Tag Archives: San Fernando Valley

Lake Balboa Interlude

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Lake Balboa Park
Van Nuys
March 12, 2016

We visited Margaret and took her out to the local park. She is still weak, and we didn’t want to tire her out with too many transfers from car to wheelchair and back. The weather was nice, so we picked up sandwiches at Subway and went to the park near her board and care residence. Meredith’s sister Kathleen met up with us, and she and Meredith and Margaret looked through an old photo album and reminisced about family members and gatherings. The photo below — one of the ones we looked at — shows Meredith (front right) and Kathleen (back right) with some of their cousins at their grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary gathering in 1980.

Maine 1980 cousins

San Fernando Mission

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Mission San Fernando Rey de España
Mission Hills
December 26, 2015

We took Margaret to see the San Fernando Mission, founded in 1797, one of 21 missions established by the Franciscans in Alta California, i.e. what is now the state of California. (Missions were established in Baja California as well.)

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This visit brought back memories of a week long road trip we took in 1999 with Margaret and our three girls, up to Sonoma and back down to San Diego, visiting all of the missions. Here are our three daughters back then, outside the San Fernando Mission:

Girls At Mission San Fernando 1999

As anyone who grew up in California knows, the missions were an integral part of the Spanish colonial era and of the history of early California generally. Nowadays the Southern California missions are generally well restored; some of the Northern California missions have been mostly obliterated. After the Mexican government secularized the missions, confiscating them from the Church, the mission buildings fell into disrepair. The adobe walls of some of them dissolved after opportunistic neighbors took the roof tiles for other projects. The San Fernando buildings have been well restored.

The mission church at San Fernando is an active place of worship, and there was a ceremony going on the day we visited — a quinceañera we think — so we were unable to see the church this time. We were able to see the museum rooms and gardens though.

Several of the buildings have rooms with historical displays in them. There are some informative displays, such as rooms arranged with period appropriate furnishings, and also some workshop rooms showing blacksmith and carpenter tools, a loom, and a saddle making display. Many religious artifacts are displayed, including both liturgical items like vestments and art such as statues, and there is an entire “Madonna Room” given over to iconography of the Virgin Mary. Some of the museum display cases have items which, although interesting in themselves, are not particularly appropriate to the mission. In the first couple of museum rooms, for instance, there were a number of Native American baskets on display. Those baskets included some very nice pieces, but few of them were from the local area.

Bob Hope is buried on the grounds. As he was dying, his wife Dolores asked him where he wanted to be buried, and he is reported to have said “Surprise me.” In any event, this is the resting place she chose for him. The thing Margaret most enjoyed about our visit was a pair of display cases featuring Bob Hope memorabilia. (These are tucked, for some inexplicable reason, in the workshop area.) Margaret even stood up, to see the photo of Bob with Dolores on the top shelf.

Admission to the mission grounds is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors. Most of the grounds and rooms are on a level, so wheelchair access is pretty good.

Margaret asked after her grandchildren as soon as we picked her up, and we brought her up to speed on family news over lunch.

Museum of the San Fernando Valley

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Museum of the San Fernando Valley
Northridge
January 3, 2015

A brand new museum in the San Fernando Valley, near where Margaret lives? We are so there! We read about this museum in the Los Angeles Times, which ran an article when the museum opened in December.

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The museum is in an office building, at 18860 Nordhoff Street in Northridge, in a relatively small suite on the second floor. Although it is not large, it is well laid out, and the exhibits are well labeled. The docents were friendly and very well-informed. There were three volunteers working the museum, basically one per room, and they were all enthusiastic. We think this museum has the highest docent per square foot ratio we have seen.

The World War II room has a corner devoted to the remarkable ace pilot Clyde East, including a piece from the fuselage of his fighter plane “Lil Margaret.” A QR code on the wall gave us a link to an extensive video about him. Clyde retired to the Valley after a long and distinguished career in the military and just passed away within the last year. Museum volunteer Art Sherman was on duty and showed us around that room, explaining all the items on display, including items he had donated to the museum from his time in the Army Air Force, as a bombardier and intelligence officer. Among various items in the room are interesting photos of the camouflaging on the Lockheed facility, several aerial maps, and photos of the “Wings over Wendy’s” veterans group which meets in West Hills.

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Another room features photos and artifacts provided by the Westmore family, leading make up and hair design artists in Hollywood for many years. Other walls feature photos taken by leading photographers Leigh Wiener and George Hurrell, historical photos from the Valley News, and architectural photos of noted Valley buildings, both old and modern.

The final room is devoted to art created by Valley artists, most notably sculptor Henry Van Wolf.

The museum organization has existed for about a decade, but this is their first opportunity to display their collection in space of their own. They have done an excellent job. Admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. The museum is currently only open three days a week.

Wheelchair accessibility was fine, with an elevator up to the second floor. Parking was ample and free, at least on the Saturday we visited.

The website needs a little updating; it appears to date from before the opening, when the “museum” was just an organization with a collection but no site to display it. Hopefully the website will be updated soon, to reflect the recent opening and give potential visitors easier access to practical information like opening times.

We had lunch at Maria’s Italian Kitchen in Northridge before going to the museum. We have eaten there before, and other family members like it, too. Food and service were both excellent. Margaret had a chicken panini; Bob had a meatball sandwich; and Meredith had a salad. We were all pleased with our food.

Over lunch we filled Margaret in on family business. She was sorry to hear of her older sister’s recent hospitalization, and we helped her write a get well card.

Valley Relics Museum

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Valley Relics Museum
Chatsworth
May 31, 2014

We went back to the Valley Relics Museum in Chatsworth. This trip was our second visit; we first learned about the musuem through a Los Angeles Times article and visited last winter, shortly after it opened. Meredith’s sister Kathleen accompanied us this time. She follows the museum on Facebook but had not previously visited it. The museum is housed in warehouse space, with three small rooms and one large open space.

Meredith and Kathleen both attended high school in the San Fernando Valley, and we are comfortable there, but we do not tend to associate the Valley with museums or high culture. The Valley Relics Museum has a delightfully offbeat assortment of signs, photos, and assorted memorabilia associated with the Valley from the early 20th century on. Tommy Gelinas, the owner and curator, is very knowledgeable about the history of the Valley and various now-gone shops, restaurants, and other sites. When we arrived, he was in the lobby explaining several items to other visitors and answering questions.

The collection has expanded since our first visit just six months before, and the website has been revamped and expanded as well. The museum is full of the sort of things we used to see everywhere and take for granted, like signs for Green Stamps and an old Wurlitzer jukebox. One of the smaller rooms has lots of old black-and-white photos of Western movie stars associated with the Valley, and that room was of particular interest to Margaret, who is a fan of old Western movies. Bob and Meredith liked one of the new additions, a classic VW beetle that was hand painted by a local artist, with various historical themes on different parts of the car.

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The museum is on Marilla Street just beyond the end of Canoga Avenue. We had a little trouble finding it the first time because it is in industrial space and not marked prominently. There is no handicap cut out immediately in front of the museum. Tommy assisted us with getting Margaret and the wheelchair inside.

There is no café at the Museum. Prior to this visit, we stopped at the Bob’s Big Boy in Northridge.