People stand in line at a polio immunization station Columbus, Ga., in 1961. Photo source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Councilman Tony Cardenas is sponsoring and organizing his annual Community Health and Safety Fair on October 24th at the beautiful Japanese Garden at 6100 Woodley Ave, Van Nuys. The outdoor park has 6.5 acres of strolling paths . Cardenas’ office is bringing together dozens of organizations including city, county, and state departments to provide free flu shots and health screenings. Vaccinations will be made available while supplies last. In addition, free HN1 (Swine Flu) vaccinations will be on hand if county officials have them available at that time.
With more than 200,000 people hospitalized annually due to flu complications and with rising concerns of HN1 (Swine Flu), Cardenas is urging seniors, the most vulnerable to the virus, to get vaccinated early. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 36,000 individuals die from the flu each year in the United States.
Over 500 seniors, veterans and children are being bussed to the event by Cardenas. Vaccinations will be provided by the Los Angeles County Public Health Department and many health care organizations will provide free information and health screenings including Diabetes and bone density tests. Veterans will also receive information on how their health benefits can be more accessible.
Taiko drummers, an authentic Japanese tea house, and decorative booths will be the backdrop to the event. Free prizes will be raffled. The whole event is at no cost and lunch will be provided while supplies last. For more information call Cardenas’ office at 818-778-4999.
Photography by Colin Donahue
VMAN has a pictorial spread of young Angelenos, creative types, who spout out some very observant and trenchant things about Los Angeles:
“Don’t let the sunshine and laid back attitudes fool you, this is a city that rewards toughness. Los Angeles is a massive convergence of international people. Exceptionally strong communities of Latin Americans, Koreans, Thai, Armenians, Persians, and Vietnamese have arrived and changed this city. They thrive here because they are tough, full of courage, and believe in the possibilites of Los Angeles.”-Matt Luem, 34, Director
“My defense against the stereotype of Los Angeles is having a library. A lot of people here have “weekend reading” but they don’t read anything but scripts. Also, the Los Angeles river is made of concrete and doesn’t have any water in it and Hollywood didn’t even have a decent movie theater until three years ago! Despite its reputation, L.A. has a vibrant arts scene with seven levels of hipster. The only way to flourish in Los Angeles is to embrace the irony. And grow a vegetable garden!”- Dan Harris, 30, Writer/Director
“Living here you’re forced to confront these polar realities and surrealities in the same breath that aren’t completely cohesive. It’s a brilliant clash living here—every day you’re faced with both the extreme pain and beauty of living in this west-coast version of western culture. I love that tension. You hear the term “concrete jungle” which sounds like a gross developed grid work but if if you can shift your perspective—there’s tons and tons of diversity and a million species of everything here if you know where to look. It’s a city for explorers—there’s a strange kooky expansive side of L.A. If you let go and wander for a bit you can suddenly yourself in the Hills overlooking the entire city in any one of the many most amazing spots that are definitely outside of any tourist books’ jurisdiction.”-Rodney Hills, 45, Gallerist
‘Los Angeles and the West were based upon the notion of possibility and reinvention and I am attracted to the idea that California is so forgiving. My favorite nights are spent alone atop of Mount Pinos photographing the stars and making abstractions from celestial light. It is a powerful and frightening place at 8000 feet, but it really feels worlds away from the buzz of the city.”-Jed Lind, 31, Artist
Only a few days ago, it looked like Councilman Tony Cardenas thought it a grand idea to demolish a historic piece of Van Nuys history.
Now, happily, the Councilman has more kind thoughts about the 1939 Fire Station No. 39:
“The building is beautiful and we will make sure it is preserved,” Cardenas said. “But it’s not just the station there that’s too small, it’s the streets and the surrounding area.”
More quotes from local residents and notables can be found here.
To quote the late photographer Richard Nickel, who documented the destruction of Chicago’s most historic buildings in the 1960’s:
“In a city of slums, why would you demolish its best buildings?”
Saticoy School Evacuation: 1958
From the USC Digital Archives:
“Photographer: Glickman. Date: 1958-03-26. Assignment: Saticoy School evacuation plan, 7850 Ethel Avenue, Van Nuys. G119-20: Children evacuate class rooms in predetermined plan for disaster”.
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I took a bicycle and a camera over to the neighborhood where baby Andrew Garcia was murdered in his mother’s arms this past weekend.
There were cops parked in front of a frame house and a satellite truck crew from Univision hanging around. A helicopter had just circled the area, and women and children were walking home or back from school or errands.
A curbside shrine with balloons and burning religious candles marked the spot of the atrocity.
I expected some sort of a “slum” with garbage, graffiti, loud music, prostitutes and thugs. But what I found here was a decent place, of fairly well kept apartments, bordering an old and diligently tended street of small pre-war homes with green lawns, picket fences, front porches and flowers.
Maybe it was my projection, but parents seemed to guard their children more closely, and there was an air of mourning on the block, written on the faces of the living.
We want, so fervently, to believe that whomever died, was somehow the victim of gangs or bad parents, because this frees us from the moral responsibility of correcting or helping to change the ghastly culture of gun violence which makes urban life in America uniquely barbaric. No knife or rope could have shattered through the windshield glass and robbed a four-month old infant of 85 or 90 years of life.
All the official, educational and religious cornerstones of what we believe make up a civic and moral neighborhood are present in this district. Up the street are several churches, and a bible bookstore. The LAPD, the Municipal Building, the Superior Court, the Library are just blocks away.
Just yesterday, some of us observed a Day of Atonement, and accounted for our sins. Today, I came and recorded, on camera and in my heart, and later wrote about, the ultimate sin.
This is a photo of a street in Belgium.
Here is an example of how some planners, chiefly in Europe, have integrated cars, pedestrians and bicycles into a well designed transportation system.
Transpose this scene into some area of the San Fernando Valley. Think about how very different life would be without eight lane roadways and speeding SUVs coming at us 60 MPH.
Imagine life with no overhead power lines, no billboards, ample room for pedestrians, little pocket parks, and walkable streets.
Why is this type of not-so-ambitious green and humble design so hard to bring to Southern California?
Back in 2006, I happened upon this collection of empty offices on the western perimeter of Van Nuys Airport.
They were built in the functional style of post-WW II buildings, with little ornament, and a severity that must have appealed to those brillantined men in starched shirts who returned from the service and went into the workplace to feed their growing families.
The other day, I was driving up to Home Depot, at Roscoe and Balboa, and passed this area.
All the buildings have been demolished.
