The author is a life-long resident of the Simi Valley, nestled between the Santa Susana Mountains and the Simi Hills, just northwest of the Great Los Angeles Basin. She spent much of her childhood riding horseback through most of the locations described in this book. The history of the Valley, especially the details of early 20th century life there, has always fascinated her. She has been an active member of the Simi Valley Historical Society for several decades. The author's husband of 35 years was born in the Simi Valley in 1928 and spent his entire childhood there. Through the years he described to her in great detail what life was like in the small community during the Depression-era of… the mid-1930s. Hearing those stories (and countless other oral histories from many of the Simi Valley "old timers" she was surrounded by as a child) inspired her to record them in a way that is both entertaining and enlightening for anyone with an interest in this intriguing area of Southern California.