24 Area Sites Illuminate California’s Past

This is a list of California Historical Monuments in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys:

* Angeles National Forest: The first national forest in the state is located just north of La Canada-Flintridge.

* Brand Park: 15174 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills.

* Campo de Cahuenga: 3919 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. A treaty was signed on this site in 1847 making California a part of the United States.

* Casa Adobe de San Rafael: 1330 Dorothy Drive, Glendale. Site of an adobe built in 1865 by Tomas Sanchez, then Los Angeles County sheriff. House was restored in 1932.

* The Cascades: Near intersection of Foothill and Balboa boulevards, Granada Hills. Terminus of the Los Angeles-Owens River Aqueduct.

* Catalina Adobe: 2211 Bonita Drive, Glendale. House built in the 1830s.

* Chatsworth Calera Site: Near intersection of Woolsey Canyon Road and Valley Circle Boulevard in Chatsworth. A kiln is all that remains of early 19th-Century lime works.

* Griffith Ranch: 12685 Foothill Blvd., San Fernando. Formerly owned by famed movie director D. W. Griffith, the ranch was used for the filming of several classic Westerns.

* Lang: Intersection of Lang Station Road and Shadow Pines Boulevard, in Soledad Canyon, about 4.5 miles east of Canyon Country. Site of the completion of the San Joaquin Valley railroad line, which connected Los Angeles to the transcontinental system.

* Llano Del Rio Cooperative Colony: On California 138 in Llano. Site of a short-lived Utopian community that was at its height in 1916.

* Los Encinos State Historic Park: 16756 Moorpark St., Encino.

* Lyons Station Stagecoach Stop: Eternal Valley Memorial Park, 23287 N. Sierra Highway, Newhall. Site of the stage depot that came to prominence during the Kern River gold rush of the 1850s.

* Mentryville: 27201 W. Pico Canyon Road, Newhall. Settlement named after pioneer oil developer Charles Alexander Mentry.

* Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana: 15151 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills.

* Oak of the Golden Dream: Placerita Canyon Road, about 4.5 miles north of Newhall in Placerita Canyon State and County Park. Francisco Lopez y Arballo discovered gold near this tree in 1842.

* Old Short Cut: Chilao Visitors Center, Angeles National Forest, Angeles Crest Highway, 27 miles east of La Canada. California’s first ranger station.

* Old Trapper’s Lodge: Pierce College, Cleveland Park, 6201 Winnetka Ave., Woodland Hills. Statues created by folk artist John Henry Ehn.

* Pioneer Oil Refinery: 238 Pine St., Newhall. First commercial refinery in California.

* Rancho San Francisco: Southwest corner of The Old Road and Henry Mayo Drive, Valencia. Near this spot was the adobe headquarters of the rancho.

* Romulo Pico Adobe: 10940 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills. Oldest part of this adobe dates back to 1834.

* San Fernando Cemetery: Intersection of Bledsoe Street and Foothill Boulevard, Sylmar. Used for burials from the early 1800s until 1939.

* St. Francis Dam Disaster: Plaque is at the San Francisquito Power Plant No. 2, 32300 N. San Francisquito Canyon Road, about nine miles north of Saugus.

* Well No. CSO 4: On W. Pico Canyon Road, 3.3 miles west of the Golden State Freeway in Newhall (not accessible to the public). California’s first commercially productive well.

* Western Hotel: 557 W. Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster. Built in the late 1880s, it is now a museum.