Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society

10/27/2026

Polar Express Experience 2026

Celebrate the holidays at the Santa Clarita History Center on December 5, 2026, noon–4 p.m. Enjoy group photos with locomotive No. 1629, The Polar Express story, museum tours and treats. Tickets are $25 per group of up to eight....

Celebrate the holidays at the Santa Clarita History Center on December 5, 2026, noon–4 p.m. Enjoy group photos with locomotive No. 1629, The Polar Express story, museum tours and treats. Tickets a…

09/21/2026

We're launching a new series of "Dock Talk" with one of the most interesting people we know! Fresh from his remarks at the Lang 150 event, Eugene will expound on the Chinese workers' experiences building the railroad and share some stories about his involvement in public history and historic preservation FREE! This Sunday, at 3 pm. Come early and explore THREE of our museums; the Saugus Train Station Museum, the Edison House, and the Kingsburry House. See you Sunday!

08/27/2026

See where the magic happened and drive a "golden" spike at Lang, then visit River's End Pub and BBQ for a fundraiser that benefits the SCV Historical Society! Bring your friends, enjoy great food and drink, information and activity booths while you help the SCVHS preserve our colorful heritage!

On September 5, 1876, crowds gathered at Lang, a station on the Southern Pacific Railroad’s new San Joaquin line. More than a year earlier, railroad magnate Charles Crocker had hired 3,000 Chinese workers to work from opposite directions toward Lang. The people were there to witness the “Wedding...

07/28/2026

Join us at Lang Station on September 5 at 10am to celebrate the 150 year anniversary of the joining of the rails connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco! We hope to see you there!

For more info visit SCVHS.org

07/19/2026

Located in Hart Park, the SCV History Center is waiting for you to come explore and learn! Our grounds are open daily from 8am-5pm and The Saugus Train Station Museum is open Saturdays from 1pm-4pm. We can’t wait to see you soon!

Donate and support the center through the link in our bio!

06/15/2026

At home in Brentwood in 2006, James Arness talks about how John Wayne recommended him for the role of Matt Dillon after declining Gunsmoke himself, and how Wayne introduced the first episode in 1955. He remembers filming the early outdoor scenes at Melody Ranch in Placerita Canyon, when the Santa Clarita Valley was still open country and Western crews could shoot in nearly any direction without seeing houses, telephone poles or modern development.

James Arness spent 20 years as Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, but...

06/01/2026

Click the image to watch ... In this episode of Points of Interest, Philip Scorza travels from the Cascades in present-day Sylmar to the Owens Valley with Dr. Alan Pollack and Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. Together they trace the story behind the Water Wars: aqueduct bombings, the seizure of the Alabama Gates, the kidnapping of L.C. Hall, the Watterson brothers, the collapse of local banks, and the fight over whether Los Angeles was saving itself or destroying an entire valley.

Before Los Angeles became a modern metropolis, it needed water. Tha...

05/27/2026

Click the image to watch ... "Points of Interest" host Philip Scorza follows the old Southern Pacific right-of-way from the Saugus Train Station at William S. Hart Park to Santa Paula, with stops along the route to look at bridges, surviving rail features, former station sites, cattle pens and railroad equipment. The program includes a remarkable historic film clip of a Southern Pacific cab-forward steam locomotive barreling through Saugus in the late 1930s or early 1940s and snatching a U.S. Mail pouch from a mail catcher post.

The Santa Paula branch line of the Southern Pacific Railroad once connected Saugus, Piru, Fillmore and Santa Paula, carrying passengers, freight, citrus prod...

05/24/2026

Science fiction author Ray Bradbury reflects on Mars, space exploration, science fiction, education, technology and the future in this rare 2003 SCV Newsmaker of the Week interview. Recorded on Bradbury's 83rd birthday, the conversation came at a historic moment: Mars was making its closest approach to Earth in tens of thousands of years, and NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers were already on their way to the Red Planet. For Santa Clarita, the mission had a local connection: many engineers and scientists tied to JPL's Mars program live in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Ray Bradbury, one of the great imaginative voices of the 20th century, reflects on Mars, space exploration, science fiction, education, technology and the fu...

05/23/2026

Click the image to view this episode of Philip Scorza's Points of Interest. The Santa Clara River begins in the mountains above Acton and winds west through Soledad Canyon before reaching Santa Clarita -- a mostly wild river corridor that shaped the railroads, roads, settlements, wildlife habitat and open space of northern Los Angeles County.

The Santa Clara River begins in the mountains above Acton and winds...