By MARTIN M. COOPER Guest Columnist I’m not very good at following directions. Ye Olde Editor of the Business Journal asked me to write about how the last ten years in the Valley have changed, as this issue of the SFVBJ celebrates its first decade of publication. The truth is, we’ve been evolving ever since William Mulholland changed us irrevocably on November 15, 1913. It was on that day that he stood on a peak at the north end of the Valley and celebrated with the city fathers the completion of the great aqueduct that stretches 233 miles from the Owens River to Los Angeles. Mr. Mulholland (no one ever called him “Bill,”) looked over the expanse of the Valley, pointed to the water his 5,000 workmen had labored to bring from the north into our region and uttered, “There it is, take it.” And we did. Of course, I should be following orders and writing about the Valley’s demographic changes over the past decade, highlighted by the explosion of the Latino population; the concomitant increase in the number of Latino elected officials; the incessant noise of construction heralding the erection of another office high rise or condo; and the continuing growth of the business community. And yes, changes have been dramatic. Try to find an orange grove, a full-service gas station, or a shabby motel with paint peeling on its tacky sign flashing in neon green, “Vac ncy.” Ten years ago, David Fleming and Bert Boeckmann were the “Mr. Bigs” of the Valley they still are (and deserve to be). A decade ago I was asking for my pastrami very lean at Brent’s, confident it had no gastronomic equal among our area’s delis. I still ask for my pastrami very lean and Brent’s is still our best deli. And who wouldn’t drive the extra mile ten years ago or today for breakfast at Millie’s? Lots of other restaurants are here after more than a decade but we do mourn the loss of Diamond Jim’s, the steak house at the corner of Sepulveda and Ventura; Du-Par’s in Encino; and Mary’s Lamb in Studio City. Many of the banks, law firms and CPA practices we turn to for help in our business lives have been here for more than ten years. Dozens of the social agencies, healthcare facilities and other not-for-profits that provide assistance to those in need have quietly done their job for years and years. And how many chambers of commerce have we gained or lost in the last ten years? Not many if any. In fact, the Woodland Hills Chamber has been around since 1942 and the Encino Chamber since 1936. The Foothill Village Chamber was founded in 1946 and changed its name to the Sylmar Chamber in 1958. VICA was founded in 1949, and even that organizational upstart, the Economic Alliance, recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. Los Angeles Valley College has been graduating young people for our workforce since 1949. We’ve been buying our cars from Auto Stiegler since 1951, Galpin Ford since 1946, and Casa de Cadillac since 1948 and been cursing the congested freeways we drive them on for longer than that. And no one would dare say that traffic has been reduced, no matter how many Orange Line buses speed (OK, change that to “proceed cautiously”) across the dedicated busway. Disney’s been making movies on the same lot since 1940, while Warner Bros. hasn’t moved since 1929, and Uncle Carl Laemmle dedicated Universal City Studios in 1915. Even smaller companies have called the Valley home for a very long time. Bobrick Washroom Equipment has been cleaning up since coming to the Valley in 1966, while people have been bedding down at Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn since 1973, Clay Lacy Aviation has been flying high since 1968, and Flip’s Tire Center has been treading the Valley since 1972. It’s not that the Business Journal’s decade in the Valley isn’t an accomplishment to be noted. After all, we are certainly underrepresented when it comes to our own media. We’ve never had our own television station, and except for the late, lamented KGIL, never boasted a major radio station. Even the Los Angeles Times, which used to have a significant presence here, clearly places less emphasis on Valley news. When it comes to media, however, the Daily News is the undisputed longevity champion of the Valley. The paper was founded in 1911 as the Van Nuys Call, and became, successively, the Van Nuys News, the Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet, and eventually the Daily News of Los Angeles. Communities, like people, tend to change rapidly in their youth, and the rate of change slows with the aging process. Our Valley is changing a little less dramatically now maybe we’re growing up. The more things change the more they are the same. “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” – Benjamin Franklin Martin Cooper is Chairman of Cooper Beavers, Inc., marketing and communications. He is Immediate Past Chairman of VICA, Past President of the Public Relations Society of America-Los Angeles Chapter and the Encino Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission. He can be reached at [email protected].
