GIGA GRANADA HILLS

Ceviche. After food truck night, the corner of Balboa and Chatsworth is on its way to becoming Granada Hills’ new favorite dining destination, with two recently opened spots — breakfast and lunch joint Main Kitchen Café, and ceviche specialists Lola’s Baja Tacos. Both are delightful in their own ways, and both should serve as notice that the perpetually disappointing Pampas, right next door, better step up its game. Pampered Granada Hillsians typically whine if there’s more than 20 feet between their parking place and their destination’s door, yet ironically, it's the ample parking that may be Lola’s Baja Taco’s undoing. Set back from Chatsworth Street behind a small parking lot, the place is easy to miss, especially since buildings on either side come right up to the sidewalk, and since the same location has been home to at least a half dozen unnoticed failures over the course of its history. Yet Lola’s, one desperately hopes, will finally be different, because they do ...

I wanted to do some research on the impact of plaza projects on fronting business owners, so I went to Silverlake's Sunset Triangle Plaza and interviewed Julie Choe, owner of Mornings Nights Cafe, Vivian Ku of the restaurant Pine and Crane, and Genelle LeVin of Silverlake Improvement Association. Choe, who has owned her cafe for about ten years, said that once the plaza was installed, the street was safer and her business' profits went up by 20%. Ku and LeVin also described positive experiences with the plaza. "At this point, this place has become a destination spot, so we're just getting busier and busier," Choe said. Choe said many local business owners were hesitant at first, but decided to participate in the People St program, converting their street to pedestrians only on a temporary basis, to see how things would work out. A year later, they were convinced. "Regardless of financial reasons, this was good for the neighborhood, for the community...

I’m here to ask the Neighborhood Council for a letter of support for the plaza proposal. I’m not asking for money, I’m not asking you to become a community partner, because that’s not an option anyway. I’m just asking for a letter of support. Because the Neighborhood Council is the only organization that exists to act as a voice for the community. Every other community organization that Granada Hills has exists primarily to advance the interests of businesses. I don’t want to present this as community versus business, because that’s really the opposite of what this is. It’s not hard to see how foot traffic and appealing spaces invite people to linger in our central business district, how a feeling of pedestrian safety enhances a business district’s appeal. Last time I spoke at a General Meeting of the Neighborhood Council, it was quite rightly pointed out that I hadn’t yet done enough outreach to the business community. So I walked door to door on Chatsworth, between Zelzah and ...

Illustration courtesy Solo Goodspeed Petition: http://bit.ly/plazapetition            Donation: http://bit.ly/plazadonation Wouldn't it be great if Granada Hills had a town square? A place to sit down and eat on food truck nights? A place for public music performances? Free dance classes? Or a place for people to just come together and enjoy? We want to create one.  We love the lively street life that the food trucks have brought to the sidewalks of Chatsworth Street. But food trucks come and go. To maintain that lively atmosphere, we need to create something that is ours .  In cooperation with the City of Los Angeles' People St. program, we want to expand Veteran's Triangle Park, at the corner of Chatsworth and Zelzah Streets, all the way to Menchie's for a temporary, 12-month pilot program. But doing that requires community support. And that's where you come in.   Any inviting gathering space needs...

    Granada Hills Charter High School's normally peaceful Rawley Hall erupted in terrifying violence last night as members of the Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council performed the annual ritual of beating new board members as a test of loyalty.     In the melee, pictured at left, board members were given their gang names and forced to swear  allegiance to the organization for life.    "The only way outta this sh_t is in a muthaf__in' box," said departing President Dave "Boo Boo Bear" Beauvais. "But they also give you a nice plaque." The new Neighborhood Council Officers are: Secretary: Anthony "Shrimp Boy" Matthews Treasurer:  Brandon "Flash Dolla" Schindelheim Parliamentarian:  MC Funkadelic  Vice President: Jerry "Askew"  President: Brad "Miget Killa" Smith Read the complete, and somewhat more factual, list of election results here.