The Origin of Our 210 Freeway The 210 Freeway is an accepted part of our valley today. It’s noisy but we trade that for the ease with which we can get around Los Angeles. But in the 1960s it was bitterly fought over and residents here feared its completion would spell doom for our happy […]
The Pain of Saying Goodbye How do you say goodbye to someone you have known almost your entire life? Not “goodbye” like I will see you next week, but goodbye from this world as we know it. Stan Birchall passed on July 29. I met Stan when I was just 16 years old and we […]
Monkeypox and California’s State of Emergency A lot of the news surrounding monkeypox reads something like, “Hey, don’t be alarmed, but we are in a state of emergency.” It can be tricky to read between the press conferences and media lines, but monkeypox is cause for concern and we need to be paying close attention because the numbers […]
A Common Wild Plant – A Common Deadly Poison Castor bean plants are extremely common in our wildlands. They line our mountain trails, some of our roadways, and are even found in household landscaping. They are a beautiful, lush and colorful plant. They are also the source of one of the deadliest poisons – ricin […]
Applauds Shedding a Light on Global Concerns Thank you for the recent Weather Watch “Taking A Look Outside Our Window: Heat Waves Across the World.” The severe megadrought in our region and across the globe are a major concern for many of us in the community. Please continue to shed light on these topics: not […]
Grand Plans to Build the Last California Mission in Tujunga John Steven McGroarty was, in his time, a famous writer. He came to Tujunga in 1901 and built a home in a fold of the Verdugo Mountains. He had a successful career as a columnist for the LA Times, was the poet laureate of California […]
Happy Return to School On Thursday, Aug. 18 at 7 p.m., the Crescenta Valley Town Council will be having a virtual presentation from the Glendale Public Works Dept. on the La Crescenta Avenue Rehabilitation Project. The presentation will cover the major infrastructure improvements that are planned for the La Crescenta Avenue project corridor below Montrose […]
Construction Weary In 2014, I knew all about highway construction projects. I was part of the No 710 Action Committee, a grass roots volunteer group that was working to defeat the proposed connection between the I-710 and I-210 freeways by way of two large tunnels 250 feet underground. I spent a lot of time attending […]
Van Halen Played La Cañada and Montrose – The Montrose Theater Show Over the last few of weeks, I have detailed some local history involving one of the great rock bands, Van Halen. I interviewed former La Cañada resident Dan Sullivan who, in 1975-76 promoted some local concerts for Van Halen, just before they became […]
Van Halen Played La Cañada and Montrose – The Glendale High Show For the last couple of weeks I have detailed some local history involving one of the great rock bands, Van Halen. I had interviewed former La Cañada resident Dan Sullivan. When just out of high school in 1975, he promoted a handful of […]