REVIVAL IN THE VALLEY BUSTLING CANOGA PARK UP FOR U.S. CITY AWARD.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

CANOGA PARK - The heart of this San Fernando Valley neighborhood has started to look a lot like it did 40 years ago: Sherman Way bustling with shops, palm trees silhouetted against the skyline and neighbors stopping one another just to say hello.

It's a drastic turnaround for the community that fell into decay as large malls wooed away shoppers, street gangs decimated neighborhoods and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake literally shattered what remained of downtown.

``We've had unfortunate events in the past,'' said 32-year-old Miguel Santiago, who grew up in the neighborhood and now serves on the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council.

``After the earthquake, we saw a lot of people get together to say, 'We need to clean up Canoga Park.' We need to improve our community. We're not going to sit back and say the only thing that happens is some unfortunate events and crime.''

Their work has paid off: Canoga Park is among 30 finalists for a national All-America City Award, which honors communities that pull together to improve.

Ten winners will be chosen in June in Atlanta. A Canoga Park win would be a first for a Los Angeles neighborhood.

``The intent is to reward communities that embrace collaborative problem-solving, and to make role models out of them, to encourage other communities to follow their example,'' said Gary Chandler, spokesman for the National Civic League, which was co-founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1894.

The nomination comes as the city is looking to hire a new planning director - and many community activists are clamoring for someone with a vision of how to improve the quality of life in the sprawling city's neighborhoods.

``These suburban villages can form the glue that keeps a community together,'' said Bob Scott, a Valley civic leader and former Los Angeles planning commissioner.

```Here's the restaurant where I go.' 'Here's the stores where I shop ...' It's that uniqueness that people are interested in. People can manufacture identities, but Canoga Park actually has an identity, a past, that if properly cultivated can be reborn in a new form. And that's what we see happening.''

Canoga Park once stretched from Reseda to the western boundary of Los Angeles County - a community fueled by postwar aerospace jobs at the nearby Rocketdyne plant.

In 1987, homeowners living west of Shoup Avenue successfully petitioned to rename their community West Hills - and their property values immediately shot up as a result.

In the wake of the 1994 earthquake, the Community Redevelopment Agency declared 2,500 acres a disaster redevelopment area, investing $20 million in its rehabilitation.

Hundreds of storefronts and facades have been upgraded, trees have been planted and pedestrian-friendly details have spruced up Sherman Way and its landmark Antique Row.

The area's 160 commercial property owners agreed to tax themselves to maintain the improvements and now contribute $200,000 annually to a business improvement district.

They hired crews to pick up litter five days a week and a security company to supplement the efforts of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Another group, the nonprofit Main Street Canoga Park, launched the annual Dia de los Muertos Festival, raising money to support a youth dance studio and a marketing campaign for the local businesses.

Sherman Way also boasts the new Walk of Hearts - a Hollywood Walk of Fame-style tribute for local educators, and two theaters, including one that was transformed from a strip club into the Madrid Theatre.

``When the place got face-lifted from the CRA, people came,'' said Mary Paterson, who moved to the area 24 years ago when she started working at Follow Your Heart - a landmark health food store and restaurant.

She's now executive director of the Canoga Park Improvement Association, which administers the funds collected from the businesses.

``Just little by little, it was just sort of incremental improvements that just started to snowball, to now you see people walking down the street all different times of the day.''

The CRA plans to spend at least $24 million in the area in fiscal 2005-06 and is in the process of purchasing the old public library on Owensmouth Avenue for a new sit-down restaurant, said CRA's regional administrator Leslie Lambert.

She hopes Canoga Park can serve as a model for other communities trying to bolster their surroundings.

``I think that direction will save Los Angeles, I really do,'' she said. ``I think people function better as people if they're part of a community ... That face-to-face that you get in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, that you don't get in L.A. is really important to people.''

Even so, Canoga Park still has improvements to make.

There's still an injunction on a local gang, and even enthusiasts such as Scott say more shops and restaurants are needed to liven up the pedestrian area even more.

Councilman Dennis Zine, who represents the area, said crime is on the decline and improvements keep coming.

``I am so pleased with what I've seen,'' he said. ``You don't have the time to go from Canoga Park to downtown. We want the San Fernando Valley to remain a part of the city, a vibrant part of the city, so people can venture into the Valley instead of out of the Valley.''

Resident Jean Jauck, who has lived in Canoga Park since 1964 and now runs Main Street Canoga Park and the historical society, says her community got a ``bad rap.''

``It's just really not what it's made out to be,'' she said. ``It's just beginning to look really neat.''

Lisa Mascaro, [phone]

lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

8 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- color) Pedestrians walk past an eclectic collection of shops and restaurants on Sherman Way.

(2 -- color) A group of children perform a dance number as they watch their moves in a mirror at the Main Street Performing Arts Studio.

(3) Actor Bob Caso memorizes lines as fellow actors Bernie McGinnis, left, and Tom Moses, right, prepare for a dress rehearsal at the West Valley Playhouse.

(4) Waitress Joann Gardhouse brings food to patrons at Henri's Restaurant on Sherman Way.

(5) Jean Jauck returns items to a display case at the Canoga-Owensmouth Historical Museum.

(6) Shoppers check out jewelry at Collectible Glitz in Canoga Park, nominated for a national All-America City Award.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

(7) From left, Mary Paterson of the Canoga Park Improvement Association, Jean Jauck of Main Street Canoga Park, and Leslie Lambert, Vicki Gilkey and Craig Bullock of the CRA cross Sherman Way.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(8 -- color) no caption (Canoga Park sign)

Map:

CANOGA PARK