Who Brent of Brent's Junction was, Calabasas, California


I just love looking at maps of Los Angeles, and often there are names that lead me into some interesting history adventuring. And recently I saw the words "Brents Junction" on a map of an area that I know well, in Calabasas. Specifically, the intersection of the 101 and Las Virgenes Road. I used to house-sit for a friend who had a house just a few blocks north of there.


I'd been there many times, and have always had an interest in history, but I didn't recall anyone using the term "Brents Junction". I even called my friend, who lived there for many, many years, and the best he could do was to say that he had heard of it, and that was it somewhere in the mountains near Calabsas. So I contacted my number one researcher, and asked if he could help. It wasn't easy, but I got my answer, and some great time-traveling.


Here he is, E.J. Brent. He came to Los Angeles at the turn of the century and promptly made his fortune selling furniture, and decided to build a country house waaaaay far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, in Calabasas. He called his place "the Mountain Crags". It was where Malibu Creek State Park is, on Crags Road. No, there was no one named Craig, it's just crag, like a craggy mountain, which are all around that beautiful area.

1906 Los Angeles Herald

And then not long after that a group of businessmen built a country club which they called the Crags. It was a place where people who had the money could get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, enjoy nature, and shoot deer if they chose to. Speaking for myself, I would have just enjoyed the scenery and the quiet, which you still can do there. The country club flourished through the 1920s, and faded away by the 1930s.

To get there from downtown Los Angeles, you took the road that went to Ventura (which is still called Ventura Boulevard) and then turned south at Las Virgenes, which becomes Malibu Canyon. The junction there, of course was just called Brent's Junction.

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