Allen Played Starring Role in Valley Life

As a boy, Steve Allen visited the San Fernando Valley and was captivated by “the sweet smell of the citrus,” said his son Bill Allen, recalling a time when orange groves dotted the Valley landscape.

When the legendary entertainer, who died suddenly Monday evening, decided to switch coasts, moving from New York to Southern California, he knew where he wanted to put down roots.

In the late 1950s, Steve Allen selected a sprawling ranch-style home in the hills above Encino--a site that remains the family home to this day.

Like entertainment icon Bob Hope, Allen was a fixture in the Valley for decades, serving two stints as honorary mayor of Encino, once in the 1960s and again the late ‘80s. And he frequently served as the headliner at local events.

He served twice as emcee of the annual gala sponsored by the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley--an organization headed by his son until earlier this year.

When the fledgling alliance was looking for office space in 1997, it found it in a Burbank Boulevard building in Van Nuys owned by Steve Allen’s company, Meadowlane, since 1969.

Bruce Ackerman, the current president of the alliance, noted that for this year’s gala, Steve Allen suggested that he might perform “a few numbers” with his band, but in fact spent nearly the entire evening on stage.

“They had to drag him off to eat,” said Ackerman, who took over the post from Bill Allen in January. “So we had an incredible performance by a legendary entertainer.”

Bill Allen said his father “probably performed for every charitable organization in this Valley. There were probably more than a hundred events in my lifetime.”

Judy Kessler Block, chief executive of the Encino Chamber of Commerce, said that last year, Steve Allen served as keynote speaker for the group’s annual lunch honoring the teacher of the year.

“When we called upon him, if his schedule permitted he would accommodate us,” said Kessler Block.

“They were Valley people,” she said of Allen and his wife, Jayne Meadows, who served with Allen as honorary mayor. “I don’t think it ever crossed their minds to move over the hill.”