Star-Studded Gala Gives Valley Chance to Blow Its Horn

Billed as the “Valley of the Stars,” on Saturday night the San Fernando Valley certainly was.

Some 500 leaders from the five cities of the Valley gathered at Disney Studios for a black-tie gala honoring the area’s “finest in the fields of business, education and the arts”: singing cowboy Gene Autry, former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden and businessman Bert Boeckmann.

Sponsored by the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, the event also provided a chance for the Valley to tout its economic might and commercial influence--and to call for more of both.

“It’s about time people knew who we are,” Alliance President Bill Allen told the audience. “It’s about time people know what the Valley can do for their business prospects.”

Offering a variation on the phrase made famous in the movie “Field of Dreams,” Allen added: “If you market it, they will come.”

Saturday’s event, held beneath oak and elm trees on a grassy area at the intersection of Mickey Avenue and Dopey Drive, was billed as the first time in the 200 years the area has been known as the San Fernando Valley that leaders from all five Valley cities--Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale, San Fernando and Calabasas--gathered to honor their own.

Comedian Steve Allen was emcee for the evening, at the request of his son, Bill.

“It’s more than a pleasure,” the elder Allen deadpanned. “It’s a family obligation.”

Steve Allen said his son, quite aware of his father’s penchant for satirizing serious subjects, had given him a list of topics he could not discuss.

“I am to avoid the Metropolitan Transportation Authority at all costs. My lips are sealed,” he said. Allen added that “no mention of Valley secession would be made, for or against,” and the same would go for charter reform and the proposed expansion of nearby Burbank Airport.

“We’re here to celebrate what we agree on,” Allen said, referring to the merits of the Valley and the evening’s honorees.

Topping the list of honorees was former Angel owner and Studio City resident Autry, pioneer of film, TV and records, and the original and perhaps most famous singing cowboy. He was not present at the ceremony.

Also honored was Wooden, the legendary former UCLA basketball coach who won seven consecutive national championships and was the first man ever elected twice to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Longtime businessman Boeckmann, owner of Galpin Ford, the nation’s No. 1 auto dealership, was feted, as were the 1998 Academic Decathlon champions from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills and the Emmy Award-winning Glendale Symphony Orchestra, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary season.

The event also served as a debut of sorts for a new marketing campaign aimed at highlighting the Valley’s contribution to the entertainment industry and other fields.

In the campaign, which includes the prominent display of banners sporting a new Valley of the Stars logo, backers hope to draw new business and increased tourism to the region.

“We’re creating a brand new identity for the region,” Bill Allen said. “We’re trying to put the Valley on the national, and eventually world, map.”

The Alliance, a nonprofit, public-private partnership of business, education and government, was formed after the 1994 Northridge earthquake to help the region regain its financial footing.

Given the growing importance of the entertainment industry to the Valley and the “international fascination with celebrities,” the Alliance settled on a theme designed to spotlight the stars north of Hollywood and Vine, Bill Allen said. And “stars” includes A-list achievers in a host of fields, from biotech to automotive.

Said Allen, who worked for years in the entertainment industry: “This will be an annual event to celebrate great achievements from across our Valley.”

Staff writer Steve Padilla contributed to this story.