YEAR AHEAD: “Gourmet coffee shops thrive here....

YEAR AHEAD: “Gourmet coffee shops thrive here. Galleries do not.” So says Times staff writer David Wharton in an essay examining the state of the arts in the Valley. We’ve got CityWalk and roller coasters, above, but there’s also a thriving artistic community, he explains. . . . See Valley Weekend in today’s Calendar (F1A). . . . Staffers Patricia Ward Biederman and Robin Rauzi also weigh in on Valley myths and culture.

LET’S EAT: It wasn’t a great year for eating out, restaurant reviewer Max Jacobson says of 1995 (F1E). But brighter days are ahead for Valley palates. . . . “The Valley is chockablock with delis, fresh-Mex taco stands, Asian, South American, European and new American restaurants,” he writes.

WONDER TWINS: At 6-foot-11 each, they probably turn heads wherever they go. During a Delaware tournament last week, Jason and Jarron Collins of Harvard-Westlake won the crowd over with brother-to-brother passes (C8). . . . “They are national talents,” said tournament director Bobbie Jacobs.

STAMPED OUT: He was just 24 when he died in a car crash Sept. 30, 1955. In June, the U.S. Postal Service will put James Dean on a postage stamp, as was done with fellow icons Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. . . . An Indiana native, Dean spent his last days at a house in Sherman Oaks.

SHINE ON: And the City Council said let there be light. . . . Overruling the Cultural Affairs Commission on Wednesday, the council approved new street lights for a dim portion of Encino along Escalon Drive.