Well, it looks like we won’t be going to the Concert in the Park after all. According to my wife, it will be 90°F in the shade at the time of the concert, which is two effing haute, if you know what I’m saying 🙂
Tag: san-fernando-valley
Too Hot for Hamlet
Somehow, I don’t think we’re going to see Hamlet in the Park tonight. It’s already 97° outside in Santa Clarita, so by 5:00pm when the show starts, it should be even hotter. Not conducive to a picnic or watching a complicated Shakespeare show. I think ellipticcurve is going to come over here in the late afternoon instead (those who want can jump in the pool — I got a new leaf rake today). Perhaps we’ll watch a movie. venedotia — you’re also welcome to join us, if you want.
More Valley Blogs
For those into the San Fernando Valley, I’ve syndicated the new blog from the Daily News: daily_news_blog.
In Valley History: Parrots in Van Nuys
Forty years ago today, Anheuser-Busch opened Busch Gardens, a $4-million theme park and tropical oasis in Van Nuys. The 17-acre spread included a monorail that snaked around the facility and passed windows that gave passengers a look at stages of the brewing process. There are still remnants of it as you drive by the brewery today, and the parrots can still be heard over the valley. It closed in 1979, although someone has remade it in Roller Coaster Tycoon.
Another Win For The Valley
Betcha you though that the Television Industry was in Hollywood. After all, the only “cinema” in the valley is pron. Right?
Wrong. The television industry is centered in, as Gary Owens put it, Beautiful Downtown Burbank, in the San Fernando Valley. This industry just grew a bit larger, as The CW (the new network being formed from UPN and The WB) has announced they will be locating in Burbank, in 35,000 square feet in the newly constructed Pinnacle building near the famed Warner Bros. studio. The Pinnacle complex, at 3300 W. Olive Ave, is already home to Warner Music Group and Clear Channel Communications, among other operations. It is basically next door to NBC, at 3000 W Alameda, a few blocks from Disney, Warner Brothers, and the ABC network in Burbank and Glendale. CBS is located a bit further away in Studio City, although they still have their west coast headquarters at Television City… although there are rumors those operations might move the valley. Of course, NBC Universal is at Universal City. The only holdout: Fox, which is still in West Los Angeles. The CW is also taking over about 15,000 square feet in a postproduction facility recently built for the WB on the satellite lot known as the Ranch.
Score another one for the valley. One of these days, we will secede.
If I Had A Hammer…
Tonight, we were all too tired and decided to go out to dinner. On the way to the restaurant1, we were passing by the plot of land that used to be Teledyne Northridge at Nordhoff and Corbin… and what do I see but a sign indicating that a Lowes is being constructed there. Woo Hoo! That’s only 1½ miles from my house. Previously, the closest Lowes was 5.1 miles (West Hills) or 17.1 miles (Burbank).
1 Abe’s Deli in Northridge… feh, give me Weilers or Brents anyday.
Take That, West Los Angeles!
The Valley Laughs at Earthquakes. The Daily News is reporting that the San Fernando Valley likely will not suffer earthquakes stronger than those that were centered in Sylmar in 1971 or Northridge in 1994, according to a new research report published in the journal Geology. Now, what we had in 1994 was bad, yes, but there have been much worse, so this is good news. Using advanced measurements of magnetic fields on sediments and other information, seismic researchers at Oregon State University found that the earth’s crust in the Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley to the north is broken up into blocks rather than being in a single piece as it is in the San Gabriel Valley and areas of eastern Ventura County. The significance is that when the plates move, causing a quake, the smaller blocks of crust don’t unleash as much energy as a single large tectonic plate. So expectations of the potential for more severe quakes in the Valley and north county are unfounded. According to the Oregon State geology professor emeritus Robert Yeats, “If you’re in the San Fernando Valley, you live in earthquake country, but you don’t live in 7.2 to 7.5 country.”
The Valley Housing Market Remains Strong. According to the Daily News, the median price of a San Fernando Valley home hit a record high of $525,000 in March amid strong sales. The soaring single-family price, which gained an annual 18.8 percent, or $83,000, pushed bargain hunters into the less-expensive condominium market. Upward pressure on the single-family median home price came from Calabasas, Tarzana and Encino. The median hit $1.12 million in Calabasas, $1.1 million in Tarzana and $1 million in Encino, where 78 homes sold. Throughout the Valley 1,943 properties were listed for sale at the end of March, about a 1.2-month supply the association calls “alarmingly low.”
I can attest to the lowness of inventory. In our searches, we’re lucky to find 3 or 4 properties that are potentials. On the other hand, the rising prices bodes well for us when we go to sell our current place, which will be priced below the median.