[GMAP]<iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Topanga+Canyon+Blvd&daddr=Mulholland+Hwy+%26+Old+Topanga+Cny+to:The+Rock+Store,+Agoura+Hills,+CA+91301+to:Mulholland+Hwy+%26+Kanan+Rd+to:34.0938286,-118.8296734+to:Mulholland+Hwy+%26+Decker+Rd+to:Mulholland+Hwy+%26+Hwy+1+to:Hwy+1+%26+Hwy+23+to:Hwy+1+%26+Los+Flores+to:Mulholland+Hwy+%26+Stunt+Rd&hl=en&geocode=FUZjCQIdyDfu-A%3BFUPiCAIdS9jt-ClnAn7xVJ7CgDE0n1T5ZKac5Q%3BFfp4CAId_W7r-CFb-GutYZrbsCnjyne1wCPogDFio95G7TQ68w%3BFVFFCAIdDRDr-Cm9htIlqCPogDFpMi_gB5djwA%3BFQQ7CAIdl83q-CmvJP-zECPogDFZS7BxkZOI1A%3BFXQoCAIdOSfq-CkfzNYWxjzogDFtxPAIAg75Kg%3BFcx8BwIdizLp-CmPng9zxj3ogDEqyyYUDwJb5w%3BFY1uBwIdBtHp-CnrX9kAbj3ogDE_15O2Mf54Sw%3BFb9cBwIdDsLt-CkHMRbG5aDCgDEOvYf-LXO2VQ%3BFZdaCAIdY2Tt-Cl9rxjI6J_CgDEuu6zBxPvT2Q&mra=dpe&mrsp=4&sz=14&via=4&sll=34.095316,-118.846836&sspn=0.053166,0.076818&ie=UTF8&ll=34.111236,-118.755341&spn=0.272884,0.439453&z=11&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=Topanga+Canyon+Blvd&daddr=Mulholland+Hwy+%26+Old+Topanga+Cny+to:The+Rock+Store,+Agoura+Hills,+CA+91301+to:Mulholland+Hwy+%26+Kanan+Rd+to:34.0938286,-118.8296734+to:Mulholland+Hwy+%26+Decker+Rd+to:Mulholland+Hwy+%26+Hwy+1+to:Hwy+1+%26+Hwy+23+to:Hwy+1+%26+Los+Flores+to:Mulholland+Hwy+%26+Stunt+Rd&hl=en&geocode=FUZjCQIdyDfu-A%3BFUPiCAIdS9jt-ClnAn7xVJ7CgDE0n1T5ZKac5Q%3BFfp4CAId_W7r-CFb-GutYZrbsCnjyne1wCPogDFio95G7TQ68w%3BFVFFCAIdDRDr-Cm9htIlqCPogDFpMi_gB5djwA%3BFQQ7CAIdl83q-CmvJP-zECPogDFZS7BxkZOI1A%3BFXQoCAIdOSfq-CkfzNYWxjzogDFtxPAIAg75Kg%3BFcx8BwIdizLp-CmPng9zxj3ogDEqyyYUDwJb5w%3BFY1uBwIdBtHp-CnrX9kAbj3ogDE_15O2Mf54Sw%3BFb9cBwIdDsLt-CkHMRbG5aDCgDEOvYf-LXO2VQ%3BFZdaCAIdY2Tt-Cl9rxjI6J_CgDEuu6zBxPvT2Q&mra=dpe&mrsp=4&sz=14&via=4&sll=34.095316,-118.846836&sspn=0.053166,0.076818&ie=UTF8&ll=34.111236,-118.755341&spn=0.272884,0.439453&z=11" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>[/GMAP] The Mulholland Hwy is the backbone of a myriad of canyon roads that crisscross the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. If you like winding mountain roads then you will enjoy Mulholland Hwy. The whole length of Mulholland Hwy is a nice drive through the Santa Monica mountains with beautiful homes and views of the ocean. During the summer the mountain range is pretty but in a desolate way (rocky and scrub oak). About 30 miles in lenght the Mulholland Hwy starts on the east/north end in Woodland Hills, CA (near US 101 and Toganga Cyn) and ends on the west/south end at Hwy 1 (Pacific Coast Hwy - PCH) and Leo Carrillo Beach. You can also access Mulholland Hwy from Calabasas near US 101 and Valley Circle/Mulholland Dr. The great thing about the Mulholland Hwy is all the connecting fun roads in the surrounding mountains that allow you can create many different drives (one for each weekend of the year) through the Santa Monica Mountains. The map shows just one of the many options for a drive across the Mulholland Hwy. This is one of the more twisty routes. Note: There is a Super Car Sunday car gathering at 6100 Toganga Canyon & Erwin (Westfield Promenade Mall) every Sunday 7-10 Am so that could make for a good starting point on a Sunday morning. Then just drive south on Toganga Cyn to Mulholland. Have a nice breakfast in Woodland Hills (Point A) or Calabasas and start your adventure. From Topanga Cyn you will turn onto Mulholland Dr before connecting to Mulholland Hwy. Head west across Mulholland Hwy. There are many beautiful homes/ranches of the rich and famous along the highway. You will cross Malibu Cyn Rd as you continue along the Mulholland Hwy. At Mulholland and Malibu Cyn is Malibu Creek State Park where various