GUEST BLOGGER - May Challenge: C is for The Canyon

Meet Julia Turner!

THE CANYON

By: Julia Turner

When Amanda (or Pickles, as I affectionately refer to her as) asked if I would be up to write a guest blog spot, I instantly agreed. Only to then instantly panic – What should I write about?!  I have nothing interesting to write about and I don’t have any passions or opinions. Once my panic attack subsided, I realized what I really wanted to write about. A place rich with history, mischief, dreams, a modern day Neverland. This place will forever live in my heart (and will now live on forever, since this is being posted on the internet). I am writing about THE CANYON, as in Laurel Canyon.

Laurel Canyon is like no place I have ever lived. One mile north of the sunset strip, there is peace and serenity that is hard to find in the sprawling city chaos of Los Angeles. When you drive through the canyon, you will see and smell Eucalyptus trees. The winding road will take you up to Mulholland drive with views of twinkling lights dancing,  rivaling the night sky. The road twists you thru narrower streets that come dangerously close to the canyon cliffs. There are cute cottages, old castles and eco-friendly homes. No two houses are alike.  There is a Canyon General store, covered in peace and love signs with a canyon coffee stand canyon residents flock to over the weekend. It’s completely unique and truly wonderful.

The canyon is a place of a musical and historical importance, once pregnant with a generation of musicians unlike anything the world has seen that include Jim Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Frank Zappa, Brian Wilson, Jimi Hendrix, bands like Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills and Nash, The Byrds. It’s hard to believe most of these people lived on my street 50 years ago but their mark has been permanently embedded here.  There was a community similar to Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, or Greenwich Village in New York; an artist’s community. People had the same interests, love of music, hatred of war. They played in bands together; they ate together, partied together, and opened their doors to one another. Sometimes they slept together. People were so connected to each other, so in tune with one another. It was a generation who believed in each other.

There is one day a year that is like no other where Canyon dwellers celebrate our community’s existence. Canyon Photo Day is on the third Sunday in October at the Canyon Country Store, which Jim Morrison lived behind at one time.

“I see you live on Love Street.  There’s this store where the creatures meet.”

– Jim Morrison.  

Laurel Canyon Boulevard comes to a stand still as these canyon creatures descend down to the store for a gigantic group picture. There are families, artists, old musicians, young musicians, movie producers, actors, and canyon hillbillies. There is a man known as Hollywood Jesus, who is about 6’4, and wears a white robe and has long brown hair. There are two clowns that scale the traffic light of Laurel and Kirkwood and pose with face paint and umbrellas.  People bring their pets. I’ve seen puppies, and I’ve seen a giant turtle. There is a band playing, a Jimi Hendrix impersonator, a Jamaican man who sells Jamaican cream cheese, and a parrot. 2PM, the photographer stands in the middle of the street and tells everyone to squeeze and say cheese on the count of three. It’s pure pandemonium and it’s beautiful. I just wish I knew more of the other voices yelling “CHEESE!”

In this day and age, and not just in Laurel Canyon, it feels like we are at the opposite end of the spectrum; out of touch with one another and we lack the same type of strong in-person community. Everything is just awkward. We log into Instagram and Facebook to see what our friends are up to, instead of calling them to catch up and make plans to grab coffee. We go online for our communities, to find meaningful relationships, friendships and hookups, instead of meeting people in the world and spending time getting to know our neighbors. We’ve become so desensitized, disconnected and distant. It feels like robots are taking over the world. It’s scary.

This June it will be four years since I’ve lived in my house on Lookout Mountain in the Canyon. I’m guilty of knowing my neighbors only by nicknames. There’s Crazy Cat lady who lives to the right (3 years ago a good friend of mine was hitting golf balls off our roof into the canyon, and drove one thru her living room window) the bitchy lesbians behind us (who complain about everything we do), the sketchy possible meth cookers to the right (who could care less what we do) and the balding guy across the street who yelled at us once when some random person hit his fence and hasn’t really spoken to us since. It bothers me that I still don’t know who these people are.

Community is invaluable and it cultivates empathy, trust, respect and love for one another. The Canyon in the 60s was a time and place when people walked out the front door to go to a neighbor’s house to kick back to listen to the newest vinyl record together. People like Frank Zappa and Mama Cass (of The Mama's and the Papa's) had open door policies. Anyone could stop in and say hello. That was how so many wonderful and serendipitous things happened! It seems as if those days are a million years ago. There are glaring differences between that time and now which include pros and cons. Technically speaking, it’s “easier now,” but it also feels a hell of a lot more complicated. It is so import to maintain the community that once was, no matter where you live. We need to be nice to one another, believe in each other, support each other and care about each other.

