Sandstone Retreat

Topanga () (Tongva: Topaa'nga) is an unincorporated community in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, the community exists in Topanga Canyon and the surrounding hills. The narrow southern portion of Topanga at the coast is between the city of Malibu and the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades. As of the 2020 census the population of the Topanga CDP was 8,560. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Topanga as a census-designated place (CDP). The ZIP code is 90290 and the area code is primarily 310, with 818 only at the north end of the canyon. It is in the 3rd County Supervisorial district.

Lobal Orning was a record and book store located in the mountains north of the Pacific Coast Highway in the small community of Topanga, California, United States.It sold a selection of music and books, from classic literature to pulp. The store was described by local press as "one of Topanga’s unfortunately best-kept secrets".The store was run by rock musician Justin Chancellor of the band Tool, and his wife Shelee Dykman, who coined the phrase "lobal orning" which meant "to decorate the mind", in the sense of ornamenting the lobes of the brain. The store closed March 1, 2008.

Moon Fire Temple is a sacred garden temple located in the Santa Monica Mountains with a 360 degree panoramic view overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Malibu and the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Doors performed at the Moon Fire Temple regularly during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The temple was built for the 1966 Paul Newman film, Harper, and is featured prominently as The Temple in the Clouds.Artists who have featured their work include Andy Warhol, David Nelson Rose, Bon Jovi, Mastodon, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Dokken's music video "Walk Away", and Tommy Chong in Far Out Man. Media appearances include: Harper (1966 film) The Stone Killer (1973 film) Far Out Man (1990 film) Babylon A.D. (2008 film) Maxim magazine Bebe magazine Italian Vogue magazine Vogue magazine Violet magazine High Times magazine Amica magazine

The Coffee House Positano was a cafe on the southern border of Malibu, California. It was opened in 1957 by Mike Dutton, a radio pioneer, and his wife, Lorees, an aspiring writer. Located on the cliff side of the Pacific Coast Highway on a 140-acre, undeveloped piece of land, (19543 Pacific Coast Highway). Positano quickly became a success even though there was no sign on the highway to indicate where it was located and the Duttons never advertised its existence. People learned of it strictly by word of mouth. Positano was fundamentally different from the some forty other coffee houses that could be found in the greater Los Angeles area. These places tended to appeal to a young crowd and were generally focused on folk music. particularly folk rock. While Positano offered some of the same things as other coffee houses – exotic coffees, deserts, sandwiches, chess games, a bookstore, poetry readings, and a place to hang out, the Duttons offered an amazing array of other activities – from avant garde theater performances like Picasso’s one-act play, Desire Trapped by the Tail, to a regularly scheduled evenings of political debate with speakers who ranged from communists to John Birchers. Writers, university professors and politicians often spoke about a vast array of topics—like anthropologist Count Taylor on the rise of black identity in the US—or authors such as John Howard Lawson, Lawrence Lipton and Anais Nin, who would read from their new works. Paintings were always on display and for sale. On the days when Positano was closed, various classes like life drawing were taught by artists such as Keith Finch. The jazz and folk music at Positano was spontaneous and free. People simply appeared, play their music and left. For two seasons, Playhouse Positano operated as an open- air theater. The almost immediate popularity of Positano caused the Duttons to create a membership. People could visit only three times before joining. When Positano closed in 1962, the membership totaled over 2500 people. People in the entertainment business particularly those living in the Malibu area frequented the place – David and Gloria Stone Martin, John Howard Larson, and John Houseman to name a few. Some people from the European exile community like Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood also visited. Many of the so-called beat poets, like Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso, came down from San Francisco to visit. The policy of the Duttons was to “ignore” any celebrity who showed up so that they could enjoy themselves without being hassled by their admirers. Soon after Positano closed, Jerry Ziegman, a scriptwriter for the television series Peyton Place, became the resident manager of the property, representing Manocherian Brothers, and established an art community which lasted until 1993 when the buildings were burned down. Anthropologist Jay Ruby has published an enhanced book, Coffee House Positano: Bohemian Oasis in Malibu - 1957-1962. Special Collections at UCLA are in the process of archiving Lorees Yerby Dutton's and Jerry Ziegman's papers.

