Mulholland Musings

7/8/17

I love the Santa Monica Mountains.  I love the emptiness of them.  I love the look of them.  Most importantly, I love driving  on the roads that have been built to traverse them.

One of those roads is Mulholland Highway.  I have loved driving on it for over forty years, ever since my high school friend, Jon, drove me up and down it in the early 70s in his 1967 Alfa Romeo Spider.  While the road has not changed over the past forty years, the surroundings have.  Forty years ago, Mulholland Highway was in the middle of nowhere, leaving me to wonder why it was ever carved into the mountainside.  While the area is still mostly undeveloped, many, many, many houses have sprung up over the years.

Forty years ago, traffic on it was sparse.  For the most part, it is not sparse now.  On Saturday mornings, though, traffic is pretty light, and at times it seems that there are more bicycles on the road than cars, which causes its own issues.

Traffic or no traffic, bikes or no bikes, I wanted to drive Mulholland this morning.  It’s not like I haven’t been on it recently. I have, having driven some portions of it the past two Saturdays.  But today was different.  It was clear.  The sun was shining, and June gloom was long gone.

I had no plans other than going for a drive.  I wanted to experience the sheer joy of driving my 911 in the mountains.  I was not meeting anyone.  I was not 100 percent sure of my route.  I did not know where, or if, I would stop for breakfast.  I just knew I wanted to drive on Mulholland.  As it was going to be close to 100 degrees in LA, heading out or back by way of the valley was a no-no.  So with the Targa top off I headed west on the 10 and north on PCH.

It was glorious out.  Traffic was light.  The miles flew by.  All too soon I had to make a decision.  Should I eat?  Where should I eat?  Duke’s?  Kristy’s Malibu Café in Trancas?  Malibu Café in Calamigos Ranch?  Rock Store?  Home?  Nothing tugged at me or felt right, and I just kept driving north up PCH.  I passed Duke’s.  I passed Kristy’s.  The miles kept flying by.  I saw the sign for Encinal Canyon, one of my favorite roads, and turned onto it.  I knew it would merge into Mulholland after several miles, enabling me to accomplish my goal for the day.

Encinal is a magnificent road.   Very few cars travel on it.  The pavement is new and well maintained.  The turns range from long sweepers to medium radius twisties, and there are several places to pull over and take some pictures, which, of course, I did.  Encinal goes up in a hurry, though it is not a steep ascent like the one on Decker Canyon, a bit to the north.  The 911 made the climb from the coast to about 2,000 feet effortlessly.  Once it tops out, Encinal then traverses the Santa Monica Mountains before connecting with Mulholland Highway, just past the Zuma Ridge Fire Road.

I continued on Mulholland, driving past The Malibu Café at Calamigos Ranch, before teeing into Kanan Dune Road.  Arguably, this is the most dangerous intersection on Mulholland Highway.  Kanan is a major thoroughfare, going from PCH up and over the hills before connecting with the Ventura Freeway.  Cars travel along Kanan at high rates of speed, and the Mulholland/Kanan intersection is only controlled by a stop sign for the cars on Mulholland.

I took the path of least resistance at the stop sign, opting to turn right onto Kanan instead of crossing it.  I headed down Kanan towards PCH, thereby forgoing breakfast at the Rock Store, a place I had never eaten at despite passing many, many times.  After half a mile or so, I changed my mind about heading down Kanan, partially due to the tug of the Rock Store and partially because I wanted to drive Mulholland some more, running down the snake, which terminates pretty close to  the Rock Store.

I made a U-turn and headed back towards Mulholland, ran the down the snake and parked nearby the Rock Store, as I had finally made up my mind where to eat.  There were a handful of motorcycle riders hanging out, but otherwise the place was pretty empty.  As I sat there, I wondered if I should have stopped.  It was hot out, and getting hotter, and stopping for breakfast would just make it even hotter on the way home.  In the end it was worth it, as breakfast was good and it was fun to hang out there.

After I ate, I walked back towards the 911.  As I did, I couldn’t believe how hot it was, and all I could think about was its lack of air-conditioning.  Oh well.  I got in the car and continued along Mulholland until I reached Las Virgenes, also known as Malibu Canyon, where I turned right and headed back towards PCH and ultimately home.

As it was after 10 AM on a sunny day, PCH had a fair amount of traffic and other obstacles, including a combination of jaywalkers crossing indiscriminately and bicycle riders taking up a good portion of the right lane, causing many drivers to make abrupt, dangerous lane changes.  Except for my de rigueur stop to take a few pictures, I hung out in the left lane, assumed everyone else was out to get me, and enjoyed the slow drive down the coast.