Hi, Kevin,
 
I LOVE your book and website. I'm writing a memoir of my Italian-American childhood in the San Fernando Valley (covering the years 1959 up until 1968). My grandfather, John Indrisano, had a long-standing relationship with Mae West, for whom he left my grandmother. My family lived on Bahama Street in Sepulveda (now North Hills, of course). My mother said that Mae West had a home just around the corner from us (maybe on Rayen Street, not sure). We once or twice saw Mae's sister, Beverly West, being driven to the house in a big Cadillac. Do you know the actual name of the home? I just remember it as Mae West Ranch. It had a huge brick fence walling the property off from the other homes. Thanks--maybe you can point me in someone's direction if you don't know.
 
Ciao, Joan Vardaro McMillan

Thanks. Sounds like the makings of a great story. I don't know anything about Mae West's home in that area, just that she was a prominent Valleywood rancher and landowner. A quick check of the gossip columns finds mentions of her running a Valley ranch for trotting horses in 1935, and in '38 she bought fifty acres in El Otono Estates, which was either in today's Canoga Park, West Hills or Woodland Hills. That year, the city planning commission turned down Mae's request to open a diner on the triangle of land formed by Van Nuys Boulevard, Chandler Boulevard and Circle Drive. She still owned corner in 1951. For more, I'd begin with any biographies written about or by West. Good luck.