LAist: No Cash for Valley-centric Tourism. Like Ohmygod, Ok!

LA MapNerd

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:00:10 -0800

Bonus location trivia: P.T. Anderson's Magnolia, filmed entirely in the San Fernando Valley, features two exterior locations with street signs reading "Magnolia". Which two Valley intersections are those? Hint: Neither one of them is actually Magnolia Blvd. :-)

LA MapNerd

Thu, 01 May 2008 12:52:16 -0800

If we're talking movie locations we could go on, and on, and on...Well, sure, but you could do that almost anywhere in LA. And lots of other places have way more of those than the Valley does. My favorite one, though, is the 6200 block of Orion Avenue in the Cameron Woods neighborhood just north of the Sepulveda Blvd. Orange Line station. According to local residents it's "the single most-filmed residential block in Los Angeles" (and thus, probably, in the whole world). It's been used so often in commercials, movies, and TV shows that it can induce a weirdly powerful sense of déja vu in first-time visitors. The white picket fences, the big suburban homes set back on deep, expansive front yards, the complete absence of palm trees, the gently meandering curve of the street... It's hard to believe that you're actually in Van Nuys.

Carrie Meathrell

Thu, 01 May 2008 08:17:50 -0800

Dude! Porn Theme Park!

Lindsay William-Ross

Thu, 01 May 2008 07:33:51 -0800

and the Brady Bunch house. and where Alicia Silverstone got held up in Clueless (Circus Liquor). and the intersection where Erin Brockovitch got in the car accident that led her to the lawyer she would work for (Lankershim & Magnolia). and basically anywhere in a PT Anderson film (pre-"There Will Be Blood"). If we're talking movie locations we could go on, and on, and on...

Militant Angeleno

Thu, 01 May 2008 01:38:14 -0800

Oh yeah, and the flood control channels from Terminator 2!

samkim

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:31:18 -0800

from Superbad.

samkim

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:31:02 -0800

you can drive around in circles in the parking lot where the police officers rode around w/ mclovin in on lassen and superior next to CSUN...?

Lindsay William-Ross

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:06:39 -0800

I live in the Valley, and I get why it's cool to live here and do everyday life here, but I agree that it's just not a destination, except for conventions and people who are seduced by the schlocky charmless tourisma that is Universal Studios. There are some totally cool Valley places, but I can't imagine someone landing at LAX and being STOKED about heading into Chatsworth or Valley Village or Panorama City for a day of... what? Poor Valley. No street cred.

LA MapNerd

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:55:45 -0800

Yeah, I don't get this at all. I live in the Valley, and I like the Valley, but seriously: "Valley-centric tourism"? To where? I mean, you could do the whole "workaday Hollywood" thing - The Universal backlot tour, the Warner Brothers VIP tour, the Jay Leno show, get some audience tix to tapings of their favorite sitcoms, see the 7 Dwarfs caryatids and the giant sorcerer's cap at Disney, yadda yadda yadda - but while that stuff is in the Valley, sure enough, almost all of it is in Universal City and Burbank, not the city of LA. So why spend LA city taxpayer money on it? And while I'm a long way from a "vocal NIMBY", yeah, I'm perfectly happy to leave the thundering tourist hordes to the other side of the hill. That's where all the ticky-tacky tourist crap they're looking for is located, anyway. I long ago gave up trying to show people the really cool stuff in LA - all they want to see is the "Walk of Fame" and the Hollywood sign and Graumann's Chinese and Hollywood & Vine and the Venice boardwalk and Rodeo Drive and the Maps To The Homes Of The Stars. I've always said that LA is a great place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit here. :-) And that goes double for the Valley. Seriously, if the City Council really feels an overwhelming need to spend that money, I say give it to the Library and cancel that idiotic $1-per-book interbranch transfer fee. That'll do way more good for Valley residents than trying to persuade tourists to come here.

eecue

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:54:32 -0800

That sucks because every time I have relatives in town from out of state I tell them to go check out all the cool sites in the valley. It's a shame that those excellent tourist destinations won't get the funding they deserve. Seriously though, the valley? Come on now.

polaroidgirl

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:50:25 -0800

We valley folk are indeed comfy with not being overrun with tourists (that's what Hollywood is for...). What makes the valley livable is that it is much less congested than other areas of the city...

l_alex

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:26:25 -0800

Other than Universal Studios what's so interesting about "The Valley." That is, unless you make a shrine to where Pauly Shore filmed Encino Man in said city. I just don't think you can convince a tourist, much less a local, to believe that hanging out in Van Nuys sound cool.

Militant Angeleno

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:23:56 -0800

Do most Valley people really want tourists? The vocal NIMBY types there would likely much rather not have out-of-towners trampling on their front lawns. Or at least they would keep the tourists restricted to Universal City and Ventura Blvd. - which are really the only places in the Valley that tourists are interested in anyway.