Category Archives: Reseda
Writing Reseda: Free fallin’ (and risin’)
In previous installments, I cited scenes from movies about Reseda. Here’s another scene set in Reseda from a book I hope you’ll see soon: Whenever I drove into the heart of Reseda, I felt like I was going into my past. Stores and restaurants had new names and bright coats of paint, but they still …
Writing Reseda: Nowhere is safe
If you saw another movie set in Reseda, Boogie Nights, you have a hard time forgetting that donut shop scene. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t ruin the movie or your appetite by describing it. Let’s say that the violence in it shocked a lot of people, except for me. That’s because I lived in …
Writing Reseda: Hillside versus flatland
Here’s the first thing you should know about the San Fernando Valley: The Valley Girl from the “really good part of Encino” doesn’t represent all of us. In fact, there are parts of the Valley where she’s despised.
Writing Reseda: Introduction
Location, location, location. It’s as critical in writing as it is in real estate. Think about John Steinbeck and Salinas, James Joyce and Dublin, and Henry David Thoreau and Walden Pond. A place can shape and inspire a writer. You can guess which place inspires me. Then again, this place has inspired a lot of …
Junior high school in the 1970s
This coming weekend, members of my class from Sequoia Junior High School in Reseda are having a 40th anniversary reunion. I won’t be able to make it, unfortunately. Instead, I’d like to share some memories of being a junior high school student in the 1970s. Actually, there was never a time in history when it was …
