WEST REGROUPS: For years the western San...

WEST REGROUPS: For years the western San Fernando Valley grew four times faster than the rest of the county . . . a spontaneous hodgepodge of cities and county land and independent school and water districts. Now, with the recession providing a breather from growth, local officials are coordinating everything from road and sewer construction to the protection of endangered animals (B1).

FIRST ENTRY: Long before Santa Clarita had housing tracts and a theme park with hair-raising rides, there were the cowboys. They rode, roped and wrangled. But they also rhymed. So, Santa Clarita decided to spotlight the history before Magic Mountain by planning a three-day festival in March to celebrate cowboy music and poetry (B14).

WORK ETHIC: While other kids are in the malls, on the beach or just hanging out, these teen-agers are being initiated in the world of work: following the boss’s rules. As teen summer jobs go, Magic Mountain’s are tops. Along with cooking and cleaning, young workers, like Cameron Brenner, 20, create their own world, with, inevitably, its own social hierarchy (B1). . . . Ride operators, for example, figure they’re much cooler than food handlers.

ROMANCE LIVES: They say that romance only lives in the movies. Mark Snyder proved it to be true. It was at a movie theater that Snyder popped the big question. But his girlfriend, Emma Christine Dryden, thought that her boyfriend had finally flipped his lid . . . until she realized that there was a method to his madness (B5).

THRIFTY SCOUTS: The Boy Scouts always try to be prepared. But their recent effort to get ahead in the real estate game hit a snag that even the Scouts could not untangle. . . . The Scouts took desperate measures to fend off foreclosure of their Sherman Oaks headquarters. If things don’t work out, the Scouts may have to pitch a tent and rough it (D1).