As i was walking
That ribbon of highway
I saw above me
That endless skyway
I saw below me
That Golden Valley…
This land was made for you and me.

— Woody Guthrie

The view across the San Fernando Valley from the Fryman Canyon overlook. I’m convinced this was the view Guthrie had in mind when he wrote the verse. In the 30s and 40s, the Valley was largely rural, and checker-boarded with citrus groves, dry-grass pastures. But there were also the brand-new suburban Shangri-las, including Valley Village – America’s Golden Valley, in Woody’s time. 

He knew, too, that the Valley was controlled by bullying, greedy railroads and developers, Big Agriculture packing plants that shut out unions, farmers dumping millions of crates of oranges into the Los Angeles river in the middle of the Depression. Woody knew first-hand the great struggle going on in the San Fernando Valley of, and between, the new Okie families and the traditional California migrant laborers; a struggle for subsistence, for justice, for unity and dignity. Woody, who I bet walked up here from teeming urban downtown, would have seen from this height how close and integral to Los Angeles “that Golden Valley” was. Getting people to see those connections as he did, was Woody Guthrie’s gift.

We’re looking over Fryman Canyon, from the overlook park on Mulholland. Fryman is a bowl, wilder and more rugged than its twin, The Hollywood Bowl, just over the hill.

Wilderness is accessible in the Valley because of the efforts of people like Betty B. Dearing. Valley Villagers take for granted our ability to take a pre-breakfast hike with the bluebirds, or a quick stop after work to catch the sunset amid cool sage breezes. Of course, you have to be creative with parking at some hours.

The hiking trails in Fryman Canyon are rugged enough to attract world-class athletes, models and fitness trainers, the most inspiring fauna of the Hollywood Hills. And the many overlooks off Mulholland, offer a quiet place for the office temp with only an hour to eat her sandwich in her car. 

Not to mention the teenagers, who have a quiet place to neck under a star-spangled sky.

Civilization thrives best, while it keeps wildness in its midst.