When people ask me what part of Los Angeles I live in and I tell them Burbank, they give me a confused stare. You work there? they want to know. Well, yes, but I’m a writer, so I can work from anywhere. I live in Burbank because I like it. Heck, I love it. It is a small town inside of a big town, a city in the San Fernando Valley that’s right on the other side of the mountain range that divides Los Angeles from the Valley. I live in Magnolia Park, a tree-lined neighborhood. Disney is down the street, its campus surrounded by a metal fence with Mickey Mouse heads where a spike would be.
But this newsletter is about something bigger than Burbank. It’s about Los Angeles, and the San Fernando Valley, and what it’s like to be a writer in the epicenter of the universe. It’s about Hollywood, and the Valley’s indigenous business, and the most extraordinary experiences. Sometimes I imagine a California Civil War will erupt. Northern California will cut off Southern California’s internet, and in retaliation, Southern California will stop sending Northern California oranges. The Northern California Army will patrol the mid-state border in armored Teslas, and the Southern Califorina Marines will train Hollywood agents as sharpshooters. Here’s the thing—and why I love Los Angeles. In America’s dream factory, the dream is yours.
Why a newsletter? Once upon a time, a long, long time ago on the internet, I started a blog. I launched that blog on Salon because I had a leg injury and couldn’t march off to do my usual reporting in the trenches. That blog ended up being a success. But those were different days, when blogs were The Wild Wild West. Now your inbox is the new intimacy, and you and I will be reconnecting in this place we call Valleywood.
Subscribe to Valleywood here. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram. Read my blog.