Everybody Knows is a new Valley-based blog to me, by a woman who recently moved to Calabasas and commutes to Beverly Hills. In a recent post called Take the Long Way Home, she describes her alternate route home through the Glen.

I have the unhappy chore of driving between Beverly Hills and Calabasas (Faux Town) at least once a week during evening rush hour. This means the 101 and the 405 on the way to Beverly Hills. When these freeways aren't parking lots, they're not unlike bumper cars on speed or some kind of crazy video game. Most nights it is a little of both: grinding slow traffic interspersed with bursts of manic jockeying. It takes about an hour.

I've been coming home a different way. I take Beverly Glen to Mulholland and then execute some complicated twists and turns until I get myself down to Ventura Boulevard somewhere on the western edge of Encino. Until I get to Ventura, most of the route is one lane. There are often slow-downs and stops. But there are not five lanes of cars humming on either side of me and there is no manic jockeying. It's not exactly peaceful and it's too dark to enjoy the scenery (except for a spectacular view of the sparkling lights of the valley below right after I turn onto Mulholland). But I like it better. It's quieter. It takes about an hour.