Discover 15 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Getty Villa, Malibu Hindu Temple, and Santa Monica Mountains. Also, be sure to include Solstice Canyon in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (California).
Table of Contents
Getty Villa
Manor on bluff with artifact collection. The Getty Villa is at the easterly end of the Malibu coast in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. One of two campuses of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Villa is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The collection has 44,000 Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities dating from 6,500 BC to 400 AD, including the Lansdowne Heracles and the Victorious Youth. The UCLA/Getty Master's Program in Archaeological and Ethnographic Conservation is housed on this campus.[1]
Address: 17985 Pacific Coast Hwy, 90272 Pacific Palisades (West Los Angeles)
Malibu Hindu Temple
Hindu temple in Los Angeles County, California. Malibu Hindu Temple, a temple of the Hindu god Venkateswara, built in 1981, is located in the city of Calabasas near Malibu, California, in the Santa Monica Mountains. It is owned and operated by the Hindu Temple Society of Southern California. Built in the traditional South Indian style, it is frequented by followers of Hinduism in Southern California. It is one of the largest Hindu temples in the Western hemisphere.
The priests are situated and live on the grounds of the temple. The temple has many gatherings for ceremonies and provides numerous spaces for meditation and picnicking. It has a full stage for special cultural and Hindu programs.[2]
Address: 1600 Las Virgenes Canyon Rd, 91302-1920 Calabasas
Santa Monica Mountains
Mountain range in California. The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in California. Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is located in this mountain range.[3]
Solstice Canyon
Park in Los Angeles County, California. Solstice Canyon is a park within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Malibu, California. Located off Corral Canyon Road from Pacific Coast Highway, the canyon runs north-to-south about a mile east of Point Dume. The park opened on June 20, 1988 and was created out of land owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Before becoming a park, the land was known as Roberts Ranch and, from 1961 to 1973, hosted a space research facility.
In 2003, a Chumash grave site was discovered within the park.[4]
Satwiwa
Village. Satwiwa was a former Chumash village in the Santa Monica Mountains of Newbury Park, California. The current Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center is operated by the National Park Service in cooperation with the Friends of Satwiwa. Satwiwa has been inhabited by Chumash Indians for over 10,000 years. It is situated at the foothills of Boney Mountain, a sacred mountain for the Chumash.
Bordering thousands of acres of wilderness in the Santa Monica Mountains, the fauna surrounding Satwiwa includes golden eagles, mountain lions, Valley coyotes, snakes, bobcats, foxes, falcons, and hawks.
The main trail from Satwiwa is nicknamed the backdoor to the Point Mugu State Park. Satwiwa is one of the four primary entrances to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.[5]
Sandstone Peak
Mountain in California. Sandstone Peak, also known as Mount Allen, is a mountain in Ventura County, California, and the highest summit in the Santa Monica Mountains with an elevation of 3,114 feet. Located near the western edge of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the summit provides panoramic views of Malibu, The Pacific Ocean, Santa Monica, the Conejo Valley, and four of the Channel Islands. The peak separates the drier inland valley from the coast facing side with higher humidity. The Sandstone Peak Trail, which leads to the top, connects to a vast trail system in the area, including the Backbone Trail. The mountain is highly popular with climbers, hikers, campers, and photographers.
The Boy Scouts of America petitioned the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to name the mountain for W. Herbert Allen who had donated land for nearby Camp Circle X and other Boy Scout camps. He served as president of the Los Angeles Area Council. The board denied the request because of a long-standing policy not to approve a geographic name in commemoration of a living person. The land is now known as the Circle X Ranch, a park unit located in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.[6]
Address: Sandstone Peak Spur, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
Will Rogers State Historic Park
State park in Los Angeles, California. Will Rogers State Historic Park is the former estate of American humorist Will Rogers. It lies in the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles, in the Pacific Palisades area.[7]
Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve
County park in California. The Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve is a large open space nature preserve owned and operated by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy spanning nearly 3,000 acres in the Simi Hills of western Los Angeles County and eastern Ventura County.
