Jack Kent Cooke still pimpin'

Who would've thunk that Jack Kent Cooke -- erstwhile sports-team accumulator, Bentley driver and former Daily News owner -- would resurface at the below-the-radar Museum of the San Fernando Valley's "Museum Sundae" event? Not I, but he left his tag, and probably got a small, gratis bowlful of tasty ice cream to go with it.

Ilene wrote about it for Valleynews.com and blogged here, and I agree that the art table -- of which both of us, as well as our little one, availed ourselves of -- was one of the coolest parts of the event (if three people get the JKC joke, I'll consider the whole thing worth it).

Anyhow, the museum itself is housed in a bungalow at Los Angeles Valley College. It's not as far along as the Andres Pico Adobe, in terms of its exibit-worthiness, but there's not a whole lot out there in terms of credible SFV museum action, and this is as good as start as any. They've got a board of directors and a bunch of people dedicated to turning it into something, and for that I say "well done."

Despite being held on the same day as the Sherman Oaks Street Fair, there were plenty of people at Museum Sunday. Never underestimate the power of free ice cream.

Now that the crowds are gone, I plan to return to the museum to do some research on W.P. Whitsett, the guy who made Van Nuys happen (and who named it after Isaac Newton Van Nuys instead of himself) and who pushed V.N. lots with a manifesto that had would-be residents doing small-scale "farming" -- gardening, really -- on their Valley plots. That ethos returned big-time in the Victory Gardens of WWII and are something that I, in my four-tomato-plant euhphoria, am extremely interested in today.

I refer you to the amazing Chris Nyerges' book, "Extreme Simplicity," (not available from Amazon but very available from Chris) for a look at how urban homesteading can actually happen in the Los Angeles area.