We, like many fellow Angelenos, tend to stick to the places we know, and we sometimes forget how big L.A. and its environs are. We thought we should rectify that by starting a regular entry here at Curbed LA, called “Where the Hell is ___?”. We will briefly explore a randomly selected little known city or neighborhood. When we say “little known” that means little known to us, so you people who live in our featured communities shouldn’t get in a huff that we don’t have the entire L.A. County map memorized. We just want to edumacate ourselves and our readers. If you, our faithful readers, have better or more accurate information about a community than we provide in our entries, please inform us rather than stewing about it. We hope you enjoy.
The honor of first entry for “Where the Hell is?” goes to the community of Castaic. Many of you have probably driven through Castaic on I-5 on your way to somewhere else. Castaic is an unincorporated community in the Castaic Canyon north of Santa Clarita that encompasses about 100 square miles and where about 22,000 suckers people call home. Once a stop along the historic Ridge Route (linking L.A. and the San Joaquin Valley), Castaic is now part of the ever-increasing Los Angeles sprawl zone with developments like Newhall Ranch.
Unlike myriad other suburbs, though, Castaic has water. Pyramid Lake and Castaic Lake are both nearby; Castaic Lake is the terminus of the west branch of the State Water Project.
Castaic’s name comes from the Native American word “kashtuk,” which means “eyes.” We will not be answering the question, “why the hell is it called that?” in this post, however.
· Castaic Area Town Council
· Wikipedia: Castaic, California
Update: We forgot to mention that Castaic is also the home of the county prision that has made headlines recently because the inmates have not been playing so nicely and are killing each other. Fun!