Recently in Local blogs Category

I no longer live in Van Nuys. Since my neighborhood became "Part of Sherman Oaks," as the movement so named, something within is telling me to stick with this name for the time being.

I have thought about a) changing the name and b) retiring this blog and starting a new one with a new name.

I've been exchanging e-mails of late with Linda J. Williamson, who has been blogging about her community at Giga Granada Hills.

Her ambition for the blog has really impressed me, especially stories like this one about the Sugar Suite bar and another about a medical clinic that specializes in treating adult-film actors.

She's also attempting — and to some extent succeeding — in selling her own ads, which is something I hope more bloggers (including perhaps even myself) start doing. There is seemingly a lot more money to be made when you cut out the middleman (i.e. Google).

It's definitely a blog worth revisiting.

Do you blog about the Valley? If you blog about a San Fernando Valley community and are not in my blogroll at the right side of the page, send me an e-mail or leave a comment to this entry and I'll take a look and do a writeup here.

Above: Bargain Babe Julia Scott is interviewed by KNBC-TV on the ways of frugality. See more video at Bargain Babe TV

My good friend Julia Scott has been Busy with an extremely capital "B" since she left the wonderful world of the Los Angeles Daily News to start her own blog/business/empire, Bargain Babe.

In the past couple of weeks, she's even started two new blogs, a reader-fed local-deal site called Bargain Babe L.A. and a special blog promoting an event she has created called the Frugal Fe$tival, which is set for 1-4 p.m. Sunday, July 26, at Woodley Park, 6335 Woodley Ave. in good ol' Van Nuys.

For more detail, visit the Web site. If you're in any way interested in voluntary simplicity, frugal living (are both of these the same thing? discuss ...), or just saving a buck, don't pass up the chance to meet other like-minded people at this local event.

I hadn't checked in on Andrew Hurvitz's Here in Van Nuys in a while and was surprised to see that he moved the blog from Blogger to WordPress.

While Here in Van Nuys has always looked good, it looks even better in WordPress, where it has an uncomplicated but pleasing layout and choice of fonts.

My sun-protective hat is off to the folks behind Homegrown Evolution, a blog about sustainable living in ... Echo Park.

Yep, they have chickens. Crops too. And they also have a book called "Urban Homesteading" that they will talk about and sign this Thursday (aka tomorrow) in L.A.

I just discovered blog and book (via BoingBoing), so there's lots to look at.

Now I know of three serious L.A.-area homesteader-types. Can you guess the other two?

Hint: It's not me.

Nope, it's this guy: Douglas E. Welch, whose My Word, A Gardener's Notebook, TechnologyIQ, Career Opportunities and Careers in Podcasting and New Media blogs never fail to impress me, both with their technological level (always high), quality of writing and sheer relevance.