Exploring Our New Surroundings at SAMO

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is the largest urban national park in the country, but it is not your typical national park. Instead, it’s a patchwork of many small parks, all within a stones’ throw of Los Angeles. Tim and I spent many of our days off exploring the park’s myriad historic and cultural sites and driving the gorgeous scenic highways.

One of the first places we visited was the 588-acre King Gillette Ranch, approached by a long, tree-lined alleé. The ranch features a Spanish Colonial Revival style mansion that was designed for razor magnate King C. Gillette in the 1920s by Wallace Neff, architect of California’s Golden Age. The park’s main visitor center is housed in the original ranch stables.

King Gillette Ranch

At the western end of the park is Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa. Here, one of the main attractions is the Satwiwa Native American Indian Cultural Center, and we enjoyed viewing the exhibits. A horse ranch for more than one hundred years, this land was once home to Chumash Indians who lived here for thousands of years.

Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa

We took a great ranger-led tour and hike at Paramount Ranch. Paramount Pictures began a long era of film production when it leased the ranch in 1927, and the ranch is the only site in the National Park System dedicated to interpreting American movies and television shows. Unfortunately, Paramount Ranch was a victim of the Woolsey Fire, which destroyed much of what was known as Western Town.

Paramount Ranch

Another site heavily damaged by the Woolsey Fire was the Peter Strauss Ranch. The ranch was named for Emmy Award-winning actor Peter Strauss, the last owner of the property, which was originally purchased in 1923 by Harry Miller. The historic ranch house, built in 1926, was destroyed by the fire. It was still interesting to poke around the site to discover the elements that remained.

Peter Strauss Ranch

Tim and I couldn’t visit this part of California without driving many of the most scenic highways. The Pacific Coast Highway was my favorite, but I also loved driving through the many canyons and along twisty Mulholland Highway.

Scenic Highways

Arriving at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

Before leaving Boulder City, Nevada, on New Year's Day, we decided to take time to visit Hoover Dam. We had previously taken the tour, so we just took a drive to check things out.

Hoover Dam

We could not arrive at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SAMO) until January 2, so we had planned to stay in Palmdale, California, on January 1. 

Knowing that we would be on the road on New Year’s Day, I had packed cans of black-eyed peas and collard greens. I figured we wouldn’t be able to find a restaurant serving a traditional Southern New Year’s Day dinner, so I came prepared. The canned foods left much to be desired, particularly the collard greens, but I wanted to make sure I had good luck for the New Year.

We arrived at SAMO the next morning and settled into our temporary home at LaKretz Field Station, a two-bedroom apartment with a large living/conference room where we would work. We met the staff and learned more about what we would be doing.

LaKretz Field Station - Our Temporary Home

SAMO’s museum storage facility had burned to the ground during the Woolsey Fire in 2018, resulting in the destruction of virtually the entire museum collection. It was a devastating loss. Our job was to complete the paperwork to deaccession or permanently remove the lost items from National Park Service ownership and custody. In other words, the items had to be “taken off the books.”

The Remains of the Museum Storage Facility