Is there anything wrong with Van Nuys? (Burbank: renting, how much)

[littleword]

i guess the questions should be......."Is there anything right with Van Nuys?"

unless i had family there i wouldnt recommend living there. but like most places, there are the good areas and bad areas, soo anything is possible but i wouldnt recommend it.

i love that picture, i was looking for "cheap" rent in the SFV and that picture about sums it up. i didnt even get out of the car, i just kept on driving. nice pic.

lol, u live in burbank. i had a friend who worked in van nuys and lived in burbank, he had just moved to van nuys to be closer to work so he could save some money on rent/gas, and after about a month of living in van nuys he couldnt waite for his lease to end and move back to burbank. be happy u live in burbank and not van nuys

[majoun]

Originally Posted by littleword

i guess the questions should be......."Is there anything right with Van Nuys?"

A few decent cheap Mexican restaurants and nothing else, unless you're into hard drugs. Which I'm not.

Van Nuys is basically South Central but if South Central had a few poor,angry, underclass whites as well as poor, angry, underclass blacks and poor, angry, underclass Latinos. Most of the population seems to have either just gotten out of prison or just came across the border. It's a good place to get shot. ):

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by SandyCo

5. Every day those obnoxious street vendors with their corn would honk their bicycle horns at the precise moment when I'd be trying to take a nap (I moved to Sherman Oaks to get away from them, and now they're here, too! I can't win. ).

What were the street vendors selling? Ever buy anything from them?

I used to live in a neighborhood where a produce and fruit vendor came every two-three days. Yes, it was annoying to hear the WAAAA, WAAAA horn, but it sure was convenient to walk just outside to get my fruits and veggies. Kind of like a modern-day version of the push-cart vendors you see in movies of yesteryear's New York City or Chicago.

[Charles]

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

[cynwldkat]

Van Nuys was once considered a nice place. I use to live within a couple of miles from Van Nuys. Today is different--- if you like pawn shops, bars, urine stained buildings then Van Nuys is the place to go.

[GracieJJ]

Errmm, Hispanics, drugs, drunks, gangbangers, overly congested roads and a little overpopulated, row after rows of apartments with no end in sight. Whats there not to love about this place?

[majoun]

Originally Posted by cynwldkat

Van Nuys was once considered a nice place. I use to live within a couple of miles from Van Nuys. Today is different--- if you like pawn shops, bars, urine stained buildings then Van Nuys is the place to go.

The bars were there in the old days too. The difference is what happened to the neighborhood. It's like comparing the old blue collar neighborhoods of Detroit and Cleveland in the 1950s/60s when the factories were operating at full capacity to those same neighborhoods now turned into ghettos and the factories long shut down.

The "Cleveland with palm trees" remark is perceptive on many levels, Bob Hope probably meant it in terms of the Valley being plain, ugly, and dull but it's accurate in terms of the decline of functional blue collar neighborhoods to slums once the industries that form their financial base are gone.

[TheRealAngelion]

Here are some photo sets I found of Van Nuys on Flickr. They do a pretty good job of showing the dichotomy of the area. However, the first set includes some photos of Studio City, which is not part of Van Nuys.

I don't spend much time in Van Nuys but had to go there for a court appearance not too long ago, and the area(s) I saw, mostly Van Nuys Blvd., weren't so bad. The streets were clean, the storefronts were full of retail establishments in contrast to being boarded up (and included both ethnic and standard American fare like fast food chains, banks, etc.), and bustling with traffic--pedestrian and vehicular. The area is obviously not what it use to be, but if this represents "ghetto" in LA, we sure do put the rest of the ghettos and slums of America to shame. At least our ghettos have long boulevards lined with nice palm trees. LOL

Built: Van Nuys, CA - a photoset on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hereinvannuys/sets/72157602759538628/ - broken link)

Van Nuys, California on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlove/1418534549/ - broken link)

Valley Municipal Building (Valley City Hall) on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlove/1419418896/in/photostream/ - broken link)

View from the courthouse on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlove/1418535341/in/photostream/ - broken link)

van nuys blvd on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazyiris/403619363/ - broken link)

Looking towards Van Nuys HIgh School on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgroi/252189649/ - broken link)

[jessemh431]

I have a friend who lives there and she can't wait to move out. She lives on a little secluded cul-de-sac off of Victory Blvd. She says she doesn't usually walk anywhere because the area is so scary. They've heard gunshots several times. Apartments everywhere and extremely rundown homes.

[SaintLaurent]

Yuck. There are much nicer parts of town. Avoid Van Nuys at all costs.