Van Nuys ( /vænˈnaɪz/) is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.

Look at the two photos of Van Nuys' first year—and then listen to what the Los Angeles Times wrote on February 23, 1911, the day after the Van Nuys town lot auction:

"Between dawn and dusk, in the shadow of the encircling San Fernando Hills,and upon a bed that was the rough plank platform of a strident auctioneer, a city was born yesterday. Cut out of the heart of land that for long generations had been part of a single great property, stretching in every direction beyond the compass of the eye's sweep, the natal day of Van Nuys, the next town to be created out of the Van Nuys and Lankershim tract, was spectacular wonderful. Nothing like it was ever seen in California."

Classic "boomerism"—classic real estate hype—but that was Van Nuys then. After a week of Los Angeles Times ads, and special excursion trains from Los Angeles to a bare townsite, lot sales began at the new town of Van Nuys on Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1911. The area is named after Isaac Van Nuys, who was of Dutch descent and participant in a ranching enterprise called the San Fernando Homestead Association, a group that purchased most of the southern San Fernando Valley (south of present-day Roscoe Blvd) in 1869 to grow grain and run sheep. Van Nuys split this huge acreage with his senior partner, Isaac Lankershim, getting the east area (present-day Lankershim Blvd. crossed his section). Van Nuys also built the first wood frame house in the San Fernando Valley in 1872.

Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna, Jr. on December 11, 1958) is an American musician, songwriter, author, fashion designer, radio host, and photographer, best known as the co-founder and bassist of the band Mötley Crüe. Prior to forming Mötley Crüe, Sixx was a member of Sister before going on to form London with his Sister band mate Lizzie Grey. In 2000 he formed side project group 58 with Dave Darling, Steve Gibb and Bucket Baker issuing one album, titled Diet for a New America, the same year while in 2002 he formed the hard rock supergroup Brides of Destruction with L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns. Formed in 2006, initially to record an audio accompaniment to Sixx's autobiography The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, his side band Sixx:A.M. features songwriter and producer and vocalist James Michael and guitarist DJ Ashba.

Sixx has also worked with a number of artists and groups, co-writing and/or producing songs, such as Sex Pistols's guitarist Steve Jones,Lita Ford,Alice Cooper,Meat Loaf,Marion Raven,Drowning Pool,Saliva and The Last Vegas among others.

Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS.

O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and raised in an Irish Catholic family. He served as president of the Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live, and later of The Simpsons. He hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009, followed by seven months hosting The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, the only person to serve as the permanent host for both NBC programs.

O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) to Thomas O'Brien, a physician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard, and Ruth O'Brien (née Reardon), an attorney and partner at the Boston firm Ropes & Gray. He is the third of six children. O'Brien's family is Irish Catholic and descends from pre-Civil War era immigrants. In a Late Night episode, O'Brien paid a visit to County Kerry, Ireland, where his ancestors originated.