Born and raised in the Palisades, during the 1960s and 70s: 620 Palmera Dr on Las Pulgas Canyon (family 1957-66; I came along in 1961), then 663 Toyopa Dr in Huntington Palisades, at the corner of Toyopa and Pampas Ricas Blvd (1966-76), as well as living in Marquez and Palisades Highlands well into the 1980s. It was truly "Five-Star" then, when it was a quiet bedroom community nestled between the mountains and the sea. It's still very nice, but way too pricey and trendy... like a miniature Beverly Hills. Way too much "mansion-izing" and ruining of classic 1950s homes. I'm afraid too many Palisadians nowadays are no longer just good "regular folk" as they were in the 1950s-70s, but spoilt and flashy brats. Sorry, but why do so many "Palisadians" (ha -- not really!) feel they're so much better than those of us who came before, that they need huge houses that take up every square foot of a lot? Arrogant, with more dollars than sense. So it's gotta be downgraded to only 3 stars. And now some Rick Caruso big-shot developer who has NO roots in the Palisades has taken out a whole block of vintage business district! This area included, in decades past, Allegro Music, 31 Flavors, the old Rexall Drug and old Norris Hardware (and later Smith Sporting Goods), La Femme, the Palisades Bakery, Sunset Medical Building with it's classic mid-century modern style and the medical cadecus sign (neon snake wrapped around a branch), old Santa Monica Bank and Glendale Federal Savings, Sanders Ltd, Denton Jewelry, House of Lee, Emerson-Lemay Cleaners, Rexall Drugs, California Savings, Playcraft Toys (later Mort's Deli), Townsend-Simpson Realty, My Fair Lady Womens apparel, Palisades Travel Bureau, and where Art Poole's Restaurant used to be (just to name a few notables). The terrific things that spelled "Pacific Palisades" the generations are fast disappearing, I'm afraid. We had celebrities in our day, sure. But not the phony stuck-up no-talents actors and "professional" celebrities of nowadays, pursued by the inevitable paparazzi. We had Walter Matthau, Jerry Lewis, Vivian Vance, Robert Rockwell, William Schallert, Vin Scully, Mel Blanc, Henry Miller, Bob Abernathy, Adam West, Eddie Albert, Doug McClure, Patrick McGoohan, Thomas Mann, Anthony Quinn, Thelma Todd, Peter Graves, John Raitt, Ted Knight, Carole Landis, Frank Overton, director James Whale, Nanette Fabrey, Buckminster Fuller, Ed Andrews, Richard Boone, Lionel Atwill.... and, of course, the greatest Palisadian of all time -- President Ronald Reagan. read more