On a Sunday morning along Victory, east of Kester, the wide street is mostly empty.
It is also empty on Van Nuys Boulevard.
And the only person on Friar Street pushes a shopping cart with her belongings.
Under the dull fog, Van Nuys might be sleeping late.
Sleeping off Cervezas.
Many work on Sundays, but some do not.
Here are sidewalks without trees or humans.
Cars speed past the ghosts of late The Modern Era.
Where medical doctors practiced the most advanced medicine in 1960.
Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson were the Presidents.
And confident young builders hired talent young architects and erected thin paneled office buildings along thriving and newly widened Victory Boulevard.
Men worked at jobs back then. They wore suits.
Women smoked and wore high heels and lipstick and gloves and called themselves ladies.
And kids got in trouble, riding skateboards on the sidewalk or chewing gum in class.
It was a troubled time when blacks were called negroes.
And men were sent off to fight war in Vietnam.
But Van Nuys was still fine, still humming along: safe, secure and industrious.
We live in a rich nation. But all around us, people sleep on benches, and push their belongings in shopping carts.
People sleep on the sidewalk in front of the Chase Bank which has assets of $2.6 trillion and is the largest bank in the United States.
They are sleeping under the arches of the Marvin Braude Center, seat of the government of the City of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley.
Here in Van Nuys 
Well, Andy, I guess I knew-eventually-you would get to “Bargain Books”…right there on Friar St. and next door to the Elks Club-one of the last of the venerable [“do gooder”] clubs left in the San Fernando Valley. The brother and sister who (apparently) inherited that place from their parents decades ago have been in there for at least 40-50 years+. It was thanks to them I became inspired to collect books (wish I could take that one back) and ended up with over 400 or so dating back some 2-300 years…I know, insane. But they started it all for me. The Elks Club was once a fine establishment with some of the cream of the Valley belonging to it-‘shakers and movers’/business owners trying to make a living and also make a difference in/by helping others. That parking structure across the street from them seems to be far more representative of the area now. in fact, it is a dark and almost foreboding space that covers most of the block allowing only a minimal few [paid] parking spots out in front. But once upon a time…thanks for sharing the shots and thoughts…
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oh, p.s. to find most of those “missing links” just drive over to the Balboa Lake on Saturdays and Sundays and see the rest of the ZOO…I mean city roost therein and dump the same trash they cover Van Nuys in during the week…same pigs, different day!
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