11 micro-itineraries for the San Fernando Valley
The Great Wall of Los Angeles, created by artists Judith Baca and hundreds of high school kids between 1976 and 1984, is half a mile long, which makes it one of the biggest murals in the U.S. It’s also an underdog’s view of California, beginning before the dawn of man and including downtrodden Native Americans, imprisoned Japanese Americans and deported Mexicans, concluding improbably with the arrival of the Olympic torch of 1984 Summer Games. The images line the west wall of the flood control channel on the west side of Coldwater Canyon Avenue between Burbank Boulevard and Oxnard Street. (Jay L. Clendenin, Los Angeles Times)
With 18th century missions, a winding Mulholland Drive and a rich movie history, this isn’t just any suburbia. Let these itineraries guide your exploration.
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The oldest remaining Bob’s Big Boy went up at 4211 W. Riverside Drive in Burbank in 1949. Its sign stands 70 feet tall, and its lot fills up with classic cars on Friday nights. On Saturday and Sunday nights, you can get car hop service. For years, writer-director
The North Hollywood Arts District, for many years a forlorn commercial strip, has been gathering steam as a bohemian enclave over the last decade, aided by a subway stop and redevelopment dollars. Start with dinner or lunch at Pitfire Artisan Pizza Co., which has a big patio with a fire pit and pingpong table. Then hit a performance (check Deaf West Theatre (5112 Lankershim Blvd., http://www.deafwest.org), winner of many national plaudits, or El Portal Theatre (5269 Lankershim Blvd., http://www.elportaltheatre.com), built as a vaudeville house in 1926 and revived as a three-venue space in 2000. To see what’s on at these and several other local theaters, check http://www.nohoartsdistrict.com. If you have spare minutes, browse the TV star statues (
Pictured: A statue of Johnny Carson in the North Hollywood Arts District (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Three generations along, the Tapia family keeps the Valley’s agricultural history alive with an 80-acre farm and produce stand in Encino. Tapia Bros. Fresh Produce, which closes in colder months, typically greets spring with strawberries and tomatoes. The family also grows corn, keeps chickens, pheasant and goats, and sells flowers. Once you’ve had a taste and said hello to the animals, cross Burbank Boulevard for the wide-open spaces of the Sepulveda Basin and Sepulveda Dam recreation areas, with lots of grass and nine miles of flat trails that are highly popular with joggers, dog-walkers and kids on bikes. This broad area, north of Encino and south of Van Nuys, was designed to collect water in a major flood. It also includes the Sepulveda Basin Dog Park; Lake Balboa Park; Balboa, Encino and Woodley Lakes municipal golf courses; and the Japanese Garden (6100 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys; http://www.thejapanesegarden.com), a 61/2-acre landscaped haven with a tea room. (David Karp / For The Times)
Don’t overlook the Warner Bros. studio tour in Burbank. It has no rides, no 3-D presentations, no cotton candy, no spitting dinosaurs. What it does offer is a grown-up look at how TV shows and movies get made, priced at $48 an adult, closed to children younger than 8, and lasting about 21/2 hours. Led by a guide, you typically travel on foot and by golf cart in a group of 12. You browse the fixtures and paintings in the prop shop, perhaps glimpse rooms where backdrops are painted or orchestral scores are recorded, stand in the square where “76 Trombones” was shot in “The Music Man,” step into the courthouse where the last episode of
Pictured: Central Perk from the TV show “Friends” on the Warner Bros. studio tour (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
