Notable Valley Resident

Jill's Journal: One lovely benefit of being in the San Fernando Valley is our proximity to Rob’s grandmother and the chance for the girls to get to know her a little better. This feisty little lady is just a few months shy of her 90th birthday. Great Grandma Lili is so petite – jockey-sized petite – that I’m pretty certain the girls will pass her up by the time they’re teenagers. What she lacks in size, she makes up for in “orneriness” (her word, not mine!).

Great Grandma Lili may be Boston-bred, but she has been in the Los Angeles area since her 20s. She’s also Armenian by heritage, but way classier than those darn Kardashians all over the media these days. We took her to dinner tonight and will see her several times while we’re here. It’s such a special gift for the girls to know great grandparents.

On another note, we’ve been getting to know “the Valley” over the last few days and the only way I can think to describe it is suburbia on steroids. There’s hundreds of thousands of homes and every shop or service anyone could possibly need or want, but, truthfully, it’s very bland. It all looks alike. Luckily for the Valley, it's super convenient from here to the really good stuff: the tremendous, vibrant city of Los Angeles is just minutes away (unless, of course one gets caught in traffic, which is likely).

I came across a fantastic snippet online that says it much better than I can:

“The San Fernando Valley is 260 square miles of suburbia. Actually, make that suburbia on nutritional supplements. And antidepressants. With perhaps a little cosmetic surgery south of Ventura Boulevard, where the big money is. Or maybe – now that it’s grown to more than 1.7 million people -- …the Valley isn’t even a suburb anymore.

“…The Valley is the home of the oldest Bob’s Big Boy diner and perhaps the only porn-star karaoke night in North America. (After all, the Valley is widely known as the nation’s porn production capital). This is where Bob Hope and Ritchie Valens rest in peace, where ‘Friends’ was shot, where Disney makes movies (but doesn’t give tours), where the ageless phrase ‘gag me with a spoon’ was born, where the papa of Patagonia honed his climbing skills.” --Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

Well, gag me with a spoon, but bland or not, we're going to enjoy our time here.

Welcome to Los Angeles

Jill's Journal: Unless you count Portland and Sacramento, it’s been a while since we’ve been in a truly big city. Most of these last months have been in smaller towns, many downright rural and so peaceful…the absolute antithesis of Los Angeles, the biggest and most populous city in the United States.

I imagine L.A. would be quite a culture shock to someone used to a quieter way of life. To our surprise, we acclimated almost immediately. Maybe it’s because Rob and I both used to live here and knew what to expect, but the crazy traffic, the two centimeters of space between neighbors, and the police helicopters flying overheard haven’t even phased us.

We’re starting our time in the Greater L.A. area on the northern edge of the massive, sprawling city in a suburb of sorts called Van Nuys. (Van Nuys is located in “the valley” -- officially the San Fernando Valley -- famous for those “valley girls” back in the ‘80s). Why Van Nuys? Simply because we found an RV spot here and it’s a good base for the things on this side of the great city. Most of the people in our new park are full-time residents, which makes sense because living in an RV has got to be the cheapest way to have your own four walls in L.A.

Funny story: the park owner told us there are seven actors and 61 studio people living in the park. We had no illusions that any of them were George Clooney, but soon after, we learned they may not be the sort of actors who work with their clothes on. Van Nuys and the surrounding area in the valley is the adult film capital of the country! Oh my.