When I was a child there was a strip mall at the corner of Westwood Blvd and Pico Blvd in West LA which was a unique thing in the 60’s and 70’s. That strip mall was where my family spent a lot of time – we bought groceries at Vons, shopped at May Co, ate at Manning’s Cafeteria, and went to the Newberry’s, Sav On, small clothing store and bookstore. We saw movies at the glorious Pickwood Theater. There was a Blue Chip Stamps Redemption Center (google it). Our family optometrist was in that mall. When Dr. Feigenbaum told us that the strip mall would be torn down to make an indoor mall, we were so excited when he said it would include a Nordstrom.
Here is the wonderful "LA in a minute" to give a history of the Westside Pavilion
Westside Pavilion was great – lots of shopping and good restaurants to choose from. But like most malls it eventually began to die. The stores and restaurants closed and there was no longer any reason to go.
It was going to become offices like the Sherman Oaks Galleria, but that didn’t happen. Now UCLA is buying it. And then I guess we will see what happens after that. But that place is not where I spent part of my childhood. It is a different place and has been for quite a while.
I realized recently that I was an extremely sentimental person. I say “was” because this realization included the understanding that being sentimental is not necessarily a good thing. I hung on to relationships based on memories of past interactions rather than face a reality that the person was toxic. I became emotional about places and things that no longer exist. I have come to understand that I considered those past places, etc. to be more a part of my identity than what I do and who I am in the present. That’s not good and it is not healthy.
I look around and I see people, especially in Burbank, become very emotional in a negative way about change. If there is one thing I have learned, one fact that I share, it is this:
Everything changes, nothing stays the same.
By putting more value on what was rather than on what is and will be, we choose to fail. We fail ourselves; we fail our city; we fail our children and grandchildren and those who will follow.
Yes, buildings are being torn down. Restaurants close, businesses move, priorities and habits change. There are those who think that clinging to those past priorities and habits are a good thing. It is not, it is being sentimental and it ignores the fact that everything changes. When we lose the ability to adapt or even the willingness to adapt, we lose any chance of helping to shape a future of Burbank that is as good as it can be. These emotional pleas to block change are the most destructive action one can take regarding the future of Burbank. Because what they are trying to do is completely prevent a vital and complex conversation about envisioning a 21st Century Burbank from taking place.
So many have the point of view of “I got mine, I don’t care about others. I grew up and lived in the best possible world and will block progress to keep an illusion that this world is still here when in reality no longer exists. And I do this based on my sentimental stubbornness.”
We hear this type of thinking over and over in Burbank in response to many issues we are facing today. The fact is, we are facing so many critical issues now because those who had power and control chose to ignore these issues for decades. They were not concerned about the future, only about preserving the past. As a result, we are now paying a steep price in many ways and on many levels.
Having a younger City Council has helped push our local government into finally listening to concerns about issues that were long ignored, issues that are now exploding into view. This is not ageism; as someone in her 60’s, I want to hear from people in their 30’s and 40’s about the challenges they face living in Burbank. They are aware of technology and its complicated effects; they understand how lifestyles are changing; and they embrace change as the change they advocate is a result of their goals and vision of the future. Their definition of “quality of life”, something that City Council lists as a goal to preserve, needs to be part of this important discussion. Because they are the future of Burbank.
I recently told a friend that legacies are overrated.
People think a legacy is something you do that is remembered by the generations after you and that it is the closest they can get to immortality. “I want to leave a legacy!” they exclaim.
Here is one reason why I say legacies are overrated. Out of all the companies I have worked for in my life, all the employers I have had, 95% of them no longer exist. They went out of business or were absorbed by another company. Everything that had been created was gone.
How many people under the age of 60 have heard of Carter Hawley Hale? It was the largest retailer on the West Coast and the 6th largest in the country. But that was back in the 70’s and 80’s. By 1991, it was bankrupt and gone – “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.” Why be maudlin about a mismanaged conglomerate? Because thousands of people devoted themselves for decades to its success. I was one of them. Until I realized that this was a company that was not going to survive. It was clear to me, a lowly Intimate Apparel manager in her 20’s. But not to those who ran the company. Because I was focused on the future and they were not, they were focused on profits and stock prices and how much they made. Another example of “I’ve got mine”. And they did not see what was in front of them until it was too late.
So, Dear Burbank, it’s time to stop demanding that we have a Burbank like how it used to be, like how it was when you were a kid. It’s time to “put away childish things and leave behind the ways of childhood”. The places from my childhood, and from most people’s childhoods, are gone.
Adults accept responsibility and it’s time we as a city accept ours. Look around and see what we actually need to remain a healthy, vibrant, and wonderful place to live. The answers to all that are not in the past, they are in the present and future.
One last thing – I hear people say “back in the 1970’s I was able to do THIS and so the young people today need to do the same thing”.
So … when you were young in the 1970’s and people from the 1920’s and 1930’s talked about what they did when they were young, was that the same thing that you wanted to do and did?
Have a safe, joyous and wonderful 2024.
12/29/23