Time sure flies! As Meet The (818) celebrates its second anniversary, I’d like to say thank you for your continued support for this little enterprise of mine. I am truly grateful for all the stories I got to tell and everyone I got to meet the past two years. Sharing your stories and seeing you all work so hard to bring your dreams into reality is truly inspirational, especially this past year. As heartbreaking as it was to see some of our local businesses struggle and eventually close its doors, it was also awe-inspiring to see our community pull together, help each other out and adapt to our current situation. That resiliency and pulling through as a community is just one of the many reasons I love living in and being apart of the San Fernando Valley community.

As a 16 year old who migrated to Burbank, CA in the late 90s, I’ve enjoyed to seeing all the growth and development in the San Fernando Valley this past couple of decades. All the local places I frequented growing up will always hold a special place in my heart but in the same token, I always love discovering new local businesses and supporting local businesses owners. Needles to say, my list of favorite places (which goes beyond local restaurants) has grown quite a bit over the years. (That list, of course, also extends outside of the valley but that’s a story for another time…).

The best thing about living in the San Fernando Valley, apart from the diversity of each city, is the possibility of creating your own dream and living it—be it opening a coffee shop or sharing your art on a community wall or having a safe haven to just de-stress for a couple of hours. At the beginning of this journey, someone asked me what the end game was for Meet The (818), at that time, I joked around and said it was to eventually get an interview with Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. Maybe? Who knows? Even pondering on the question now, I really don’t have a serious answer. I’m just a girl with a blog and a social media account with a love for hearing stories, telling stories, and supporting the area code she grew up in. And that’ll do for now.

Cheers to year two! Thank you for all your support. If you have a story to share, just send me a message and I’ll be more than happy to listen and share.

Take care and stay safe, everyone! Live. Love. Local Meet The (818).