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"I am not the movie known as "Encino Man." That slanderous
tripe was in fact, filmed in Simi Valley, a land of barren..."
More about Encino
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Messaging Off[Restricted to Encino's friends] |
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Occupation:
Making excuses for self
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Hobbies and Interests:
Teenage Wastelands, Jaded Youth, Driving around aimlessly smoking cigarettes and drinking slurpees, Having coffee for lack of anything better to do, Cynicism, Ennui, Runaways, Luxury Cars, SUVs, Gelson's Market, Ventura Boulevard
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Favorite Books:
Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood, What Makes Sammy Run, Day of the Locust, The Long Goodbye (and all other Chandler/Marlowe novels), City of Quartz, The Black Dahlia, Less Than Zero, Slouching Toward Bethleham, Play It As It Lays
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Favorite Movies:
Valley Girl, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Nowhere, Mullholland Drive, Sunset Boulevard, L.A. Confidential, Menace II Society, Boyz in the Hood, Blade Runner, The Karate Kid, Clueless
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Favorite Music:
X, The Doors, The Mommas and the Pappas, The Byrds, Bad Religion, Metallica, The Minutemen, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Sonic Youth (Why are you so meano? I'm just a girl from Encino. I'm from Sherman Oaks. I'm a wheel with spokes), Tom Petty
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Favorite TV Shows:
Six Feet Under, Beverly Hills 90210
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About Me:
I am not the movie known as "Encino Man." That slanderous
tripe was in fact, filmed in Simi Valley, a land of barren
tract housing and loose topsoil blowing in the Santa Anas.
I am a place of coyotes and deer, rattlesnakes unfurled on
cooling asphalt driveways at sunset, owls hooting at
night. My houses are wooden and ranch style, built just
before and after World War II. My children are affluent,
discontented-- potsmokers who sag in drifting innertubes
around their swimmingpools in the gardenia scented canyons
of my hillsides and tops. They leave me, as all children
must, and swear they will not return. They tell other
people with shamed faces, "I am from a suburb" but as they
fall asleep at night they have visions of oak trees, and
the city of Los Angeles calls out to them, and they know
they are from the Valley, they are of the Valley.
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Who I Want to Meet:
Anyone from The Valley, lovers/ haters of the Valley,
people who know people from the Valley. Friends, it is
time to own up to the site from which you sprung. Be it
Toluca Lake or Northride, Reseda or Panorama City, I have
come for you. If you want to return to the fold, my email
address is
southoftheboulevard@hotmail.com.
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How you're connected:
| You |
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Encino is in your extended network |
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Encino |
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realized I could get from Woodland Hills
all the way to the end of Studio City
without ever touching the Boulevard.
Valley Vista was a teenage driver's
dream. I miss Lancer's. We started
going there after Jerry's started the $5
minimum per person thing. We would
sit at Lancer's and smoke and drink
water and eat complimentary crackers
to our hearts' content. Maybe one or two
people would get coffee if the mood
was there. I lived one block North of the
Boulevard and my friend Ari never let
me forget it. As much disdain as I feel
for the city of Los Angeles, I hold a love
in my heart for Encino like nothing else.
I hate the traffic even more on Ventura
Boulevard between Balboa and the 405
IHOP, there never seems to be a way out
even with my navigation system, like
this one time I turned onto Haskell and
ended up back where I sta... well you
get the picture... oh and another
thing, "Encino Man" was shot in
Valencia and Sylmar... ARE YOU JUST
GOING TO SIT THERE AND NOT DO ANYTHING
ABOUT IT??!!! My love/hate
relationship stretches until Sherman
Oaks, where everything closes at
midnight unless it is the weekend.
though the streets are filled with
cars driven at a snail's pace by what
appear to be corpses. E-town baby.
never had much use for Encino
beyond the Laemmle Town Center 5
(formerly Town & Country Plaza) - the
only ^other^ Laem my dad will go to...
So what is Encino? Like Linley to
Woodly and Burbank to Mulhulland?
I can think of a few "chill spots"
around there. Don't really remember
where they are exactly - I suppose
that's a testament to their
usefulness. Yeah, but Encino will
always be behind Sherman Oaks
and Studio City for people settling on
living in the Val who really want to live
south of Mul Dr, or over the hill, as is
commonly referred. Ah, but what I
like best about Encino is her name
recognition. Whenever I'm far from
SoCal, as I like to be as often as
possible, and somebody throws a
"where ya from?" at me followed by a
"what part?" when I say LA - then I get
to give them THE VALLEY. Usually
there's a smirk from people that don't
know there's a The Valley (and of
course San Fernan is it, I mean San
Gabriel- Covina- What for? And
Simi, well you nailed that one, E. Not
to mention Santa Clarita, don't get
me started) so then they want to
know names in the Val and respond
with blank expressions to Canoga
Park and Woodland Hills. Mild
recognition to Reseda, thanks to
Danny LaRusso and Tom Petty, but it
is Encino (mother of the lost valley
children?) absolute origin and last
choice destination, that gets them
every time! Thanks Encino. Oh yeah,
and you know that in Thrashin when
that beach skater guy says, "Beat it
ya val jerk!" he was probably from
Encino. And hey, I have no problem
with some val jerk pride, ya know?
Ah, looks like I'm outta room, naw
that's interest.
Encino before. But a lot of my friends
did grow up there. I was always
driving there in my crappy car to visit
them. I was kind of like the karate
kid who lived in Reseda, although i
never did live in Reseda, or practice
karate for that matter, but i did go to
school in Reseda, and i lived in Van
Nuys, and like Daniel-San i kind of had
a crush on Elizabeth Shue...In high
school I was almost affluent enough to
be friends with Encino, but not
quite...but now that i drive a flashy,
spoiled rich kid's convertible, I am
officially allowed to claim a true bond
with this prestigious part of the
strange shopping center and restaurant-
laden suburbs known as the san fernando
valley. Will Rites of Passage never
cease?
beauteous hole at Ventura and
Hayvenhurst with parking and a strip
mall when every winter, a good rain
would have filled it to capacity. a pox
upon your house for not maintaining
Lang's Oak on Louise and allowing it to
fall under its own weight. your left
turns are unnavigable; your reservoir,
unfindable on a drunken summer
afternoon. you allowed Love's to become
a Jerry's Famous Deli; the Copper
Penny, a Denny's; the Lamplighter, a
coffeeshop i can't remember. i want you
to know that i despise what you became,
and that despite all that, i miss you
terribly.