Saddle Peak is a mountain located in the Santa Monica Mountains between Malibu and Calabasas. The summit is accessible via the Backbone Trail. There is also a feeder trail to the top from near the top of Stunt Road (just 1 block below the ridge intersection with Scheuren Road at the viewpoint) maintained by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. And there is an informal trail up the bottom East nose of the massif right across the intersection from the Scheuren Viewpoint. This latter trail passes around a water tower and eventually joins the main trails near the top. Vegetation is sparse on the peak; dwarf forest and chaparral on the approaches, scrub and grassy at the top. Some oaks at lower elevations. The true summit is the South Eastern hummock, much degraded. Views from here are of the Pacific Ocean to the West, and other ridges and peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains to the East and West. There is a second summit reached by private road, to the Northwest, with a wire-fenced compound of numerous radio relay towers. At the far end beyond the compound is a house site foundation in disrepair. This slope burned in 1989. Beyond and below that is a private road back down to Stunt Road, with private residences below. There are occasionally rattlesnakes on the SMMC trail.

Las Tunas is a former settlement in Los Angeles County, California. It lay an elevation of 3 feet (1 m). It was located near Topanga, California.

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area containing many individual parks and open space preserves, located primarily in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. The SMMNRA is in the greater Los Angeles region, with two thirds of the parklands in northwest Los Angeles County, and the remaining third, including a Simi Hills extension, in southeastern Ventura County. Overall administration is by the National Park Service, coordinating with state, county, municipal, and university agencies. The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area preserves one of the best examples of a Mediterranean climate ecosystem in the world. It also protects one of the highest densities of archaeological resources in any mountain range in the world.In size the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is the largest urban national park in the United States and the largest urban national park in the world.The Woolsey Fire in November 2018 burned 83% of all National Park Service land in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve, also known as UCLA Stunt Ranch, is a 121-hectare (310-acre) University of California Natural Reserve System reserve and biological field station located in Los Angeles County. The reserve protects habitat surrounded by the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The address is 1201 Stunt Road, Calabasas, California. Located 13 km (8 miles) north of the town of Malibu, the reserve is administered by the University of California, Los Angeles.

The Topanga Fire was a wildfire that ignited on September 28, 2005, in the Santa Susana Mountains, to the northwest of Chatsworth and the San Fernando Valley in Southern California.

The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, named for the English botanist John Parkinson's herbal, Theatrum Botanicum (1640), is an open-air theater founded in Topanga Canyon, near The Getty Villa by Will Geer in 1973.In the 1950s, Geer was blacklisted for refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He had to sell his large Santa Monica home and move his family to a small plot in the canyon where they could grow their own produce. Geer's friend Woody Guthrie had a small shack on the property. They unintentionally founded what became an artists' colony. Since its founding in 1973, the Geer family has continued to operate the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. Geer's former wife, Herta Ware, helped develop the outdoor summer theatre and continued to appear in plays there after her husband's death in 1978. The company features Shakespeare, as well as modern and contemporary authors. The theater, set in the natural amphitheater of a mountain canyon, is also used for occasional concerts. Will Geer combined his acting and botanical careers at the Theatricum, by making sure that every plant mentioned in Shakespeare was grown there. Geer's ashes are at the site along with a bust in his likeness. Ware's ashes are there, as well.

Arch Rock was a natural arch formation located just south of Topanga Canyon along the coast of Santa Monica Bay, Los Angeles County, California in the United States. Arch Rock was located at what is now 18412 Pacific Coast Highway. It was a popular destination for day trips from the young town of Santa Monica. The arch collapsed or was surreptitiously demolished the evening of March 24, 1906, possibly because it was an inconvenient obstacle to creating a coast route for the new-fangled automobiles. Another account says a railroad crew dynamited the formation under cover of darkness. A coach route had previously traveled right under the arch but was only accessible at low tide.Nearby Castle Rock was demolished as part of a road expansion project in 1945.

Calabasas Peak is a mountain located in the Santa Monica Mountains in the city of Calabasas, California. The summit is accessible via the Calabasas Peak Motorway, a wide trail maintained by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The Calabasas Peak Motorway is accessible from Old Topanga Canyon Road and Stunt Road trailheads, as well as an informal path on a trailhead on Mulholland Highway.The peak is the highest point in a wide ascent that runs parallel to Mulholland Highway, which is a part of the larger Santa Monica Mountains. The mountain is vegetated by dwarf forest shrubbery and chaparral plants around the mountainside and ascending trail, but is composed of large rock formations and sand at the peak. Certain wildlife and animals are a common sight around the mountain range, including deer, rattlesnakes, and coyotes. The mountain and trail was partially burned during the 2016 Old Fires in Calabasas, and again during the 2018 Woolsey Fire. After these fires, the mountainside vegetation and wildlife quickly returned, due to the region's natural acclimation to wildfires.