I didn't know what, but judging by their morose faces, it couldn't be good. It looked almost as if they were waiting for something. And all the while, of course, I was watching them and wondering what they were up to. They didn't just notice me as I passed - they actually seemed to follow me with their eyes, almost suspiciously, as if they were wondering what I was up to. They didn't seem to be doing anything - they would play video games at the 7-Eleven near my apartment, sit around and people watch, walk aimlessly. That in itself is not too unusual, but these teenagers were walking the streets when school was in session, in the middle of the night, at all hours. I noticed that there were a lot of teenagers hanging around. I'm a walker and would take long walks, sometimes at night, through my neighborhood. As enjoyable as that sort of thing is, it's also a bit disorienting. I once stood on the other side of a gas pump from actress Linda Fiorentino, and when shopping at a nearby grocery store, I frequently spotted Star Trek veterans James Doohan and Roger C. It's also close to movie and television studios, so among all that suburban blandness, it's not uncommon to see celebrities shopping or filling their gas tanks. It's also the porn movie capital of America - when you see people take off their clothes and have sex in a porn video, chances are very good that they're doing it in the San Fernando Valley. It gave birth to the 'valley girl' phenomenon of the early 1980s and helped create the mall culture that consumed the country during that decade. It's a smoggy landscape of strip malls, gas stations, fast food restaurants and donut shops. It's a giant blob of little suburban towns that are difficult to distinguish from one another if you don't notice the signs as you leave one and enter the next.

The San Fernando Valley is a strange place.

In the mid-1980s, I lived in southern California, and for part of that time, I occupied a dingy little studio apartment in North Hollywood.

Crucifax by Ray Garton