2-22 10:00am-11:30 am Historic Walking Tour of Van Nuys

Learn about the origin of the Daily News and the company which was a nationwide maker of silent movie theatre organs. Who were Hobart Johnstone Whitley, Wayne E. Bechtelheimer and Whitley Van Nuys Huffaker? Relive "Wednesday Nights on Van Nuys Boulevard." We will have historic photographs and stories to share as we wander this surprisingly historic San Fernando Valley treasure. 

Tour highlights include:

• Van Nuys Bungalow            
• Women’s Club
• Old Van Nuys Library (1927)        
• United Methodist Church
• Municipal Building Façade        
• Van Nuys Post Office
• Abeles Map                
• Fernando Statue, Crystal Plunge
• Bob’s Big Boy, Busch Gardens        
• Lankershim, Van Nuys, Whitsett, Whitley

The development entity known as The Syndicate began the process in 1910, but William Paul Whitsett saw it through to the end. Originally a barley field, Van Nuys became a prosperous center of City Government, agriculture and industry. Come explore what remains to be appreciated: original 1911 buildings hidden beneath modern facades, first churches, a civic center with many special revelations, one of the main hubs of social and official activity, the Women's Club building, Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monuments #201, #202, and #911, and National Register of Historic Places Monument #2509.

Please RSVP and pay in advance with:    

                                     
EVENTBRITE - Search under: Van Nuys Historic Walking Tour  

Cost:        $10 per person 

(Okay to walk-up and pay)

 Also, please visit  www.TheMuseumSFV.org

 
Parking:    Street & metered parking in area  museumsanfernandovalley.blogspot.com

RSVP:     1-818-347-9665, email at TheMuseumSFV@gmail.com

Please consider inviting a family member, colleague or friend.

Attendees will meet at 9:50 am under the "Bridge/Archway" 

Braude Constituent Center

6262 Van Nuys Blvd. 

Van Nuys, CA 91401

(SE corner of  Sylvan Street and Van Nuys Blvd.)

Become a Volunteer -2020 The Museum Associates program

Hello to all valley residents that have an interest in promoting the history, art and culture of this amazing San Fernando Valley.

Please contact us today to set up an appointment. Also, look for our upcoming and ongoing Museum Associate Orientations.

Each Museum Associate receives training, a name badge and can begin with just a two-hour shift (we would like the volunteer to be consistent on days they are available).

BECOME INVOLVED WITH YOUR MUSEUM TODAY!

LEARN A LOT.   HAVE FUN.  MEET INTERESTING PEOPLE.

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH VALLEY RESIDENTS AND VISITORS!

To become involved, please contact: 

Michael Stevens, President

Tel: (818) 347-9665
Cell: (310) 890-9182 
TheMuseumSFV@gmail.com
 

www.TheMusuemSFV.org         museumsanfernandovalley.blogspot.com

The Museum SFV... is YOUR Museum.

Thank you for considering to become involved in The Museum SFV. 

Posted by Michel Stevens

2-15-20 FREE event 2:00 -4:00pm today; The Museum SFV; special speaker event- History of Pacoima; author discussion and book signing

Special Speaker Series Event

The Museum SFV is pleased and appreciative to have Crystal Jackson return with her new book. Please join us today for this special event.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

The Museum of the San Fernando Valley, Northridge

FREE Event

($10.00 suggested donation for adults)

Free parking

 In honor of 2020 Black History Month, The Museum of the San Fernando Valley’s Speaker Series with the Pacoima Historical Society is proud to present:

“The Entrance: Pacoima's Story”

Crystal Jackson, Founder and President of the Pacoima Historical Society, and filmmaker of the 2018 Pan African Film Festival Best Feature Documentary nominee “Pacoima Stories: Land of Dreams”, returns to The Museum SFV to review and discuss her new book "The Entrance: Pacoima's Story". Learn about the Pacoima you never knew and its 1,500 year history.

Author and historian, Crystal Jackson, delivers an authentic and compelling account of one town’s epic journey through American history. Since our nation’s birth, Pacoima has been a microcosm of America’s social development and evolution. From the Mission era and genocide of the area’s natives, into becoming among the country’s first suburban minority communities, Pacoima's diverse cultural history is unlike any other. This amazing new book features hundreds of historic photos from Pacoima's history and more than 600 pages of information about the town.

Crystal was born in Pacoima in the ‘60’s. Her family had moved to the San Fernando Valley in the 1930’s, first North Hollywood, then Pacoima. Crystal graduated Granada Hills High School but went to San Fernando High her last semester to stay close to her Pacoima friends. She majored in Journalism at Cal State Northridge, but it wasn’t until Crystal moved to the Bay area to begin her Pacoima film that she realized the richness of her town’s history.

After the discussion, Crystal will personally sign the books of all in attendance. The books will be sold for $32.00 each with 9.5% sales tax added.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit The Museum of the SFV.

Elevator and ADA access to 2nd floor.

Light refreshments served.

Raffle prizes too!

Please invite a family member, colleague, fellow student too!

The Museum of the San Fernando Valley

SE Corner of Wilbur Ave. and Nordhoff St.

18860 Nordhoff St., Suite 204

Northridge, CA 91324-3885

Posted by Michel Stevens 

Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas dies at age 103

Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch was born on December 9, 1916 and passed away on February 5, 2020). Douglas was an American actor, producer, director, philanthropist and writer.

After an impoverished childhood with immigrant parents and six sisters, he made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck.

Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s, known for serious dramas, including westerns and war films. During his career, he appeared in more than 90 films. Douglas was known for his explosive acting style, which he displayed as a criminal defense attorney in Town Without Pity (1961).

Douglas became an international star through positive reception for his leading role as an unscrupulous boxing hero in Champion (1949), which brought him his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. His other early films include Young Man with a Horn (1950), playing opposite Lauren Bacall and Doris Day, Ace in the Hole opposite Jan Sterling (1951), and Detective Story (1951), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actor in a Drama. He received a second Oscar nomination for his dramatic role in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), opposite Lana Turner, and his third nomination for portraying Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956), which landed him a second Golden Globe nomination.

In 1955, he established Bryna Productions, which began producing films as varied as Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960). In those two films, he collaborated with the then-relatively-unknown director Stanley Kubrick, taking lead roles in both films.




Douglas has been praised for helping to break the Hollywood blacklist by having Dalton Trumbo write Spartacus with an official on-screen credit. He produced and starred in Lonely Are the Brave (1962), considered a classic, and Seven Days in May (1964), opposite Burt Lancaster, with whom he made seven films. 

In 1963, he starred in the Broadway play One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a story that he purchased and later gave to his son Michael Douglas, who turned it into an Oscar-winning film.

As an actor and philanthropist, Douglas received three Academy Award nominations, an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As an author, he wrote ten novels and memoirs. He is No. 17 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema, the highest-ranked living person on the list until his death. 

 
After barely surviving a helicopter crash in 1991 and then suffering a stroke in 1996, he focused on renewing his spiritual and religious life. He lived with his second wife (of 65 years), Anne Buydens, a producer, until his death.

For his centennial birthday in 2016, Douglas was feted by family and friends at a star-studded gathering in Beverly Hills. Among the guests was Steven Spielberg, who told Douglas, “I’ve worked with the best of them, and you’re the only movie star I’ve ever met.”

Douglas spoke briefly, thanking everyone for coming, and he capped the party with a sip of vodka, which his doctor had promised him years before if he made it to 100.

A centenarian, he was one of the last surviving stars of the film industry's Golden Age.