Browse Items (1482 total)

A bridge crosses the Topanga Lagoon

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A bridge crosses the Topanga Lagoon, near Cooper's Camp and De Long Cafe. Plans were afoot to replace the bridge, which happened in 1933. This photo comes from a 1930 report submitted to the Citizens' Committee on Parks, Playgrounds, and Beaches, by…

Aerial view of Lower Topanga, 1928

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Aerial photo of Lower Topanga, 1928, showing Cooper's Camp (motel) and the Rodeo Grounds.

Frank Hudson with son Charles Hudson

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Frank Hudson with son Charles Hudson, who tried to canoe from Topanga Beach to Catalina Island.

Charles Hudson leaves Topanga Beach in a canoe

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A cartoon shows Charles Hudson leaving Topanga Beach in a canoe after boasting that he could reach Catalina Island.

Aerial view of Lower Topanga, 1927

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Aerial photo of Lower Topanga, 1927, showing Cooper's Camp (motel) and the Rodeo Grounds.

Aerial view of Lower Topanga, 1926

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Aerial photo of Lower Topanga, 1926, showing Cooper's Camp (motel) and the Rodeo Grounds.

Aerial view of Topanga Beach, 1925

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Aerial view of Topanga Beach, which is called "the probable future site of the finest Pacific coast estates."

Topanga Beach map, 1925

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Topanga Beach map, 1925, shows Brookside Drive, Shady Lane, The Rodeo Grounds, Topanga Lane (Topanga Canyon Lane), Old Malibu Road, and the former site of Arch Rock (Natural Arch).

Elks ride in a wagon to the Topanga Beach rodeo

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Prominent members of the Santa Monica Elks Lodge are shown riding in a wagon pulled by reindeer to the Topanga Beach rodeo. The photographic cartoon was created by Fred Coffey

Jack Curtis and Andy Andrews break ground for the rodeo

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Jack Curtis and Andy Andrews break ground for the Elks' Rodeo at Topanga Beach. The Elks built a frontier village.

Rodeo performer "Tuck" Gibson rides his horse

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Rodeo performer "Tuck" Gibson rides his horse Steamboat in the Rodeo Grounds.

A new coast road is built through Cooper's Camp

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A new coast road is built through Cooper's Camp, and over a Native American burial mound.

Florence Spence gives Edna Mae Spence a bath

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Florence Spence gives Edna Mae Spence a bath at their home on Topanga Lane, which would become Spence's Cabins.

Will Geer at his Theatricum Botanicum

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Will Geer breaks ground for the Shakespeare garden at his Theatricum Botanicum.

A hiking group walks down Topanga Canyon Blvd.

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A hiking group walks down Topanga Canyon Blvd. to the Time Tunnel.

Topanga Ranch Motel key

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Topanga Ranch Motel cabin #19 was the home of Jack Lester Sr. and his sons Kim and Jack Jr. They lived in multiple cabins from 1963 until it closed in 2002... about half of the motel's existence!

Program for the Elks' Round-Up at Cooper's Ranch

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A program for the Elks' Round-Up at Cooper's Ranch shows a list of prizes.

On June 2-3, 1923, the Elks threw a two-day rodeo at Cooper's Ranch (behind Cooper's Camp, in the Rodeo Grounds). The stated purpose was to raise money to send their band…

Dick Sherman drives a tractor

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Richard "Dick" Sherman founded Topanga Underground in 1971, a business specializing in designing and installing septic systems, water mains, and underground utilities.

John Wiley and Laura Wiley sit on a motorcycle

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John Wiley and Laura Wiley sit on a Triumph motorcycle in a publicity photo for the film "Premonition," directed by Otto Preminger's son, Otto Preminger Jr. The film was not completed.

John Wiley and Marguerite Wiley sit on a motorcycle

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John Wiley and Marguerite Wiley sit on a Triumph motorcycle in a publicity photo for the film "Premonition," directed by Otto Preminger's son, Otto Preminger Jr. The film was not completed.

