What are the coolest places in the mountains near the valley?

Question

I'm talking about some places that might have some history to them, where movies may have been filmed, great viewpoints or potentially even lakes.

huh? I asked this question for the los angeles area. why smoky mountains?

Answer 1

Paramount Ranch in agoura is good.

Answer 2

Sheesh. Some people are so geographically ignorants, it's scary. C'mon, people, this is the Los Angeles forum, not the Nashville forum! Great Smoky Mountains... sheesh! DUH!

There are a number of places with a lot of history to them near the SFV. Trouble is, when most of those movies were shot, the valley was just that: an empty Valley. Time and development have all but destroyed any traces of the movies that were shot there. Did you know the city of Bedford Falls (It's a Wonderful Life) was set up somewhere around present-day Encino?

The Spahn Ranch had a lot of movies shot there. It is just off the 118 freeway and Topanga Canyon. Charlie Manson and his followers camped there in 1968. However, a fire in 1970 destroyed everything there.

Up in Aqua Dulce, off the 14 freeway, is Vasquez Rocks, where many episodes of westerns were shot.

There is a small lake in Malibu Creek State park. They shot about a dozen seasons of MASH there, but all traces of that set are long gone. There was a wildfire that came through during shooting, which was incorporated into the script. The cast came back to a burned set, and they filmed that as part of one episode.

The old Parmount Ranch, off Chesebro Road in Agoura, had a number of westerns shot there. Once again, a victim of development.

There are a number of other locations in and around the vallery that have historical significance, but those are the main ones.

For great vistas, just take Mulholland Drive. If you get a day with no smog, the views are incredible.

Answer 3

Near the Valley, there are lots of interesting places in the San Gabriel Mts...just take the 210 east to the Pasadena/Altadena area (less than an hour's drive) to see all kinds of cool stuff. Trails are either off Angeles Crest Highway Hwy 2 which is in the La Canada area, or in the foothills areas of Altadena/Sierra Madre/Arcadia/Monrovia area.

There's a hiking trail north of the northern terminus of Lake St. in Altadena that is about a three mile hike on the Sam Merril Trail up to where there use to be a resort on Mt Lowe that was built around a hundred years ago at the terminus of a funicular railway. The old tracks are there and foundations of the old buildings are there, along with some signs describing what you are looking at. In the few totally clear days we have each year, the view from there goes all the way out to Catalina and south to San Diego County.

Another hike in that area will take you to abandoned mines.

Another nice hike is above JPL in Pasadena...there's a hiking trail that goes up into the mountains, alongside a year-round stream...this area is known as the Arroyo Seco. There is a waterfall and small pool, and a campground that you can backpack to. There are also abandoned vacation cabins from up to eighty years ago. If you bring a water filter you can last down there for days. I've been up there in the winter after heavy rains and the river will get 30 foot wide at times.

There's also some great hikes to an area where some experimental pine tree forests were planted years ago..it's near the hiking trail that goes up to Mt. Wilson.

Another good hike goes up to Mt. San Gabriel and nearby Mt. Disappointment.


I'd advise you to get the book Trails of the Angeles by John Robinson, which gives lots of information on hikes in that area. I found the hikes in the San Gabriels to be nicer than the hikes in the Santa Suzannas, just cause there are pine trees and rivers off of highway 2, which I never found hiking in the Santa Suzannas. (The Santa Suzannas are the mountains on the north rim of the valley).

When it rains though there are some waterfalls in the mountains northwest corner of the valley above the Chatsworth cemetary. As the other poster said, you use to be able to see the remains of Spahn Ranch but that's gone now. When I was a kid the Chatsworth area was not as developed as it now is.

If you've never seen the Chatsworth Park area, that use to be the place where Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans use to shoot the outdoor scenes for the Roy Rodgers TV show of the 50s, and a little of that area still retains the look of that old TV show. The horse on the TV show was called Trigger, and there is a street named after the horse, Trigger St., that use to be a popular teenage drinking spot when I was in high school. Maybe still is, I don't know.

Kevin Spacey went to Chatsworth High (had a different last name then) and I noticed that he named his production company Trigger St. Productions, so I guess I know what he did in high school!

Answer 4

Lake Arrowhead & Big Bear Lake CA area.
Bass Lake CA: near Yosemite Natl Park.
Pyramid Lake area.

Answer 5

Lots of stuff was filmed in Griffith Park. If that's too 'flat' try Pioneertown near Yucca Valley

Answer 6

Mt. Baldy has some good history, and you can visit their nature center where there are still many historical buidlings standing, and take a walking tour to view them and read about their history.

Answer 7

MT Baldy or Kern River MTs

Answer 8

You will have to get out of the valley & go to N CA or UT. Personally I like N Idaho & Montana. Real mountains.

Answer 9

MAGIE VALLEY! went on vacation there gorgeous!Near the smokey mountains