By Charly SHELTON

Residents of La Crescenta know Rich Toyon as a community fixture. He has been a Boy Scout troop leader for a decade, is a founder and former president of the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley, president of the Foothills Design Committee, president of V.O.I.C.E. – Volunteers Organized In Conserving the Environment – active on the board of advisors for both the Arroyos and Foothill Conservancy and the Rosemont Preserve, and a local advisor for environmental affairs for the Tongva Tribal Council; and he is on the board of directors for the Haramokngna American Indian Cultural Center. As if that weren’t enough, he is also a production designer on HBO’s “Silicon Valley” and has just been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for the sixth time.

“It’s always nice to be invited to the party,” Toyon said. “I don’t put a lot of stock into awards because you never really know what the reason is that somebody has won or not. I think I put more stock in the nomination because I was recognized amongst many other television shows and production designers for this show.”

Toyon is a production designer, so he’s the one who calls the shots and approves the design of the show.

“A production designer establishes or tells the story visually. So everything that you see on camera at one time or another has crossed the desk of a production designer,” Toyon said. “That’s everything from designing and building sets, selection of locations, all set dressing and all props, a lot of oversight on visual effects, any graphics and signage. Oftentimes there’s inclusion on costuming and then, especially if the film is a period film, they will oversee to make sure everything is historically accurate.”

Toyon has been nominated five previous times for outstanding production design on the first three seasons of “Silicon Valley,” once for NBC’s “Las Vegas” and once for the HBO mini-series, “From the Earth to the Moon,” with one win for “Silicon Valley: Season Two” in 2015. This year he has been nominated for outstanding production design for a narrative program (half hour or less) for Season Four of “Silicon Valley.”

Toyon shares his nomination with his team, art director Jaclyn Hauser and set decorator Jennifer Mueller. And for Toyon, the recognition for his team is the best part of the nomination.

“I’m excited [over] the prospect of winning, but I guess you could say I’m kind of used to it now; I know what to expect,” Toyon said. “So I’m more than anything happy for the team that works with me to be recognized because it’s not just me, it’s my entire team of people. I have a whole team and several departments that work for me. So I’m excited for that.”

With so many residents of the Crescenta Valley involved in the film industry, Toyon acknowledges that he lives among many fantastic cast and crew members and wants to share his respect for them as well.

 “You’d be surprised how many people in the Crescenta Valley work in the industry, and probably there are a lot of other Emmy nominees in the Valley. Again, I think there are a lot of other people who are worth noting as well,” Toyon said.

The 2017 Primetime Emmys will be held on Sept. 17 and air at 5 p.m. on CBS.

  Charly Shelton