Grand Marshall Will Geer at Topanga Days

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Grand Marshall Will Geer presides at Topanga Days. Penny Peterson is next to him in a blue dress.

In the background are Jan Moore in a blue shirt, and Michelle Christensen with blond hair under the "Topanga Days" sign.

In the foreground is…

Herta Ware, Will Geer, and Anne Lanaro at the parade

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Grand Marshall Will Geer waits with ex-wife Herta Ware and Anne Lanaro for the start of the Topanga Days Parade.

Dolores Trujillo drives a wagon through Topanga Creek

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Topanga pioneer Dolores Trujillo (probably in the left front seat) drives through Topanga Creek in a horse-drawn wagon, transporting the chain gang's road-building equipment back to the beach.

Charlie Chaplin escapes from prison in "The Adventurer"

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Charlie Chaplin runs away from the chain gang and prison camp at Topanga Beach, in his film "The Adventurer," 1917

A prison camp in Lower Topanga housed a chain gang

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A prison camp in Lower Topanga housed a chain gang while they built the Topanga Canyon Road.

"The great dormitory sits in the center of what will soon be a beautiful garden. The prisoners have already marked off the plot for flower…

A car parks at the bottom of the S-Turns

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A man and woman park their car on the curb of the newly widened Topanga Canyon Road, at the bottom of the S-Turns.

A man in a suit and a woman in a dress stand beside a cave

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A man in a suit and a woman in a long dress stand beside a large rock with a shallow cave on Topanga Canyon Road in Lower Topanga.

Women sit beside a large rock, holding flowers

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Women, wearing dresses and large hats, hold flowers and sit with men in suits beside a large rock on the bank of Topanga Creek in Lower Topanga.

Men in suits and women in dresses on Topanga Canyon Road

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Men in suits and women in long dresses pause on Topanga Canyon Road in Lower Topanga.

Five men in suits pose beside Topanga Creek

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Five men in suits pose beside Topanga Creek in Lower Topanga. A jacket is draped over their car.

Two men in suits walk down Topanga Canyon Road

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Two men in suits walk down Topanga Canyon Road in Lower Topanga. They have draped their coats over their shoulders.

Two cars park on the newly widened Topanga Canyon Road

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Two cars full of people park on the newly widened Topanga Canyon Road in Lower Topanga. On the right, a man gets water from a spring.

Theodore Gegoux painting, "Topanga Canyon, Mountains on the Coast," 1915

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Theodore Gegoux's painting, "Topanga Canyon, Mountains on the Coast," shows Topanga Beach, Topanga Lagoon, and the entrance to Topanga Canyon.

Jack Rabbit Lodge, a long barn, and a plowed field

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Jack Rabbit Lodge, a long barn, and a plowed field were once beside the Topanga Lagoon at Topanga Beach.

Cars drive on a dirt road at Topanga Beach

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Cars drive on a dirt road at Topanga Beach near the former site of Arch Rock.

The Topanga Canyon road between the coast and the grade

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The Topanga Canyon road was once a narrow dirt road, as seen here between the coast and the grade.

Topanga Beach before the automobile age

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Topanga Beach had only one house "before the automobile age." This photo was taken from Sunset Mesa.

D. W. Griffith directs a Western on horseback

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D. W. Griffith directed the Western "Crossing the American Prairies in the Early Fifties" in Lower Topanga. He spoke through a megaphone from the saddle of a cream-colored horse. He included 200 cowboys from nearby ranches, 50 women and children, 120…

Western actors play Native Americans and settlers

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D. W. Griffith directed the Western "Crossing the American Prairies in the Early Fifties" in Lower Topanga. He spoke through a megaphone from the saddle of a cream-colored horse. He included 200 cowboys from nearby ranches, 50 women and children, 120…

Western actors with rifles and wagons play settlers

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D. W. Griffith directed the Western "Crossing the American Prairies in the Early Fifties" in Lower Topanga. He spoke through a megaphone from the saddle of a cream-colored horse. He included 200 cowboys from nearby ranches, 50 women and children, 120…

Native-American skulls discovered in Lower Topanga

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William Wills Coolbaugh discovered the bones of Native Americans in a mound in Lower Topanga. At least one of the skulls had an arrowhead embedded in it. Others were crushed. A Stanford Archaeology class came to assist, and conjectured that the…

William Wills Coolbaugh holds a Native-American skull

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William Wills Coolbaugh holds a Native-American skull that he dug out of a mound in Lower Topanga.

