Placerita Canyon, CA

Film crews, hikers and horse owners all share the same two-lane road in Placerita Canyon. This rural canyon, unincorporated and under Los Angeles County rule, opens off the Antelope Valley Freeway just east of Newhall, and shortly past the on-ramp the stucco of Santa Clarita gives way to creekside oaks and chaparral walls. The canyon has three kinds of land, and they sit side by side. Private homes take up scattered lots along the road and its short side lanes, most of them roomy enough for animals, a big garden or a barn. The state park claims a long stretch of the canyon floor. Houses vary as much as the lots do. Older ranch houses sit near newer custom homes, and none of it follows a subdivision plan. That mix, with open land on nearly every side, gives Placerita Canyon the feel of a country road that happened to end up inside a large suburban valley. Placerita Canyon State Park is the everyday backyard. Its trails follow the creek under sycamores and willows, climb toward the ridgeline and pass the spot where gold was found in the 1840s, and on Saturdays the nature center leads free guided walks and brings out its resident animals. Old Town Newhall has the closest main street, with restaurants, pubs and The MAIN, a small stage that books plays, live music and comedy. Supermarkets and coffee are spread through the rest of Santa Clarita, and the freeway at the canyon mouth makes the run south to the San Fernando Valley simple. The tradeoff is that the canyon road does a lot of work. Living here means keeping an eye on the fire forecast and a full tank in the car. On a still evening the canyon smells of sage and oak, and the only lights up the road come from a scattering of porches under the oaks.