I figured I should check out the Malibu Creek State Park before it gets shut down. The entrance is by the intersection of Mulholland Hwy and Las Virgenes Rd. Mulholland is one of my favorite drives whenever I start to feel too claustrophobic in the city.
It took me a while to get oriented. To be honest, I never did. I simply just picked a trail that looked promising and kept going. It ended up being a nice six-mile hike, or rather walk. 
The park has a little bit of everything; grasslands, high peaks, streams, small lakes, forest. I saw a couple of large eagles of some sort, a few rabbits and a bunch of lizards.According to wikipedia:
"Malibu Creek State Park is a California state park near Malibu, in Calabasas. It opened to the public in 1976, This majority of the park is made up of land donated by Bob Hope and Ronald Reagan. Other parts of the ranch added later were owned by paramount studios and fox studios. Most recently an area formerly used by Soka university was annexed to the park. It is known as gillete ranch because the buildings were build by the original owner Gillete the razor manufacturer."
I had no idea. I did find the place where they once shot MASH. Some rusty old vehicles are still there.
There was also a shed with a sign on it, saying that due to repeated break-ins, the shed is now unlocked, and please respect the display inside and close the door once you are done. So I did. There were a couple of display signs and the road marker with the distance to places from Seoul to Boston, but I doubt that it was the original one. (What the heck is that called anyway?)
I think that mountain in the background might be the one over which the helicopters fly in, during the opening credits of MASH.
By the way, Robert Altman's movies are hit and miss for me. He is universally hailed for Nashville, but I could never stand it. Maybe because it doesn't have a single likable character. MASH on the other hand is one of my favorites, despite of its intermittent undercurrent of misogyny. At the time I first arrived to the US I had no idea that MASH was also made into a tv show, and was very confused seeing it in the tv guide scheduled in half an hour increments Monday through Friday. When I tuned in just got more flummoxed; it kinda looked like the movie, but it was not. I would have felt like I was on an episode of the Twilight Zone - if only I wasn't completely ignorant of that show too. I had similar experience with Beauty and the Beast - which I knew only as an old French film, directed by Jean Cocteau.
PS. Did you know that the lyrics of theme song for MASH ("Suicide Is Painless") were written by Robert Altman's then 14-year old son Mike, who made more money on royalties than his father did for directing the movie?
(Photos taken with iPhone 3GS)
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17 comments:
Yes, yes, no, yes ...
Juicy post! I just got off Echo with a skinned knee (hate going downhill).
Mulholland is one of my favorite drives too, but I haven't done much exploring. As you said, better strike while the iron is still plugged in.
So Cocteau vs disney gave you a shock, did it? Imagine that.
The was even pre-Disney. Remember the tv show with Linda Hamilton an Ron Pearlman?
That Echo climb is one nice workout. There is a group hike going up there every Wednesday evening, but I rather do it by myself. I'm slow uphill.
Well, now you've inspired me. I must go. And I did not know that about Altman's son. Amazing.
When I went, the lake with the jutting rock had been taken over by a film shoot. Nashville the remake? ......I remember walking past the M.A.S.H. site and eventually hit a dead end when I came up to someone's back yard.
Sweet circle of life or seven degrees of separation. My landlord was (he sold the building) Wayne Rogers. He was the original Trapper John on the television series. For Christmas he handed me a box with a bow on it. I thought it was a bottle of wine. Turns out it was a fire extinguisher.
Cheap f*&%ck
Why are they shutting the park down? There is just no honor for nature anymore...
PA, maybe he was concerned about your safety.
Drew, 220 California state parks are in danger of getting shut down because of the budget crisis. If you go two posts down you can read some more about it.
I'm from Colorado but lived in Pasadena for a year, and I went to this State Park - beautiful and so nice to get out of the crowds. Thanks for posting.
Always the optimist. I think it was more about law suits. The place is scary in terms of electrical wiring. An electrician who visited told me at the first smell of smoke run for the exits.
I'm sorry this park is being shut down. (Not that the park cares, it'll probably thrive with less traffic on the trails.) But can they really keep us out if we want to get in? What will the difference be, I wonder? Less maintenance on the trails? Fewer rangers? No one to help if you sprain your ankle going down hill?
Well, parking for starters. There is limited parking possibility outside, definitely not enough for weekend crowds. This park has multiple swimming holes, very popular in the hot summer months. The park currently also has camping, which would be gone. Trails would not be maintained, portapotties that are currently can be found along the big trails and the main areas, and bathrooms at the parking lots, visitor center at Jutting Rock, would all be unavailable.
Technically, if the park is closed and you go in anyway, aren't you trespassing?
Absolutely. But who would be there to catch you? The state won't be employing rangers, I presume.
Wouldn't that be funny, if they spent more on keeping you out than keeping the place open?
Do you mean funny ha ha or funny tear your hear out?
"It hurts when I laugh" funny.
The amount spent to clean up after the fires, vagrants, and vandalism will be insane. And that's just the money part. The huge cost will be what happens when people are cut off from natural beauty.
Let's go in together on a big tent.
I keep meaning to go there...always drive by on the way to the beach thinking one day, one day. But you're right, better go before it's too late!
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