This is the major reason I started Hear in LA. The media in LA is either too lazy, too uninterested, or too uncurious about both The Valley and South Central to give it the same love and attention as the well-worn path of Santa Monica to DTLA from the 10 to Griffith Park.

There are both delicious places to eat and delightful movie theaters in the Valley and South LA. Shocking, I know.

The Valley has just as many people in it as San Diego. Imagine having a San Diego right next to you and pretending there’s no good movie theaters there.

What’s telling is, one of the 27 movie theaters on today’s list made it on the tally simply because one of the staffers grew up watching films there.

“This theater holds in abundance something no other theater in the country (much less on this list) can ever replicate: my childhood movie memories,” the writer, Tracy Brown, who grew up in Long Beach explained. “It’s where my dad once whispered to me that you can make a streak of color shoot across the screen if you threw a Jujube just right (I’ve never dared to try).”

Now, crazy thought, imagine a staff that included Native Angelenos from both the Valley and South Central and the personal relationships they would be able to share about their neighborhood cinemas – if that’s suddenly a valid reason to be on a list?

Or crazier thought – what if the LAT intentionally decided in 2024 to cover *anywhere other than* this same old beaten path where clearly most of their staff lives?