An Historic Evening in Old California

Hundreds gathered Sunday as the Museum of the San Fernando Valley screened Narrating Lives: Oral Histories of the San Fernando Valley.

Among those featured in the video recalling their early lives in the San Fernando Valley were activist-Realtor Pauline Tallent, Valley activist-businessman Guy Weddington McCreary, cowboy-entertainer Montie Montana Jr. and country and western music historian Porky Johnson.

And enjoying a light Mexican/Thai/Korean international dinner before the video were architects Dion Neutra and Eric Lloyd Wright, son and grandson of architects Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright respectively.

According to the organizers, the "oral history interviews are concentrating on people who reside or who have lived and worked in the northern regions of the Valley, with a special emphasis on artists and those who have been part of the entertainment arts."

The event was held at Elisabeth Waldo's Rancho Cordillera del Norte, an eight-acre slice of Old California at the southwest corner of Wilbur Avenue and Nordhoff Street in Northridge. 

Sponsors included the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Northridge South Neighborhood Council and Councilman Mitch Englander.