movies and TV shows, such as MASH were filmed. A couple miles further down Mulholland is Paramount Ranch again where much movie filming has been done. About 17 miles down Mulholland Hwy you will see The Rock Store (Point C) on your left (south). This is the start of The Snake. The Snake is a 2.5 mile section of fun. The Snake is between the Rock Store (Point C) and Kanan Rd (Point D. There is a nice turnout before Kanan Rd to stop and watch the action. Here is a link to The Snake: http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/california/10029-ca-mulholland-hwy-snake.html Continue across Kanan Rd (Point D) to stay on the Mulholland Hwy. About a mile after Kanan Rd there will be a Y intersection. Go right (north) to stay on Mulholland Hwy. Then in a little over 2 miles you will turn left onto Decker Cyn (Hwy 23) which you will follow south for another 2 miles before turning right to stay on Mulholland Hwy (Point E). About 2 miles after turning back onto Mulholland Hwy look to your left (south) and you should see 3 huge satellite dishes. Each dish is about 105 ft across. You then follow Mulholland Hwy all the way down to Hwy 1 (Point F). Hwy 1 is also known as the Pacific Coast Highway or PCH. This is the end of Mulholland Hwy. I hope you enjoyed your drive. To get back to Woodland Hills per the map. Turn left (east) onto PCH and cruise the coast for about 16 miles passing many nice beaches including Zuma and Malibu. Turn left (north) onto Las Flores Cyn (Point H). This is a windy drive up the mountain. Follow Los Flores to Rambla Pacifico then at the Y interestion turn right onto Schueren Rd. Follow Schueren Rd up to the top of the mountain. Park and take a look at the view. There are large rocks to climb on for better views. Turn left onto Stunt Rd to head down the mountain. Any road named Stunt must be good. Stunt takes you back to Mulholland Hwy. Turn right (east) onto Mulholland and follow back to Woodland Hills. This is about a 60 mile round trip. There are many other canyon roads that cut between Mulholland Hwy and PCH. One of my favorite twisty roads is Decker Cyn (Hwy 23) between points E and G on the map. Another fun road on the other end is Old Topanga Cyn between Toganga Cyn Blvd (Hwy 27) and Mulholland Hwy. There are many more great roads in the area. Use the map to voom in and search for roads to make your own routes. For clarification, there is a Mulholland Dr and Mulholland Hwy. In general Mulholland Drive is located in Los Angeles County with Mulholland Hwy being in Ventura County (west of LA).
quikmini - This route is OK, but it misses many of the best twisties for MINI's. Generally, the north-south roads are better than the east-west roads. SCMM (Southern California MINI Maniacs) has run MOAT (Mutha of All Twisties) for 6 years now in May or June. 119 miles of twisties in the Santa Monica Mountains-Malibu area. This years run - Login | ClubSCMM.com - SoCal MINI Maniacs - The premier MINI Cooper owners club serving all New MINI and Classic MINI owners in the Southern California area. I am not going to publish our route, come join us for the next MOAT on Mothers Day, Sunday May 13th, 2012. As an aside, the twisties in the Santa Monica Mountains - Malibu area, as good as some of them are, are not my favorites. Too many bicyclists on the weekends, too many Ricky Racer wannabes on crotch rockets, too many locals backing out of their driveways on a weekend morning, and too many LEOS - sometimes with helicopters!! :frown2: Bakersfield - Central California - the Sierra passes - Northern Cali - all better. Just too many people in SoCal.
