Hometown Feel Unites Neighborhood

SHERMAN OAKS — The 2 1/2-block parade along a neighborhood of flag-bearing homes could have been captured in a Norman Rockwell illustration, a slice of Americana in the nation’s second-largest city, known more for its sprawling, impersonal tract homes than tightknit communities.

Just about everyone in the Hidden Woods neighborhood--roughly bounded by Coldwater Canyon Avenue, Magnolia Boulevard, Fulton Avenue and Addison Street--came out in their red, white and blue for Tuesday morning’s eighth annual Fourth of July parade.

The older boys and girls rode bikes, skateboards and scooters decorated with striped streamers and shiny foil stars, while moms, dads and grandparents pulled preschoolers in old-fashioned red wagons, sporting crepe paper, pinwheels, American flags and star-shaped helium balloons.

Grown-ups in Uncle Sam hats and Old Navy flag shirts pushed strollers of smiling babies bundled up in red and blue blankets and PJs.

Even dogs, big and small, wore red, white and blue bows and bandannas.

“It’s just like a big family affair,” said Candace Jinnette, who has helped organize the parade since it began eight years ago.

“It’s a very Ozzie and Harriet neighborhood. Not what most people would associate with Los Angeles.”

Indeed, the hometown quality attracts families to this tree-lined, upper-middle-income neighborhood faster than Realtors can put up for-sale signs while also encouraging longtime residents to establish roots and lifelong relationships.

“I could have moved, but I love it here,” said Kitty Criswell, 79, who settled in the neighborhood shortly after houses were built in the early 1950s.

“Every day, I sit on my porch and talk with friends. We all go to neighbors’ weddings, funerals and birthdays. We all look out for each other.”

So strong are the neighborhood ties that adults who grew up in Hidden Woods and moved away return with their families every Fourth of July to celebrate.

An estimated 150 residents participated in Tuesday’s parade and subsequent potluck party, and that’s the way everyone liked it. Small and personal. No crowds, no parking hassles, no security worries.

New neighbors were welcomed with smiles and good wishes. Old neighbors caught up on who was pregnant, who was getting married, who was changing jobs.

Boys and girls won prizes for the best-decorated bicycles and wagons.

Joshua Rawlings, who turns 7 Friday), said he cannot wait to decorate his new bike red, white and blue for next year’s parade.

“I like this,” he said. “This is fun.”

His father, Brian Rawlings, said he also looks forward to next year’s parade.

“We’re having a great time,” said Rawlings, a father of four who moved into the neighborhood three years ago.

“This is a very neighborhoody neighborhood. I know everybody and everybody’s dog. I love it.”