I see from some of the comments and email I get that folks get confused about what we call our city, neighborhoods, communities and even our valley. Things like where the city of Santa Clarita starts and where it ends, plus a few other notes I’ve been keeping.

Before cityhood in 1987, we were all governed directly by Los Angeles County. That meant we paid a lot of taxes, and all of that money went to every place else in the county. We had a couple of swimming pools and a park or two. We did get William S. Hart Park, but that was only because its namesake willed it to the county.

“Hicksville” and “the sticks” were two popular titles. We were the place that folks from the more populated areas of the county came to shoot and drink beer and ride dirt bikes and make movies. Lots and lots of movies. For that we get called “Newhallywood.”

We lived in Castaic, Newhall, Saugus, Honby, Mint Canyon, Agua Dulce, Acton, Sand Canyon, Val Verde and Gorman. We subdivided it to areas like Bonelli Tract, North Oaks, Happy Valley, Placerita Canyon and Bouquet Canyon.

We were all part of the William S. Hart Union High School District. We also liked to identify ourselves by the elementary school districts: Newhall, Castaic, Saugus and Sulphur Springs.

It was a time when The Newhall Land and Farming Co. actually farmed and ranched. They still do a little, but I tend to think the little they do is only to maintain the “farming” part of the corporate name. Since the late 1960s, the major crop they have is houses and planned communities.

Sometimes folks driving up Highway 99 knew us by the odor of our huge stockyard and the onion fields. They usually talked about stopping at Tip’s at Castaic Junction or Pico Canyon and the third one on Sierra Highway, then called Highway 6.

Imagine that you could drive from San Fernando Road through Placerita Canyon and Highway 6. We also had two drive-in movie places and the old American Theater plus the new Plaza Cinema.

We knew it was called the Santa Clarita Valley, but we rarely, if ever, used that name. We lived in our separate communities, and when we started the seventh grade, we got to meet kids from the other communities in the area. You see, “the Valley” was where we went to get a taste of real civilization. And cruise. Up and down Sepulveda and Van Nuys and Ventura Boulevard. Bob’s Big Boy and car hops. Then back north to “the sticks.” A whole night for maybe $5 of gas.

No matter what others called it, this place was our home.

We mumbled and groused about how Los Angeles County treated us. The new neighborhood on the valley floor, Valencia, was starting to define us in another way. The farm was being sold off in home lot-sized sections, and more folks moved our way.

Thanks to many of them and many who had always been here, we twice tried to form Canyon County. Both times we passed the measure but the rest of the county denied us our independence.

So we figured a way around the county by forming a city. And just about everyone in our little valley wanted to be part of the new city. It was a name once used by the high school district but abandoned when Mr. Hart donated so much to build the school. So instead of just being a name of a high school district and a valley that really never was called by that name, we named our city “Santa Clarita.”

Getting ready to vote for our city, we found out that Los Angeles County had one last jab for us. A way to stick it to us one last time. The county decided that the owners of undeveloped land west of Interstate 5 could stay out of the new city – places that later turned into Stevenson Ranch and West Ranch – and without them, a few already-built places like Castaic and Val Verde couldn’t be connected, so they weren’t allowed to join in.

The growth brought good places to shop and better entertainment venues. Better places to eat and some new theaters, too. We were growing, and we were growing up, too.

And trees were all over. We became known as a valley full of trees. Seems funny in the current drought. There are pictures on SCVHistory.com that show a landscape of large, empty fields. Today that is Valencia – and trees. So many trees.

So, folks, we’re all in the Santa Clarita Valley, but not all of us are in Santa Clarita city. We can still call it Saugus, Newhall and Castaic – even Honby, if you can find it. There is that new place in the east called Canyon Country. The name started in the ’60s but didn’t really take hold until much later.

So may I recommend that you look at the signs that tell you when you are and aren’t in the city. Those of you already in the city should get out and see the rest of the valley. Our valley of Santa Clarita.

It is my hometown. All of it. From Gorman to the Newhall Pass and Val Verde to Sand Canyon. It is yours, too. It won’t be any better than it is right now. At least not until tomorrow.

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Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com and his commentaries are archived at DManzer.com. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].