Used to drive Mulholland from the 405 to the 101 almost weekly. It has some very nice sections. I enjoyed it in my Saturn when no one was in front of me. I just ave to get my R53 back there for a comparison. (Of course there isn't any.) One of the best drives can remember was Route 74 east of Hemet up to 243. Cheers! Chris
Plenty of nice little runs on Mulholland. West of 405 into Encino is fun. 405 to Coldwater Canyon. Back in my high school days we used to run between Coldwater and Laurel Canyon. This was early eighties and I was making a few bucks hustling kids in their daddy's 5.0 Mustangs and Valley boys in their VW Siroccos. It had a bunch of turnouts and view points and on Friday and Saturday nights it would be packed with cars both watching and racing (amongst other things). Eventually it got so bad that it made the local news and the cops would be there ready to swoop in. After an inevitable off and a pretty scary roll down the hill I called it quits on that particular activity. I drove it years later. All the look out points were gone and the place was overrun by million dollar mansions with driveways everywhere. Still a fun drive, just not as good as I remember. But what ever is?
As CFMINI has stated and I tried to explain in my write-up. Mulholland Hwy is just the backbone to many great roads. Look around on a map and you will see many possibilities. Here are a few maps of some of my favorite roads that connect with Mulholland Hwy and Hwy 1 (PCH): Here are Yerba Buena and Deer Creek. You can connect from Mulholland Hwy at the north or Hwy 1 (PCH) at the south. Neptune Net is a good place to eat, located on Hwy 1 between Mulholland and Yerba Buena. I have almost made myself sick on these roads. [GMAP]<iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&vpsrc=6&ll=34.080673,-118.936615&spn=0.068246,0.109863&z=13&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&vpsrc=6&ll=34.080673,-118.936615&spn=0.068246,0.109863&z=13&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>[/GMAP] Decker Canyon (Hwy 23) has many sharp turns and drops steeply down to Hwy 1. Make sure your brakes are good if going north to south. Going uphill on Decker from Hwy 1 can be fun. Decker (Hwy 23) starts at Westlake and goes across Mulholland Hwy all the way to Hwy 1 (PCH). [GMAP]<iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&vpsrc=6&ll=34.068872,-118.899536&spn=0.068255,0.109863&z=13&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&vpsrc=6&ll=34.068872,-118.899536&spn=0.068255,0.109863&z=13&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>[/GMAP] Latigo Canyon is another great road for testing the handling of the Mini. The road name is not indicated on the map until you zoom in but it is between Kanan and Malibu (where the map states Malibu Vista. [GMAP]<iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&vpsrc=6&ll=34.059344,-118.778515&spn=0.068263,0.109863&z=13&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&vpsrc=6&ll=34.059344,-118.778515&spn=0.068263,0.109863&z=13&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>[/GMAP]
quikmini - Don't forget Tuna Canyon, Encinal Canyon and Stunt Road. And in the far west Ventura County side there are some fun twisties too. We run them all for MOAT. Craig
I took some of my own advice and made a little detour on my way back north after a business trip to the Los Angeles airport area. Instead of taking the 405 to the 101 and back north, I took the Pacific Coast Highway (aka PCH or Hwy 1) north to Oxnard and then the 101 north. Since I was travelling up the PCH I had to make another detour into the Santa Monica mountains and the great canyon roads. This time I took Los Flores over to Mulholland Hwy and back down to PCH. Here is a map of the