GIGA GRANADA HILLS

This Southwestern style house in Old Granada Hills is one of the oldest houses in town, but it's only on its second owner. It's a great example of a remodel that works with the existing architecture instead of against it -- unlike the Eichlers I've seen with doric columns strapped to the front. The current owner told me that this house (an earlier incarnation is pictured at left) was built in 1927, and is one of the 19 of the oldest houses in Granada Hills. She shared some knowledge, gleaned from neighbors, of the home's previous owner. "Her husband was a Mason, and he died, so the Masons got together and each donated a hundred dollars to her. So she had $500 that she used for the down payment on this house, and she raised her two kids here." The house was tiny by modern standards, so the current owner added on what is now the kitchen and an additional bedroom. The kitchen has a vintage stove and wormwood cabinets made in Mexico, which contributes to t...

If you're up to your ears in tomatoes but sure would love a few more figs, register to arrange a swap at VeggieTrader.com . Veggie Trader has a database that you can search by zip code of people who would like to swap, trade, sell, or offer for free their over-bountiful harvests of fruits, vegetables, nuts and herbs. I entered a search for "within 10 miles of 91344" and found some folks in Encino looking to trade oranges for tomatoes and cucumbers, and someone in Woodland Hills who had grapefruit on offer. Veggie Trader's registration process is a lot more security-conscious than one would expect -- I mean, they're just vegetables -- but the site is well-designed, attractive and easy to use. I'm posting this here in the hope that more Granada Hills residents -- especially those who have persimmons -- will register for this relatively new site. A couple of months from now I'm going to have more greenskin avocados than I know what to do with, and I'll ...

Friends Of The Granada Hills Library President Mary Slotnick And Grandaughter Molly Last week I was wandering into the library, hoping to get an interview with a librarian, but before I even got inside, I ran into the vivacious Mary Slotnick, President of Friends Of The Granada Hills Library , and her granddaughter Molly. So you're the head honcho? Head Honcho! And Molly's visiting from Colorado. Here's my card with my name and address. So you're a friend of the Granada Hills Library but you live in Northridge? Yes. What's wrong with the Northridge Library? When you begin to join groups, it's a friend who pulls you in, and a friend lived here and pulled me in here. And then you circle and meet friends and it's a bonding and a connection. A lot of people do that with different organizations they belong to. So there's a social component as well as a volunteering component. Oh, definitely. So what do the Friends of the Granada Hills Library do? We are...

This morning at Albertson's, the store I always seem to wind up at even after I swear I'll never set foot in there again, I learned something that made me cringe. One of the familiar checkers whom I see every time I shop there handed me a pen to sign my credit card slip. It was a Uni-Ball Micro, the pen that got me through college. It stood out to me because I'd been trying to find one in their stationery aisle and couldn't. The checker told me that she'd purchased the pen in a 6-pack at the 99-Cent Store. I thanked her for the tip, and walked out. Then, something dawned on me, and I turned around and walked back in. "Do you have to buy your own pens here? Doesn't the store provide them for you?" I asked. "No way," she groused. "We have to buy our own everything here. When I work at the deli, I even have to buy my own gloves." Ever since the great grocery strike of ought four, Albertson's lost a lot of familiar faces, a...

The collapsing economy finally doomed the plan to put in a Kohl's -- complete with several code variances -- in the Regency Center, at the corner of Zelzah and Chatsworth, in the space formerly occupied by Granada Brunswick Lanes, and then by a Ralph's -- you know, the one across the street from Ralph's. They gave up a few months ago, when when Mervyn's went belly up and Kohl's started belt-tightening. The rumor now is that the space is being eyed by down-home flavored, yokel- and trucker-friendly grocery chain Stater Brothers . At least that's how they like to bill themselves in their commercials. So Granada Hills counts as "The Heartland"?!? "Where the girl next door can become your wife?" Eeew. Then again, perhaps the arrival of Stater Brothers will bring us more quality entertainment such as this:

But it was only a 1.5. Details here . View Larger Map

"Summer, summer fruits It wouldn't be summer without 'em..." The watermelon is usually considered the emblematic fruit of summer, but to me, nothing tastes more summery than a fresh, local, in-season plum in full ripeness. You're just not going to get that at Albertson's. The fruit at Forneris Farms isn't organic, but it isn't flown in from Chile, either -- most of it is grown in Simi Valley or other nearby locations. You'll pay more, and you'll get more. The plums I bought there this week were a little piece of heaven, the strawberries plump and firm, and the peaches all drippy succulence. There's a the line in the About The Farmer page of Forneris Farms' website where Farmer John's bio says, "He grew up when farming was considered an important and valuable profession." Do I detect a hint of bitterness? Maybe a little. Maybe he's frustrated at having to become to an agritainment venture just to stay alive...