Lunch Box Specials
Artists are buying them to hold paints. Women are buying them to use as sewing boxes or purses. Neat-niks are buying them as stackable storage units.
“Kids’ metal lunch boxes from the ‘50s and ‘60s have just starting surfacing as a hot collectible,” says Rhoda Lorange, owner of Rhoda’s Place in Canoga Park. “For example, a Beatles lunch box from 1966 in mint condition with an intact thermos bottle would sell for about $175,” she says. “The Munsters are also very hot, running about $100 in mint condition.”
The majority can be had for considerably less. “We’ve got them from $5 to $25,” says Patti Larkins, assistant manager at Country Antique Fair Mall in Saugus. “In the last six or eight months, we’ve been selling a lot more of them.”
Many antique dealers are mystified by the recent surge of interest in lunch boxes. “It’s a very big thing now, but I just don’t understand why,” says Dave Coffee, owner of Dave’s Antiques in Granada Hills. He owns a lunch box that opens on two sides, featuring Mickey Mouse on one side and Donald Duck on the other. “I found it at a Goodwill store some years back. It has to be one of the very first ones. I really have no idea of its value, but I’m not selling it.”
The quality of these lunch boxes is what appeals to customers, says Carolyn Llewellyn of Carolyn Llewellyn Antiques & Collectibles in Canoga Park. “They’re sturdy. They were made to last. The designs are printed right on the metal, whereas today’s plastic boxes have paper designs just stuck right on them,” she says. “Everyone is plasticed out.”
On the Other Side of Another Hill
Many San Fernando Valley residents commute “over the hill” to jobs on the West Side or farther south. Meanwhile, an increasing number of Antelope Valley residents are skirting around another hill in their commute to jobs in the San Fernando Valley.
“About 40,000 people commute daily out of the Antelope Valley, and I would say the bulk of them are going into the San Fernando Valley area,” says Steve Buffalo, director of public relations for the city of Palmdale. “And that number is increasing all the time because we’re averaging about 1,000 people moving here every month. Nine out of 10 people who buy here commute right now.”
Los Angeles Police Officer Ron Carter has been commuting from Palmdale to the Valley for seven years. Because he works the night shift, he generally leaves home at 9:30 p.m. “Even at that hour, the southbound traffic can be heavy,” he says. “Five years ago, there was little, if any, southbound traffic. Now it seems to be there all the time.”
Many of Palmdale’s new residents used to live in the Valley; now they commute back to it for work. “People from Simi Valley, Moorpark, Van Nuys and Burbank are relocating to Palmdale,” says Teresa DeBruyn, broker/owner of the real estate firm Re/MAX in Antelope Valley. “We’re the last bastion of affordable housing.” She jokingly refers to the area’s large number of commuters as “Palmdale’s biggest export.”
The city of Palmdale is trying to interest businesses in other areas to relocate within the vicinity, according to Buffalo. “We’re trying to get people off the freeway by bringing in employment here for them.”
Meanwhile, the commute goes on.
Lifes Styles of the Ecologically Correct
Our hearts might be in the right place, but not our habits. It’s one thing to worry about the environment, and another to change over to a more ecologically minded life style. On Wednesday, a speaker at Cal State Northridge gave some practical advice on how to achieve a better balance between your conscience and your conduct.
“Turn down the heat in your home and wear warmer clothing. If you must use a dishwasher, turn off the drying cycle so that you use less energy,” says Lois Arkin, founder and executive director of Cooperative Resources and Services Project, a Los Angeles-based group devoted to “right livelihood.”
As described by Arkin, right livelihood occurs when a person does meaningful work with joy because it serves the planet and its ecosystems.
Besides the obvious practices like recycling glass, newspaper and plastic, Arkin proposes more ambitious ones. “Get the kids on the block to run a composting business. They could collect people’s food scraps, make new earth and return it to the neighborhood gardens.”
An important seasonal suggestion: “Buy a living Christmas tree that you can plant later on,” she says.
Most of Arkin’s suggestions come from a book called “101 Ways to Live More Ecologically” that is the bible of many environmental groups. You can get a copy by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to 101 Ways, P.O. Box 27731, Los Angeles, 90027.
Van Nuys High Hits the Big 75
“We tried contacting Robert Redford. His agent said he’d tell him about it, but that seemed like a nice way of saying no,” says Esther Kang, treasurer of the student council and senior board at Van Nuys High School.
This year marks the school’s 75th anniversary, and student organizers had hoped that alumnus Redford would serve as grand marshal in their Nov. 17 homecoming parade.
Instead, they got Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who graduated in 1953.
When Reiner attended the school, there was no such thing as a homecoming king--only a queen. This year, an unusually high number of students competed for the titles. “We had 23 girls running for queen and 13 guys running for king,” student Kang reports. “You would think mostly football guys would run for king, but that’s not true this time. A lot of them are just regular kids.”
Overheard . . .
“Well, only two more months left to start fulfilling all those New Year’s resolutions I made last January.”
--Woman waiting in doctor’s office in Tarzana.