“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine; could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?”
-Mr. Rodgers

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go meet my neighbors.

Interested in being a guest blogger for this year's May A-Z Series or know someone you think would be a great addition to this year's posts? Click here to email me asking for more details. Be brave! Take "write a blog" off your bucket list. Share your artwork, write a poem, showcase your photography -- Take Your Pic loves it all!!

GUEST BLOGGER - May Challenge: F is for Filmmaker

Julia and I junior year

My guest blogger for this post is one of my favorite people in the entire world. I met Julia Turner in the Spring of 2006 upon returning to Loyola for Freshman spring semester after two roommates transfering after the Fall. As I entered my bedroom I saw this random girl unpacking her stuff that included every type of athletic gear: tennis racket, lacrosse stick, basketball and for all I know, a bowling ball could have been included. While thinking this girl was insane, little did I know she would turn into one of my best friends and roommate for three years in college. We always shared a room - and sometimes a bed - as we had pillow talk before bed each night. She truly has opened my eyes to allow myself to have a good time and to treasure what a true friendship is. She wanted to kill me for my overbearing/demanding motherly ways (which honestly saved her almost every weekend) and I wanted to kill her if she made me rearrange our bedroom furniture one more time...bunk beds, no bunk beds, bunk beds, no bunk beds/I had to come find her in the bushes drunk one more time. I miss you everyday, Juls, and I cant wait to see you in November. I am so proud of you for going after you dreams!!! xox

My name is Julia Turner, and I am a writer/ producer / filmmaker.

Since I was 5 years old I wanted to work in the movie business.  I always knew I belonged in it, always knew it was what I was going to do. I grew up Los Angeles and despite my father, an agent for over 30 years, who warned me to avoid this business at all costs, I did what any normal daughter does – I ignored him and took an internship at a production company two weeks after graduating college.  

I began as an intern at a prominent film production company when I was 23.  I would compare internships to initiation. I’ve made more coffee, placed more lunch orders, and toasted more bagels than I’d like to admit. I alphabetized thousands of DVDs, read unreadable scripts, watched unwatchable films… and did I mention this was an unpaid position? And it’s the only way to get your foot in the door.  But like any job or really anything in life, you have to pay your dues and prove yourself. I worked as much as I could and tried to soak in everything. Six months later I landed my first desk as an executive assistant. The door had finally swung open. 

June 1 will mark my four year anniversary of stepping foot into that production company. To look back on all that I have experienced in that time, what I love most about this business is how creative and collaborative it is. To have an idea and see it come to life is the most exciting thing in the world to me. Development of characters, creating a world for your characters to exist in and bringing it all together as a living is still unreal to me.

When I was 24, I began writing my first feature with my best friend, Hannah Rosner, who I met at a screening. For months I had been told I had to meet this girl by a fellow intern at my production company. I had been told this girl once decided on a whim to get in her car and drive to the Sundance Film Festival in a Prius, which led to her partying with Bill Murray, so I wasn’t opposed to finding out who this chick was. Hannah and I hit it off over a love of a strong vodka drink and six months later, we began writing our first feature based on her experiences at Sundance and the rest was based off of the memories we had from partying our faces off.

We wrote the first draft of the script in about a month, and decided what the hell, let’s just shoot the damn thing. It was the best decision we could have made. This movie, now titled Park City, brought us together and taught us things we never could have learned in an office. We were actually making a feature and it was awesome. The best part was how eager our friends were willing to come aboard and how supportive our families were. We were fortunate enough to get a well respected and veteran casting director to read the script. Fortunately for us she loved it and helped us cast the likes of Don McManus (Shawshank Redemption), Cynthia Watros (LOST), and Mary Birdsong (Reno 911, The Descendants).

Three years later after a long and road had been traveled, on Saturday, April  27, 2013, our film screened at The United Film Festival in Los Angeles.  To see our film sitting in a real movie theater on the big screen is a feeling I will cherish for the rest of my life. From the moment I walked up to the theater, knowing I was going to watch a movie I wrote and produced, to being given an official film makers badge, to sitting in the theater and watching the film with all the people who helped make it possible and were there to support us was a feeling that I thought would only exist in my wildest dreams. That night was literally a dream come true.

 

The best thing about the film industry, despite the insanity of it all, is that by being in the business you work everyday to make your dreams come true. It’s incredibly difficult, but incredibly rewarding. You just have to have the guts to dream it in the first place and perseverance to never take no for an answer and as my father said,  never let the bastards get you down.