The Most Infamous Graveyard of All – Verdugo Hills Cemetery This is the story of Verdugo Hills Cemetery, sometimes called Hills of Peace Cemetery, in Tujunga. Like many old cemeteries, it was abandoned by its owners when it could no longer turn a profit. Verdugo Hills Cemetery gained local infamy because of several ghastly crypt […]
The Final Step to Protect the Rim of the Valley This month, the more than a decade-long effort to expand the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) has taken a critical step forward. Shortly after I was elected to Congress in 2000, community members approached me about the need to preserve the vanishing open […]
Onondarka Ranch Becomes the Community of Oakmont Woods In my last two columns, we’ve followed the evolution of Onondarka Ranch – from a wild canyon tamed by one of the first Americans to settle here in 1875, through its “cowboy” years as a horse ranch in the 1930s and ’40s, and right up to its […]
Increases in Energy Storage will Help Achieve Greenhouse Gas Emissions Goals California has become known for leading the nation time and time again across industries through innovative legislation. I have prided myself on introducing legislation that continues this great tradition and allows our state to continue to serve as an example for the rest of […]
Onondarka’s Golden Years – Horses and Rodeos Homer Baldridge, now “Colonel” Baldridge, had built himself a fine ranch in the Crescenta Valley. For a couple of decades, the teens and ’20s, the former livery stable owner oversaw his Englehardt Canyon acreage (now the Oakmont Woods neighborhood) as a gentleman farmer, cultivating vast orchards and vineyards. […]
Community commitment and striving for the best make our community a wonderful and unique place to live. Though election week may have us focused on just a few big names, the people who make some of the biggest changes in our neighborhood are you! Our local residents, our volunteer activists, committee chairs, and neighborhood groups […]
‘Problem’ is Full of Hot Air Once again our legislators rush in to solve a “problem” without taking the time to think. The Mylar balloon issue is so huge that they have to ban them from use. Come on folks, the problem is the balloons float up in to the power wires and short circuit […]
Onondarka’s Beginnings The name “Onondarka” harks back to a relatively brief period, less than 40 years in the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s when one of the green canyons of the Verdugo Mountains sheltered a beautiful orchard and equestrian paradise called Onondarka Ranch. That ranch today has been subdivided and built upon and is today named […]
Referendum – The Utility Users Tax The only reason that Measure N is on the ballot is because this [Glendale City Council] and previous councils have approved and given outrageous salaries and outrageous retirement pension benefits year after year after year to CALPERS union city employees. The repeal of the Utility Users Tax is […]
Info on Former Mix Property and Voting The 28-unit condominium project at 2612 Honolulu Ave., the former Mix property, was approved by the Glendale Design Review Board at its May 26 meeting. The developer, Art Simonian, met with the local Montrose/Verdugo City/Sparr Heights Neighborhood Association, CVCA and residents on Sycamore Street over the past year […]