Oh, to be bored

I ask you, my fellow adults: When was the last time you were bored? I cannot for the life of me remember the last time I looked around thinking that I had nothing to do, that there was nothing for me to do. I don’t know if it comes with home ownership, having a spouse […]

The Marketplace

It wasn’t so long ago that the Marketplace Shopping Center at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Rosemont Avenue was host to a very different set of retail establishments than what exist today. There was no Verizon Store, no Starbucks, no Baja Fresh, and no Togo’s. The corner where O’Reilly Auto Parts and Foster’s Donuts […]

Who’s Watching the Developers in La Crescenta?

A little over six months ago, the community was surprised when bulldozers showed up on Foothill Boulevard just west of Rosemont Avenue at a site locally known as the “Plumb Crazy lot” because of a plumbing business that had been located there. Surprise turned to shock when it was discovered that plans for a massive […]

What is the norm?

Raising children we’ve all heard it: “But everyone is allowed to do it.” The infamous words our children fling at us to get us to let them do something that we instinctively know we shouldn’t permit. The plea, however, begs the questions: “Is everyone allowed to do it?” and “What is the norm?” Last Saturday […]

From Here to There and Back

Because Utah, Idaho and Montana have real winter weather, unlike the balmy, equatorial-like conditions we often have in Southern California during our “winter” months, I did not want my University of Montana student son to drive back to school from Christmas break (uh-oh, politically incorrect term alert!) by himself. Experienced driver that he may be, […]

Dining at Frank’s

Let’s face it – the Crescenta Valley has some terrific places to eat. Whether one is in the mood for barbecue, Italian, Mexican, traditional American, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese – it can pretty much be found in the foothills. But I had the pleasure of dining somewhere off the beaten path – at the former home […]

Sidewalk Silliness

I ’ve lived in the Crescenta Valley long enough (nearly my entire life, actually) to know that some of our often-heard local expressions have their origins in reality. For example, if you want it to rain, wash your car. I’ve lost count of how many winter or spring seasons I’ve carefully considered the weeks of […]

What’s New at Deukmejian Park?

Deukmejian Wilderness Park reopened last week with an amazing array of improvements. The park had been closed, prudently I feel, during our recent storms as Dunsmore Canyon that runs up the center of the park is, to put it mildly, geologically active and has the potential to get very slippery, very quick. Here’s a sampling […]

Turning the page(s) on the holidays

Had enough of gift catalogs yet? Does your kitchen table sag under the weight of them? Does your mail carrier glare malevolently at your house as he crams another 86 pounds of glossy, full-color catalogs into your mailbox? Mine does. In fact, I refuse to be anywhere near our mailbox when he arrives – there’s […]

La Crescenta’s contribution to the history of radical politics

We just went through a very divisive national election. But historically, we here in the Crescenta Valley are no strangers to divisive politics of national impact. As a matter of fact, our little community hosted one of the initial battles of Cold War domestic politics in the form of a minor face-off between members of […]