Tributes Tell Why Valley Is Home

Couched as it was with reminders of the earthquake, the wildfires and the sagging economy, our question to readers was simple: Why do you stay in the San Fernando Valley?

In dozens of poems, essays and even a limerick, written on manual typewriters, computers or scrawled on note cards, you responded, defiantly defending your neighborhood, your strip mall, your Valley.

For some, it is the memories that keep you here: of orange groves, farmlands or the deer that once roamed the Valley floor. For others, it is as simple as the convenience of nearby malls or the endlessly sunny days. Others point to something less tangible, a collective spirit that rises in the face of each new disaster.

But we asked for your words, so we’ll let you explain. Here are some of our favorite remarks, illustrated with photographs by Brian Vander Brug about why there’s no place quite like the Valley to call home.

Those Who Love L.A. Can Just Stay Away

Working in West Los Angeles is enough for me--although I wouldn’t mind Scottie beaming up Beverly Center and Orso’s Restaurant to Tarzana. The Valley lacks nothing except for the crime and riots I read about almost daily. So to everyone that thinks Los Angeles is still the mecca: Stay there, we don’t need the extra weight.

SHERRY WARREN

Tarzana