route. [GMAP]<iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=PCH+and+Los+Flores&daddr=Rambla+Pacifico+St+and+Piuma+Rd+toiuma+Rd+and+Malibu+Canyon+Rd+to:Las+Virgenes+Rd+and+Mulholland+Hwy+to:Mulholland+Hwy+and+Kanan+Rd+to:Mulholland+Hwy+and+Encinal+Canyon+Rd+to:Mulholland+Hwy+to:Mulholland+Hwy+and+Decker+Rd+to:Mulholland+Hwy+to:Mulholland+Hwy+and+PCH&hl=en&geocode=Fb9cBwIdDsLt-CkHMRbG5aDCgDEOvYf-LXO2VQ%3BFfPdBwId-H3t-ClB13xXFKDCgDFhD7bNvvrx2g%3BFV8NCAIdTrbs-Cl9y2tXJCDogDGj9TPrrE5BOg%3BFWhiCAId0Zvs-Cn7lQ3UUSDogDGdH40JS2qqZA%3BFVFFCAIdDRDr-Cm9htIlqCPogDFpMi_gB5djwA%3BFbE9CAIdE9Tq-CnFsdmDECPogDE2RpbV-e_INA%3BFVpkCAIdVl3q-A%3BFXQoCAIdOSfq-CkfzNYWxjzogDFtxPAIAg75Kg%3BFWAnCAIdDAfq-A%3BFcJ8BwIdUTLp-CmPng9zxj3ogDEqyyYUDwJb5w&aq=&sll=34.082948,-118.90357&sspn=0.058078,0.077162&mra=ls&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=34.107825,-118.76564&spn=0.272895,0.439453&z=11&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=PCH+and+Los+Flores&daddr=Rambla+Pacifico+St+and+Piuma+Rd+toiuma+Rd+and+Malibu+Canyon+Rd+to:Las+Virgenes+Rd+and+Mulholland+Hwy+to:Mulholland+Hwy+and+Kanan+Rd+to:Mulholland+Hwy+and+Encinal+Canyon+Rd+to:Mulholland+Hwy+to:Mulholland+Hwy+and+Decker+Rd+to:Mulholland+Hwy+to:Mulholland+Hwy+and+PCH&hl=en&geocode=Fb9cBwIdDsLt-CkHMRbG5aDCgDEOvYf-LXO2VQ%3BFfPdBwId-H3t-ClB13xXFKDCgDFhD7bNvvrx2g%3BFV8NCAIdTrbs-Cl9y2tXJCDogDGj9TPrrE5BOg%3BFWhiCAId0Zvs-Cn7lQ3UUSDogDGdH40JS2qqZA%3BFVFFCAIdDRDr-Cm9htIlqCPogDFpMi_gB5djwA%3BFbE9CAIdE9Tq-CnFsdmDECPogDE2RpbV-e_INA%3BFVpkCAIdVl3q-A%3BFXQoCAIdOSfq-CkfzNYWxjzogDFtxPAIAg75Kg%3BFWAnCAIdDAfq-A%3BFcJ8BwIdUTLp-CmPng9zxj3ogDEqyyYUDwJb5w&aq=&sll=34.082948,-118.90357&sspn=0.058078,0.077162&mra=ls&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=34.107825,-118.76564&spn=0.272895,0.439453&z=11" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>[/GMAP] The canyon route was a 17 mile detour off of the PCH. Actually the PCH and canyon road detour was the same mileage as taking the freeways all the way home. Yes it took a little longer but was much more fun and scenic. I took this trip on a Friday afternoon and only caught one car going my same direction and they pulled into a ranch within 0.1 miles. I saw no law enforcement. Point A. From PCH turned right (north) and headed up Los Flores Rd. Los Flores turns into Rambla Pacifico. Nice uphill road but many houses so need to pay attention to driveways. Point B. Turned left (west) onto Piuma Rd. Excellent canyon road. Newly paved with a grooved center strip to help keep people on their own side of the road. Great turns, some even banked. Point C. Turned right (north) onto Malibu Canyon Rd (aka Las Virgenes Rd). You can follow Las Virgenes north to Hwy 101 if you want to get back to a freeway. Point D. Turned left (west) onto Mulholland Hwy. This is near Malibu Creek State Park and Paramont Ranch where shows such as MASH were filmed. Continued down Mulholland across the section called the Snake (see other CA Roads post) and past the Rock Store. Point E. Headed across Kanan Rd to continue on Mulholland Hwy. Point F. Stayed right at the Y to stay on Mulholland Hwy. At this point you can instead go left down Encinal Canyon Rd to PCH. Point G. Turned left (south-west) at the Westlake Blvd/SR23 junction to stay on Mulholland Hwy. You could turn right (north) to head up to Hwy 101 if you have had enough canyons but why would you want to do that. Point H. Turned right (west) to stay on Mulholland Hwy. At this point you can instead turn left (south) and head down Decker Rd to PCH. Decker is a fun steep downhill road. Very fun to drive uphill from PCH. Point I. Continued straight to stay on Mulholland Hwy. At this point you can turn right (north) onto Little Sycamore Canyon which turns into Yerba Buena Rd. Yerba Buena is a great route if you want a few more miles of canyons. With no obstructions to my speed, I had about had enough of canyon roads so I headed down Mulholland Hwy to PCH. I know what a wimp but I am getting too old for all the g-forces. Point J. Back at PCH. Turned right (west) to head towards Oxnard to connect back up to Hwy 101 for the rest of my trip home.