Native-American artifacts discovered in Lower Topanga

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William Wills Coolbaugh discovered these Native-American artifacts in a mound in Lower Topanga. In addition to arrowheads, spearheads, necklaces, and skulls, they include an "idol" statue, made of polished bone, on which “The eyes and nose of the…

E. Roger Stearns fishes in Topanga Creek from his car

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Car salesman E. Roger Stearns made a publicity stunt out of fishing in Topanga Creek from the seat of his red Velie,

Rock riprap along Topanga Creek, near PCH

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Boulders were placed as rock riprap along the right bank of Topanga Creek, 600 feet upstream from Pacific Coast Highway.

Bridge over Topanga Creek, at the bottom of the S-Turns

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A man walks on the bridge over Topanga Creek, at the bottom of the S-Turns, where the water-level gauging station was.

Close-up of cable car used to measure Topanga Creek

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A cable car was used to gauge the water level of Topanga Creek at the bottom of the S-Turns.

A cable car was used to measure Topanga Creek

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A cable car was used to gauge the water level of Topanga Creek at the bottom of the S-Turns.

A swimming hole in Topanga Creek, near Camp Wildwood

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The Greenleaf family stands beside a natural swimming hole in Topanga Creek, north of Camp Wildwood.

Barn owl

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A barn owl sleeps in a tree on Koontz Way.

Heidi Staun and her children at their Topangster Ranch

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Heidi Staun and her family sit on a Land Rover car at their Topangster Ranch in Old Topanga Canyon.

BACK ROW:
Noble Staun , Heidi Staun, Sage Staun
FRONT ROW:
Evita Staun, Beau Staun, Soleil Staun

The last residents of the Rodeo Grounds 2/2

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The last residents of the Rodeo Grounds gather on a couch at James Mathers's party.

BACK ROW: Christof Marquardsen, Michele Capra, Bernt Capra, Jean-Louis Bartoli, Kendall Perkins ("Lyf"), Robin Paz ("Lunch Lady").

FRONT ROW: Daisy Duck…

The last residents of the Rodeo Grounds 1/2

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The last residents of the Rodeo Grounds gather on a couch at James Mathers's party.

BACK ROW: Michele Capra, Calvin Lunsford, Farengis Danesh, Kendall Perkins ("Lyf"), Robin Paz ("Lunch Lady"), Sam Rollins.

FRONT ROW: Daisy Duck McCrackin,…

The boat house ("Mother S’hippo") at Topangster Ranch

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Heidi Staun and her children built the boat house ("Mother S’hippo") at Topangster Ranch around their mobile home after a fire burned their house in Old Topanga Canyon.

An outdoor bed at Topangster Ranch

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Three dogs guard an outdoor bed ("Mountain Bed") at Topangster Ranch in Old Topanga Canyon.

T. H. Webster painting, "Topango Canyon," 1934

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This watercolor painting shows Marmont Studio, the home of painter Laura Way Mathiesen at Brookside. It burned in the 1938 fire.

Topanga Bombers reunion T-shirt, 1991

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Topanga Bomber Jim Fitzpatrick commissioned skateboard artist Sean Cliver to design this reunion T-shirt in 1991. It was printed at Powell-Peralta Skateboards.

Fitzpatrick asked Cliver to modify the logo of the Santa Cruz Surfers Union by adding a…

Woody Woodward's Skateboarding Hall of Fame T-shirt

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Woody Woodward skates on a T-shirt created by Logan Earth Ski to commemorate his induction into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2013.

Woody Woodward rides his new Hobie surfboard

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Woody Woodward rides a wave on his first new surfboard, from Hobie.