Originally part of Ahmanson Ranch, this area was sold by Seattle-based Washington Mutual to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy in late 2003 after lengthy issues concerning development in the chaparral shrub forest and oak savanna understory and overstory Plant communities. It was previously called Ahmanson Ranch Park. It sustained severe damage during the Woolsey Fire of 2018.[8]
Tri Peaks
Peak. Tri Peaks is, after Sandstone Peak, one of the highest points in the Santa Monica Mountains with an elevation of 3,009 feet.[9]
Boney Peak
Peak in California. Boney Mountain in Ventura County, California is one of the highest peaks in the Santa Monica Mountains. The prominent mountain visible from Newbury Park, California is 2,825 feet. It is also known as Boney Peak. The mountain contains four of the highest peaks in the coastal range of the Santa Monica Mountains: Boney Peak, Sandstone Peak, Exchange Peak, and Tri Peaks. The highest summit in the Santa Monica Mountains is Sandstone Peak, situated less than a mile northeast of Boney Peak along the same ridge of volcanic rock. It is the top section of a mass of volcanic rock which solidified around 15 million years ago, and was later uplifted to its dominant position, overshadowing western Conejo Valley. The Chumash Native Americans have a long and deeply spiritual history of interaction at and near the mountain, and the peak is considered a sacred mountain to the Chumash people.
It is located in the Circle X Ranch Park, within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The surrounding Boney Mountain State Wilderness Area lies within the eastern portion of Point Mugu State Park. Boney Mountain State Wilderness includes trail access to the rest of Point Mugu State Park, as well as Big Sycamore Canyon and Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center. Hiking trails from Satwiwa Native American Cultural Center in southernmost Newbury Park reach Boney Mountain and Peak, and feature views of the Pacific Ocean, Channel Islands, and Mount Baldy. Nearby trails lead to Danielson Monument and the Sycamore Canyon Waterfall.
Boney Mountain was described by Chumash Indians to anthropologist John P. Harrington around year 1900:
Early one morning in 9080 B.C. the ancestral grandfather from whom I took my name, headed west on one of his most adventurous hunting trips ever.. As the group climbed Old Boney, they looked back to the north and could see the pleasant openings of the Conejo- and Hidden Valleys. There, there appeared to be good grazing ground for the mammoth herd and they proceeded thence.
The story may be a lore related to the Paleo-Indians, the distant ancestors of the Chumash. An ancient Chumash village known as Satwiwa was located at the foothills of the mountain, which remains sacred to the Chumash people. Satwiwa is believed to be first inhabited 13,000 years ago, and was still a Chumash inhabitation site as of 2,000 years ago.
In 2019, newspaper photos showed the peak was frosted with snow. Long time Newbury Park residents said it was the first time they had seen snow on the peak.[10]
Exchange Peak
Peak in California. Exchange Peak is, after Sandstone Peak and with Tri-Peaks, one of the highest points in the Santa Monica Mountains with an elevation of 2,953 feet.[11]
Skirball Cultural Center
Museum, Specialty museum, History museum
Address: 2701 N Sepulveda Blvd, 90049-6833 Los Angeles (West Los Angeles)
Simi Peak
Peak in California. Simi Peak is the highest peak in the Simi Hills of Southern California, at 2,405 feet.[12]
Corral Canyon
The Corral Canyon is a valley of the Santa Monica Mountains that slopes down to the striking and diverse terrain of the Malibu coast.
Corral Canyon State Park protects the southern portion of the valley and is managed and operated by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority in partnership with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. A loop trail climbs the slope of the valley within the park and loops back to the start. The trail starts at a small parking area on Pacific Coast Highway that runs along a narrow coastal terrace.[13]
San Vicente Mountain
Park in Los Angeles, California. San Vicente Mountain Park is a former Nike Missile Radar/Control Site in Southern California. The site is located on city-owned land above the Encino Reservoir along the unpaved portion of Mulholland Drive west of the 405 freeway. Access is by a short hike past a gate on a portion of dirt Mulholland Drive between Encino Hills Drive and Canoga Avenue.[14]
Address: 17500 Mulholland Dr, 90049 Los Angeles