i visited the valley relics museum in van nuys last weekend. i had seen a number of photos over the years and been highly interested in attending, but as with all other things in my life, a million work-related excuses prevented me from going (or doing just about anything). it’s a blast from the past for any valley kid – there are so many ancient treasures and signs i thought i’d never see again. it covers a lot of ground – from old hollywood to local airport history, old school bmx racing, maps and photos of the san fernando valley before streets were paved, old restaurant menus and ash trays, and dozens of neon signs, not to mention a row of old arcade games (i spent some time at the mrs. pac-man station). being a lover of museums, i was scratching an itch that began long before 2020 and i remained engrossed for far longer than my accompanying party.
however, somewhere in between the jack oakie case displaying his wife’s gucci handbag, fur muff, and copy of her 8-carat ring, the gene autry cowboy case and old westerns section, bobby encinas’ trophies and jerseys, and jan’s bedroom door adorned with too many stickers to count from the brady bunch, i couldn’t help but feel…a bit off. i’ve had the opportunity to spend a lot more time recently re-exploring the valley over the last few months, and it’s been very cool, but its history is also…so painfully white. that is not to say that the actual history is white, but the history that is carefully chosen to represent us certainly is.
this is in no way whatsoever a critique of the museum itself – they have done an incredible job of saving so many pieces of san fernando valley history and for that i am so grateful – but if there were any people of color explicitly portrayed in those rooms, i must have missed them, restaurant relics notwithstanding. i felt a particularly cringey pang while passing by the airport history section displaying a photo of a plane in the process of having “no time to nap, let’s lick some japs!” painted on the side of it. history is history and i’m not angry about it, but it was the maraschino cherry atop a vanilla sundae reflecting the glaringly obvious lack of diverse representation (positive or otherwise) that exists in so much of the historical documentation of the san fernando valley (and most history in general). white history is not history.
this quarter i’ve been taking a situation comedy class, which has been fairly interesting, but reflects some of the same issues. we’ve analyzed the honeymooners, i love lucy, the dick van dyke show, and the beverly hillbillies – with a very brief glossing over of amos and andy and an even shorter glimpse into julia, specifically for the racial/historical context alone. the reality is that comparatively there weren’t many BIPOC in television some seventy years ago, and so it obviously makes sense that i would be able to peruse case after case of lucille ball and jack oakie and see jack webb’s nine-screen t.v. panel but nothing of the jeffersons or good times or even imitation of life, all of which were filmed to at least some degree in hollywood. and again – my eyes are not infallible – if they were there, i must have missed them. even so, hollywood history is not san fernando valley history.
it can be difficult to appreciate history sometimes when it is known to exclude so many, and it can be frustrating having two halves of your identity that are constantly calling this to your attention and relentless checking each other for privilege. it’s certainly tidier and more convenient to chalk up valley history to noting predominantly white sitcoms, movie stars, and old hollywood, while simultaneously placing blinders over so much of the less glamorous parts and omitting them from the record of what we choose to take note of. i suppose i just wish we didn’t have to piecemeal which museums to visit or which depictions of history to engage with in order to gather a better understanding of a history that is remotely representative.
more than anything, i sometimes find it difficult to forge and experience “valley pride” while repeatedly feeling so “othered,” having attended predominantly white schools among peers with celebrity parents and generational wealth and property, being in the first generation of my family to be born and raised here. all that being said, i am a valley kid whether i choose to identify with that fact one day versus another or not. for the most part, i do love being from the 818 and appreciate the oddities and breadth of history and diversity that is here. and yes, i would absolutely recommend the valley relics museum for a multitude of reasons, among which are the fact that it’s accessible and incredibly well-ventilated during this ongoing pandemic. while you’re ogling the cases full of 1950’s pins, trophies, metals, and old set costumes, just try to remember that this isn’t the whole story – that beyond the dazzling marquees and bright klieg lights pointed at the sky, black, indigenous, and people of color were also here setting their own stages. while this may not frequently be presented in a light deemed worthy of representing the san fernando valley, diverse history is real history, and one i hope to see better represented in the future.
for a brief overview of some of the san fernando valley’s history of diversity from historian jean-paul deguzman, check out his article at blackpast.org.
