Burbank, CA

Burbank is the studio town at the east end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. Griffith Park sits across the river and Glendale is next door, yet it runs as its own compact city, flat, orderly and busy on weekdays. Magnolia Park is the west side shopping street, full of vintage racks and prop resellers. Downtown around San Fernando Boulevard is the one place built for walking, with newer condo and apartment buildings near the mall and the Metrolink station. The mountains are close. Stough Canyon Nature Center runs guided hikes onto the Verdugo fire roads and Wildwood Canyon has trailheads up its canyon road. Down in the flats, the Chandler Bikeway follows an old rail line for a little over two miles, and riders from the Rancho cross into Griffith Park on the Mariposa Street Bridge. Old places set the tone at the table. The coffee people talk about is Coffee Commissary on West Olive, where production crews grab breakfast before call time. Errands are easy by Los Angeles standards. The Empire Center covers big-box runs, IKEA sits downtown, and the Saturday farmers market sets up at Olive and Glenoaks. Metrolink stops downtown and at the airport, and the 5 and 134 border the city. Traffic is the tax on all that industry. Studio shifts, hospital crowds and airport trips load up Olive, Alameda and Hollywood Way, and planes are part of the background on the north side. Mornings start early, evenings empty out, and a quiet side street can sit two blocks from a soundstage without anyone on it noticing.