Lake View Terrace Singer Is a Strong Voice for Her Community

When you talk to the movers and shakers in Lake View Terrace, it’s never long beforethe name of Cile Borman comes up.

Since the singer moved to the area in 1985, with her husband, fellow musician Mike Borman, she has gained a reputation as one who can move and shake with the best of them.

“You know how in most communities people like to point with pride to someone?” asks Eileen Barry, who is recording secretary of the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn.

“In Lake View Terrace, we do a lot of pointing at Cile, not just because she’s a singer, composer, dancer, poet, costume designer and painter. She’s also become a community activist and environmentalist, the closest thing I’ve seen to a Renaissance woman,” Barry says.

“You’ll see Cile in overalls leading a trash cleanup party around the neighborhood on weekend mornings,” Barry says. “That evening, she’s decked out in gold lame entertaining at a private party in Beverly Hills.

“And whenever there’s a neighborhood issue that needs a spark plug to rally the troops, she’s there for us,” Barry adds.

Some of those neighborhood issues have included oversight of the Lopez Canyon landfill and Tujunga ponds, protection of area wildlife and concerns about establishment of the rehabilitation facility Phoenix House in the community.

Borman, who is in her 40s, pleads guilty to becoming a local activist.

“It’s so special here, with so many natural treasures and such a healthy racial mix, I’m proud it’s my home,” she says.

There was a lot of traveling before she settled down with her husband of more than 20 years, whom she met when he was in the service stationed in Alaska and her theatrical agent sent her there for three months to perform.

Born in Shreveport, La., to her farmer-father and a mother who died when Borman was a child, she subsequently moved to Detroit, Chicago and Seattle before settling in the San Fernando Valley area with her husband about 15 years ago.

Her singing career started with a chance encounter at a party when she was in her 20s and working at a bank in Seattle.

“An entertainer from Peru, who heard me singing at the party, asked if I would be the opening act for his band,” Borman says.

Although she never reached the star class of an Ella or Sarah or Lena or Diana, her talent did not go unnoticed. Jazz venerable Leonard Feather wrote this about her in November, 1989, in The Times:

“One singer impressed me immediately. A strikingly attractive woman known simply as Cile sang a couple of standards that revealed a depth of jazz feeling . . . (she) is a professional singer, plays steel drums, specializes in West Indian music.”

Cile and her husband still perform in local clubs and private parties. On Oct. 13, the pair will appear at La Bamba Caribbean Restaurant in Burbank from 7 to 11 p.m.

In addition to being a community activist and performing, she--along with her husband--wrote a musical play that they performed, in part, before a recent gathering of the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn.

She has also written a song about her community. The words, in part, say this:

Nestled in the Foothills,

Of the San Gabriel Mountains,

Close to all the things I’ve grown to love.

There’s nothing like the view,

Looking off into the Valley,

As the morning sun rises high above.

Cowboys and accountants,

Housewives and movie stars,

People of every race and every creed,

Share mornings in the country,

With the city in the distance,

This is Lake View Terrace, yes, indeed.

Dexter Park in Kagel Canyon,

Mist upon the Hillside,

Trails that lead you where you want to go.

And, if you have a problem,

You’ll find someone who knows the answer,

Neighbors wave hello wherever you go.

Building a Monument to the Brotherhood of Man

No one has to tell you about the cost of local housing. Buying a home has become the almost impossible American dream.

But by Christmas, hopefully, eight low-income families will be moving into their own houses, thanks to the first project of the local branch of Habitat for Humanity.

Now 80% completed, the houses are a testament to the work, according to office manager Ginger Garcia, of about 300 affiliated and non-affiliated volunteers.

Every weekend, people show up at 10906 Laurel Canyon Blvd. in Pacoima.

They are carpenters, housewives, company executives, students, lawyers, teachers, just about anyone. Some work for just a couple of hours. Some put in a full day and come back the next weekend.

The volunteers have heard about the mission of Habitat to build homes for low-income families through organizations or by reading about it in a newspaper. Volunteers come with church groups, or their families, or alone.

“Since people have seen pictures of former President Jimmy Carter rolling up his sleeves and helping to build low-cost housing, they have gotten the idea,” Garcia says. “Anyone can help. Everyone can contribute. You don’t need to have any particular skills.

“These homes go up because people believe in helping their neighbors; it’s as simple as that.”

She adds that a second project is in the works for the 2-year-old local Habitat group. It is an 11-unit townhome project in Mission Hills.

Star Sightings in Santa Clarita

It’s Billy--from “Melrose Place.”

He and the rest of the cast shoot “Melrose Place” on a sound stage in Santa Clarita and can be briefly glimpsed coming and going in their motorized cocoons almost every day.

Because of this and the other television series (“Star Trek--Deep Space 9”), feature films (“Robin Hood: Men in Tights”), commercials (Greyhound) and music videos that the Santa Clarita Valley is attracting, the mythical boundaries of Hollywood are reaching even farther north than they have for the past 15 years when the lion’s share of the entertainment industry was doing business in the San Fernando Valley.

In the past several years, many production companies have found a home in the Santa Clarita Valley, so the star sightings there have started to attract attention.

That is not to say that you’re going to find Daphne Zuniga and Heather Locklear slurping Slurpies at the local 7-Eleven, or that Depeche Mode sits curbside giving an informal lunchtime concert or two.

It does mean that after a slight lag for the past two years, production in Santa Clarita, according to Cheryl Adams, film liaison for the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, is booming.

“We’re very much the place to be,” she says.

The quantity of the productions may be increasing, but their quality is not likely to run over the competition at the Emmys or Academy Awards ceremonies.

A quick look at what is or recently was shooting in and around Santa Clarita includes feature films “Forced to Kill,” “The Flintstones,” “On Deadly Ground” and “The Attack of the ‘50s Women.”

Oh yes, and “Pumpkin Head II” and “Body Bag.”

Overheard

“My best advice to you is to lower your voice and your standards.”

Young man to younger brother about to enter a Sherman Oaks singles bar.