Life in a Slower Lane : A visit to Newhall, with its landmark cafe and preserved mansion of a cowboy star, is a pleasant trip back in time.

To pull the reigns and slow the pace of the fast lane, a trip to Newhall can offer some old-fashioned nostalgia, from a cafe laced with rusty memorabilia to the preserved mansion of a silent-screen cowboy. The William S. Hart Park and Museum, Heritage Junction Historic Park and other shops and restaurants can take a visitor back in time.

11 a.m.: Among the license plates and old tin advertisements for household items, cigarettes and Coca-Cola, a California plate reads THE KING. Whether Elvis was ever sighted at the Way Station Coffee Shop on San Fernando Road in Newhall is a mystery, but the hash browns--in this case maybe with some pork chops--are worthy of his visit.

A late breakfast at this Santa Clarita landmark is a good way to start a day of nostalgia. Parking is ample behind the restaurant and on area streets. Amid cozy booths or at the counter, you may get an earful of local gossip in a colorful setting that features glass cases full of antique tobacco tins and rusted cowboy spurs. Way Station customers bring in all the antiques and license plates, owner Jeri Bronstrup said of the decor.

The Way Station, open since 1971, does a hefty business, serving up more than 100 pounds of hash browns and about 400 eggs a day. On weekends, you may have a bit of a wait. The line sometimes seems intimidating, but Bronstrup said patrons rarely wait more than 15 minutes for a seat.

Or you could choose to start your tour in another cozy breakfast nook, the Egg Plantation on Walnut Street, which you can find by taking a left off San Fernando to 9th Street, then a right on Walnut Street. You can choose from a selection of 101 omelets, made up of everything from ham and creamed corn to peanut butter and jam. Breakfast and lunch are served amid enough poultry knickknacks to make you cluck.

11:30 a.m.: Walking north on Walnut Street toward Lyons Avenue, browse through a few shops at a Victorian shopping center, which stands out with its yellow and white dollhouse-style buildings. An Affair with Books is a quaint literary venue. Above the bookstore, Toy Attic features old-fashioned trains and toys. Beads & More showcases hundreds of beads and other items to make earrings, pins and necklaces.

11:45 a.m.: Take Walnut Street south to Newhall Avenue. Near the entrance of William S. Hart Park, you’ll see underfoot a Western twist on Hollywood fame. The Western Walk of Stars inducts a new honoree each year, who becomes immortalized with a saddle motif plaque embedded in the sidewalk on Newhall Avenue merging into San Fernando Road. Among those that can be seen on your stroll are Denver Pyle, Hoyt Axton, Jane Russell, George Montgomery, Bruce Boxleitner and local country musician Cliffie Stone. The walk will lead you into the park.

Noon: William S. Hart Park is named after its late owner, the silent film star who began his acting career doing Shakespeare and wound up being known as Two Gun Bill, making nearly 70 silent cowboy films, including one of his better-known films, “Tumbleweeds,” which came out in 1925. You may want to stop first at the Trading Post, the park’s gift shop where you can purchase food for the park’s domestic animals. Also for sale are videos of Hart’s movies for $9.95, one of his books for $15 to $20, photos, postcards, cactus eggs, raccoon-skin caps, toy tom-toms, sterling silver horseshoe earrings and other jewelry. Or maybe you can just whet your whistler with a sarsaparilla from the store’s tiny refrigerator.

12:15 p.m.: Wandering about the park, you’ll notice a display of antique farm machinery and a small zoo that includes donkeys (don’t be startled by an occasional burst of heehaws), ducks, chickens, rabbits, horses, pygmy goats and a deer. Hart’s love of animals can be observed through the memorials he established, including the cobblestone gravestone for his horse, Fritz, in one corner of the park and a dog graveyard on a trail. Overall, the park is spacious, green and shrouded in shady trees with ample picnic tables and benches for resting.

12:45 p.m.: Hike up the trail to Hart mansion for a tour. You may glimpse the bison that roam the northern part of the park.

1 p.m.: At the top of a winding trail is Hart’s Spanish Colonial-style mansion, La Loma de los Vientos (Hill of the Winds). Each half-hour, a guide emerges from the house to provide a tour. Built between 1925 and 1927, it was the retirement home for the silent-screen star. The tour starts in the dining room, where you’ll see a portrait of Hart on Fritz by artist James Montgomery Flagg, who also painted Uncle Sam on the U.S. Army recruiting posters (Uncle Sam’s face does seem to resemble Hart’s).

The house was designed and decorated to fulfill Hart’s love of the West with wooden beams stenciled in Navajo designs that complemented the American Indian rugs Hart collected and lavished over the floors. The house has some intriguing features, including an intercom system, a phone booth, a film projector built into the wall of the living room, an extra kitchen upstairs, a spiral staircase with iron railing and a bedroom specifically for Hart’s two Harlequin Great Danes, Prince and Gal.

The house has been left virtually as it was when Hart died in 1946. In his bedroom, Hart’s itchy wool, two-piece bathing suit is laid out on the bed; his cowboy boots rest by a chair and his little round spectacles sit atop his desk. The home also holds a collection of Western paintings by Charles Russell and works by other artists, as well as photographs of Hart and other old-time stars such as Will Rogers, Mary Pickford and Rudy Vallee.

1:30 p.m.: Make your way down the trail and head to the southern end of the park into the opening of Heritage Junction, where you will walk past historical buildings being reconstructed, such as the Newhall Ranch House and the Mitchell Schoolhouse Adobe. The long, yellow building with brown trim is the Saugus Train Station, a museum run by the Santa Clarita Historical Society. The museum is open only on weekends, but groups can arrange a tour.

Inside the museum, much of Santa Clarita’s history is detailed in mining relics, antique household items, historic photographs and displays. A historical society member will answer questions in the museum as you wander about, looking at chunks of the St. Francis Dam or relics of the Tataviam Indians.

The train station, moved in 1980 from its original site farther down San Fernando Road, also offers souvenirs, such as a wooden train whistle or striped engineer cap. And although the 19th-Century structure is in a new location, the trains continue to roll past on the nearby tracks.

You may get swept back as you stand on the hardwood floors of the old station, hear the real train whistle and feel its vibrations, a present-day version of the past.

Where and When What: William S. Hart Park and Museum, 24151 San Fernando Road, Newhall. Hours: Park open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m daily. Museum open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Call: Park, (805) 259-0855; museum, (805) 254-4584. What: Heritage Junction, William S. Hart Park grounds. Hours: 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, or by appointment. Price: Admission to park, museum and Heritage Junction is free. Call: (805) 254-1275. What: Way Station Coffee Shop, 24377 San Fernando Road, Newhall. Hours: 5 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Call: (805) 255-0222. What: Egg Plantation, 24415 Walnut St., Newhall. Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. Call: (805) 255-EGGS.