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Bell Hartman mine miner’s cabin in the San Gabriel Mountains. 

This large rock located in the Angeles National Forest was used by Native Americans for celebrations and fertility rituals. Photos from the 1930s show that the rock was once covered with pictographs.

All of the pictographs are now gone. I read that the U.S. Forest Service allowed a stream to be moved decades ago which caused the pictographs to be washed away. Taggers have also defaced the rock and, many times, the cleanup is worse than the original graffiti.

There is this really unusual cogwheel-shaped “holy hole” that is carved deep into the rock. Some say that it is a gnomon. It projects a shadow pointing north when a stick is placed in it during the winter solstice. The shadow points to some of the pictographs. 

I’ve been studying and labeling this arial photo of the former Busch Gardens site that was once located in Pasadena in the early 1900s. Looking forward to trying to locate the Easter eggs that still exist such as Rustic Bridge, Grecian Pergola, stone ticket booth, foundations of outbuilding, stone pathways, fountains, and waterways. 

Plaque located at Inspiration Point within Circle X Ranch, “Whoever reaches Inspiration Point has met another challenge.” 

Battery 127 (1942-1948) - A World War II era artillery battery at White Point Nature Preserve located near San Pedro. 

The site of Cave of Munits & Castle Peak in El Escorpión Park is believed to contain two Indian villages and an Indian cemetery. There was a permanent settlement of about 60 or 100 Indians and a seasonal encampment for visitors. 

Native Americans called the site Huwam. The village was both bilingual and bicultural. The Chumash spoke their own language, while the Tongva Indians spoke a Shosh. In 1850 the census counted 93 Native Americans still living on the site.

The site attracted Native Americans because of the  presence of sulphur springs, which fed Bell Creek year-round, providing a reliable source of water. 

On the property there was a limekiln built by Spanish settlers, a ceremonial cave that was supposedly inhabited by an Indian shaman, a rock shelter and Castle Peak. 

Castle Peak was used by the Indians to celebrate winter solstice, a time of renewal. Indians from coastal areas would travel to the site on a temporary basis for the winter solstice ceremony in late December.

The property was later acquired by Miguel Leonis after he married the daughter of an Indian chief. There used to be an old adobe located on base of the mountain. It fell into disrepair and was later cleared to make way for a new housing development in the 50s. 

Chatsworth Calera Kiln site. It was a limestone quarry used to help build Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana in 1797.

Students from Cal State Northridge and Pierce College archaeology classes discovered and excavated the kiln site in 1974. 

Nearby oak trees were used for their branches to heat the limestone until it turned into a powdery ash that was then transported to the mission. 

The limestone ash would be combined with clay to make mortar for the bricks and tiles for the mission. 

Top left photo is the current site of the east portal of the 5-mile San Fernando Tunnel in Sylmar.

On June 23, 1971, while crews were drilling a water tunnel, an explosion occurred 250ft below 5 miles within the tunnel.

At current Foothill Boulevard and Roxford Street, rescue workers descended down the verticals shaft, located in the mid section of the tunnel, in an attempt to make a rescue. 

17 people were killed in the blast. 

Mission Wells Settling Basin in Sylmar, built in 1797. It’s the oldest historical structure in the San Fernando Valley. 

A couple huge bedrock mortars located near site of the former Seminole Hot Springs Resort in the Santa Monica Mountains. Native Americans used to bring their sick to soak in the hot springs.