Pacoima Pays Tribute to Itself During Weekend Expo

Barbara Clarence stood in the hot sun and snapped pictures of the parade of cars and trucks carrying politicians, cheering teen club members and “Rollo the Happy Hamster” wending its way down Van Nuys Boulevard in Pacoima Saturday morning.

“Pacoima is the greatest place in the world. I love it,” said Clarence, 50, who moved from Pacoima to Panorama City four years ago to be closer to her job at Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank. “I don’t care where I’m at. This is home.”

That was exactly the kind of sentiment officials were trying to stir up with the seventh annual “Back to Pacoima and ‘We Love It’ Expo,” which began Saturday with the small parade. The expo will continue today at Hansen Dam.

‘Positive Images’

“The Back to Pacoima Expo was born out of a need to bring the community a facial uplift. . . to spotlight the positive images of our community,” said Rolene Naveja, a spokeswoman for the Pacoima event.

Watching the parade, Rachel Guzman was beaming. “It’s like a homecoming. A family reunion,” said Guzman, 48, a San Fernando Elementary School teacher and mother of five grown children.

“I’m proud to be from Pacoima, honey,” Guzman said as she stood near the crime-ridden Pierce Projects low-income apartment complex. “There is a lot of crime, honey, we have to admit that. Pacoima is a ghetto but it’s building up.”

Guzman said she has fond memories of Pacoima. “My Dad would hunt jack rabbits for dinner down there,” she said, pointing to the intersection of Glenoaks and Van Nuys boulevards, site of the new Pacoima Plaza of Stars shopping center.

But Guzman’s daughter Helayne Hill, 24, who is studying a premed curriculum at California State University, Northridge, said she sometimes feels a little “insecure to be from Pacoima, where other people might be from Woodland Hills.” She said, though, that she thinks she has more “street smarts” than most people.

The celebration, sponsored by the Pacoima Chamber of Commerce, Pacoima Property Owners Assn. and the Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation, was expected to draw 10,000 people over two days, Naveja said. But as of mid-afternoon Saturday, turnout was sparse.

Officials delayed opening ceremonies for an hour, hoping more people would show up. But only a few hundred people were on hand as about a dozen past and current Pacoima residents received certificates honoring their contributions to the community.

‘Happy It’s Happening’

Naveja was unruffled. “I don’t even care. I’m just happy it’s happening,” she said.

By late afternoon, an expo official said, the celebration was jammed with people.

Naveja’s mother, Marie Harris, executive director of the Pacoima Property Owners Assn. and of the expo, said a lot of Pacoima residents have “achieved national acclaim,” including jazz musician Andrae Crouch.

“We have more superstars in Pacoima than anywhere else in the world,” she said.