Odds & Ends Around the Valley

Getting the Picture

The work of some young north San Fernando Valley artists will be exhibited at Van Nuys City Hall on Monday through April 17.

Lots of schools use the space to show their students’ work. But for John Gallarza, this exhibit--called Pacoima Pride--is a way of reinventing his neighborhood.

Gallarza is a Latino who grew up in the area, went on to college and is now manager of the Pacoima branch of TransWorld Bank.

“My experience with my customers, many of whom are Latino, is that they are hard-working, diligent, family-oriented people,” he said.

Though gang violence and vandalism are a Pacoima reality, he said, they are not the whole story. Gallarza devised this elementary school art show to demonstrate his point.

Youngsters from Haddon Avenue and Mary Immaculate schools in Pacoima were asked to create their idea of what Pacoima is now and what it could be in the year 2000.

Among the work of more than 500 youngsters, there were no pictures of gang wars or gang-related activities. Instead, using crayons, paint, chalk, collage, and pen and ink, the children portrayed wildly imaginative things such as space stations and even a Los Angeles Raiders stadium, said Nancy Oda and Mary Arvey, principals at Haddon Avenue and Mary Immaculate, respectively.

There were thoughtful and poignant works as well.

Oda said one child--using a simple metaphor--drew two brick walls, one with graffiti, representing today, and another without graffiti, representing his hopes for the future.

For Oda, the contest’s highlight was a catered reception at the bank for the winners, so that their relatives could see the children’s work before it was shipped off to City Hall.

“Everyone was so dressed up and excited it looked like a cotillion,” Oda said.

The bank gave savings bonds and other prizes to the winners, and all children who entered the contest got a certificate of appreciation.

For Gallarza, the bank reception was memorable because teachers and administrators, nuns and priests from the participating schools made it a point to attend. “In how many neighborhoods would the school people, with their busy schedules, go out of their way to help their students celebrate an award?” she said.

St. Warren Beatty

One day a year, we celebrate St. Patrick by giving new meaning to the slogan think green.

We may wear green to the office; we may drink green beer and mai tais. And many one-day-a-year Irish have also been known to eat green on March 17.

No one seems to know where the idea of colorizing food and drink on this occasion got started, but for a while, in the ‘80s, there were restaurants that offered green on a lot of things that didn’t come from the salad bar.

Some restaurant folk think that the situation went beyond the tasteful, which is why there will be nothing green on the sashimi at Studio City’s Teru Sushi.

No green fettuccine sauce at Gaetano’s in Calabasas or in the couscous at Marrakesh in Studio City, although that would certainly be something to chew over.

In fact, some new Cambodian, Peruvian and Thai restaurateurs had never heard of green food, drink or even St. Patrick.

When one of them was asked if he was familiar with the “wearin’ of the green,” he said, no, but that he had heard of Warren Beatty.

Each politely asked to be briefed on the holiday and how it is celebrated.

About two minutes into the fast-forward version of driving the snakes out of Ireland, one Thai restaurateur in Van Nuys sighed.

“So many things to learn, not just language, when you come to America, some very strange,” he said. “It’s very hard.”

Architectural R or R

It was bad when they tore down all those gracious, ersatz Greek Revival buildings that used to be Canoga Park High School and put up what looks like the corporate headquarters of Taco Bell.

Other landmarks have been bulldozed to make way for a uniform, adobe-and-whatever look throughout the San Fernando Valley, which could be called, for lack of better description, Montezuma’s Real Revenge.

Now the word is that the Burbank school district has to decide whether to raze or renovate the circa-1920 Burbank High School library building, the only structure left of the original Burbank High.

The tear-down advocates say they can’t bring the building up to earthquake standards without spending a lot of money, which is what they said about the old buildings at Canoga Park.

But not so fast, guys; the Burbank Historical Society is on the case, asking for a meeting with Board of Education President William Abbey.

Historical Society founder and member Mary Jan Strickland is ready to do battle. She says too many significant buildings have “disappeared from right under our noses.”

Nice to know somebody cares.

Recession Madness

Caroline Elliott, an artist and graphics designer who lives in Westlake and Lake Arrowhead, said the only thrill she has gotten out of the recession was during a recent ($250 for four people) business dinner at a too-too- haute Beverly Hills restaurant.

“For years I’ve been going to that restaurant, and for years no one knew my name, much less seemed happy to see me. It’s amazing what a taste of financial discomfort can do,” Elliott said.

“The owner greeted me as though I were his long-lost high school sweetheart and the waiter was so friendly I was sure he’d mistaken my husband for Kevin Costner,” she said.

But the funniest part of the evening came at the end, she said, when the restaurant not only wrapped up everyone’s leftovers, but threw in some rolls and butter for each person to take home as well.

Overheard

“It’s OK for him to be out of town when the kids are in soccer games, piano recitals and graduating from nursery school, but if I miss a Little League board meeting, he’s ready to turn me in to the motherhood police.”

--Woman discussing her husband’s attitude with a friend in a checkout line at Gelson’s in Encino