "middle class" to describe the Valley and L.A. in general in the past. Middle class in the USA is not the same thing as middle class in Britain. Middle class in the USA means upper working class in the UK. Middle class in Britain means upper middle class in the US. The Valley was traditionally a very working class place, aside from the southern areas. In both the UK and US senses of the term. Once the jobs left the whole society got turned upside down ; crime and hard drugs increased, and probably would have even if there were no L.A. riots, there was no earthquake, and there was no white flight. They were already on the increase before those other events. Actually, they were already on the increase before the factories closed down, but that made them increase more.
 
Old 05-05-2011, 09:17 PM
 
Location: CA
1,253 posts, read 2,945,311 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chris72 View Post
There was a Black girl in the film ...
Yeah "a" black girl and that was it.
 
Old 05-05-2011, 11:27 PM
 
121 posts, read 282,892 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Pip View Post
Yeah "a" black girl and that was it.
As was mentioned already, Forest Whitaker had part in the movie. So there was also "a" black guy in the movie.
 
Old 05-06-2011, 07:53 AM
 
Location: South Bay Native
16,225 posts, read 27,425,008 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlankVerse View Post
As was mentioned already, Forest Whitaker had part in the movie. So there was also "a" black guy in the movie.
Sorry, but I think you have some confusion about teen movies from the 80s - Forest Whitaker played in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I haven't seen Valley Girl in ages, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall him appearing in Valley Girl.

Funny thread, btw.
 
Old 05-06-2011, 11:14 AM
 
121 posts, read 282,892 times
Reputation: 120
Quote:
Originally Posted by DontH8Me View Post
Sorry, but I think you have some confusion about teen movies from the 80s - Forest Whitaker played in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I haven't seen Valley Girl in ages, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall him appearing in Valley Girl.

Funny thread, btw.
Yes, you are right. He was NOT in Valley Girl. The movie I was referring to was FAST TIMES which was referened earlier in the thread.
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