June 9, 1999 Wednesday

9:00 a.m. LA time
The four of us head west on the 210 for Pacoima and the Van Nuys Blvd to Pierce Street. By 10:00 we were parking near the entrance to Pacoima Elementary School. It was remarkable how familiar some places were yet how skewed my memory of distance is! The school, the Projects, the airport, the market, Hansen Dam, the railroad tracks, and the orange factory...all an easy 15-30 minute walk from point A to point B. Yet they seemed so large and spread-out in my memory. Something noteworthy to add here; my childhood memories of the life in Pacoima persist even though on revisiting the area as an adult, I have made new memories that don't support my childhood memories.
From Pacoima we traveled south to Van Nuys, down Balboa Ave. We easily found Ronnie's school, Stagg Street School just off Stagg Street, but it wasn't until our return trip to Balboa that we spotted Birmingham Trailer Court, our first LA home in the San Fernando Valley area to the north.
Both areas were well kept and landscaped with Pacoima being the most secured...we were questioned as to who we were and why we were taking pictures.

We left the valley and stopped for lunch at Panda Express, ate outdoors, and returned to Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Mulholland Drive. In Hollywood we walked "The Walk of Stars" found LA's oldest bookstore, drove through Beverly Hills for more sights and returned to the campground for grilled burgers.