ONLINE EDITION!
PRINT
DIGITAL
I ♥ SCV
PrintI Heart SCV
SCV Tourists
April, 2025 - Issue #239
Santa Clarita has exactly one nice, vibey coffee shop, and I visit it to stay apprised of what people I can't stand are talking about. Some questions are perennial ("How's little McKennleighy-Jheanne doing in fourth grade?"), while others come and go. We're currently in "Got any fun trips planned?" season. The correct answer is to sound excited while simultaneously downplaying a summer trip that will cripple your family financially. While I listen to people dream about getting out of town, though, I am reminded that to others, Santa Clarita is the destination. And it can be tourist season here year-round.
Crime Tourists
Recently, Santa Clarita has been home base for what authorities call "crime tourists" - people who travel to a destination to burgle (Yes, that's the verb form.). Late last summer, many charges were brought against a 57-year-old SCV resident and his girlfriend. The pair are believed to have aided South American crime tourists, laundered money, committed fraud and more. Later this winter, the UK's The Daily Mail ran a story with the rather sensational headline: "Wealthy West Coast suburb living in fear as South American gang uses sinister tech to track them." Reporter Alyssa Guzman explained that yet more international thieves were using drones to peep into "San" Clarita Valley homes to find easy targets.
Sometimes the crime tourism flows the other way. Karen Mastey of Valencia seems to have thought the LA fires were a prime opportunity for looting. The CHP arrested her after she allegedly took chandeliers, planters, antiques and other items from a burnt-down property. If you'll allow me to quote The Daily Mail a second time: "Heartless woman wearing 'Palisades Strong' t-shirt caught stealing valuable antiques from home destroyed in LA fires." The Brits sure can headline. Let's hope the crime tourism trend, whichever way it flows, ends soon.
Tourism at Home
It's worth being a tourist at home sometimes. Do the cliched, popular things everyone else is doing for exactly that reason. The Cowboy Festival on April 12 and 13 is a good start. General admission is free. Come to Hart Park to see cowboys roping, listen to musicians and poets and contemplate whether a new cowboy hat is what you need to finally take the reins of your own life. Santa Clarita's two most famous hiking destinations are welcoming families. There are programs most weekends at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center, and the City has advertised family games and hiking at Towsley Canyon on April 27 at 10am.
It doesn't hurt to go a little farther afield, either. There's been a media blitz reminding people that their tourist dollars are very welcome in re-building Los Angeles. Plenty of stuff didn't burn down! (No, that's not the marketing slogan.). The Hollywood Sign still beckons. Marina del Rey makes for a great day out. The Getty Villa has been temporarily closed, but the Getty proper is welcoming visitors. The option of a day in LA is always available to us, yet some of us forget to take it. Don't.
Feathered Tourists
Every spring, literally billions of birds will fly to breeding grounds in the north. You might not notice them because they usually make their winged migrations high in the sky at night. If you want to catch a glimpse during daylight hours, though, one of the very best spots in all of Southern California happens to be on the rim of this very valley. Bear Divide - a little south of the Placerita Canyon Road and Sand Canyon Road intersection - was recently discovered to be a "migration hotspot." The mountains funnel many of the birds through one unassuming dirt parking lot - and it's truly a spectacle.
Early each spring morning, tiny, brightly-colored songbirds zip by, often right at eye level, dodging whatever birdwatchers may be in their way. There are scientific reports of well over 10,000 birds passing through in a single morning. A website, beardivide.org, shares photos and data, and April is usually the best month for a visit. Most of these birds are just tourists in Santa Clarita that will grab some berries and bugs and keep heading north. But maybe, just maybe, some of them remember and heart landing in the SCV's forested canyons, a welcoming pitstop on the journey.
This column is intended as satire and a (sometimes successful) attempt at humor. Suggestions and catty comments intended for the author can be e-mailed to iheartscv@insidescv.com.
"The option of a day in LA is always available to us, yet some of us forget to take it. DON'T."
Recently, Santa Clarita has been home base for what authorities call "crime tourists" - people who travel to a destination to burgle (Yes, that's the verb form.). Late last summer, many charges were brought against a 57-year-old SCV resident and his girlfriend. The pair are believed to have aided South American crime tourists, laundered money, committed fraud and more. Later this winter, the UK's The Daily Mail ran a story with the rather sensational headline: "Wealthy West Coast suburb living in fear as South American gang uses sinister tech to track them." Reporter Alyssa Guzman explained that yet more international thieves were using drones to peep into "San" Clarita Valley homes to find easy targets.
Sometimes the crime tourism flows the other way. Karen Mastey of Valencia seems to have thought the LA fires were a prime opportunity for looting. The CHP arrested her after she allegedly took chandeliers, planters, antiques and other items from a burnt-down property. If you'll allow me to quote The Daily Mail a second time: "Heartless woman wearing 'Palisades Strong' t-shirt caught stealing valuable antiques from home destroyed in LA fires." The Brits sure can headline. Let's hope the crime tourism trend, whichever way it flows, ends soon.
Tourism at Home
It's worth being a tourist at home sometimes. Do the cliched, popular things everyone else is doing for exactly that reason. The Cowboy Festival on April 12 and 13 is a good start. General admission is free. Come to Hart Park to see cowboys roping, listen to musicians and poets and contemplate whether a new cowboy hat is what you need to finally take the reins of your own life. Santa Clarita's two most famous hiking destinations are welcoming families. There are programs most weekends at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center, and the City has advertised family games and hiking at Towsley Canyon on April 27 at 10am.
It doesn't hurt to go a little farther afield, either. There's been a media blitz reminding people that their tourist dollars are very welcome in re-building Los Angeles. Plenty of stuff didn't burn down! (No, that's not the marketing slogan.). The Hollywood Sign still beckons. Marina del Rey makes for a great day out. The Getty Villa has been temporarily closed, but the Getty proper is welcoming visitors. The option of a day in LA is always available to us, yet some of us forget to take it. Don't.
Feathered Tourists
Every spring, literally billions of birds will fly to breeding grounds in the north. You might not notice them because they usually make their winged migrations high in the sky at night. If you want to catch a glimpse during daylight hours, though, one of the very best spots in all of Southern California happens to be on the rim of this very valley. Bear Divide - a little south of the Placerita Canyon Road and Sand Canyon Road intersection - was recently discovered to be a "migration hotspot." The mountains funnel many of the birds through one unassuming dirt parking lot - and it's truly a spectacle.
Early each spring morning, tiny, brightly-colored songbirds zip by, often right at eye level, dodging whatever birdwatchers may be in their way. There are scientific reports of well over 10,000 birds passing through in a single morning. A website, beardivide.org, shares photos and data, and April is usually the best month for a visit. Most of these birds are just tourists in Santa Clarita that will grab some berries and bugs and keep heading north. But maybe, just maybe, some of them remember and heart landing in the SCV's forested canyons, a welcoming pitstop on the journey.
This column is intended as satire and a (sometimes successful) attempt at humor. Suggestions and catty comments intended for the author can be e-mailed to iheartscv@insidescv.com.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
