The many reasons we love Lancaster ca! (San Diego, Glendora: contractor, property taxes)
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Well after seeing so many spectacular photos of the poppies in Antelope Valley over the years, I decided that this would be the year that I take time out to drive up there to see them . . . yet I’m learning that this is not a good year for wildflowers when I read the following on the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve website:
“Wildflower Bloom Status: 4/25/12 This year just isn't a good one for wildflowers. We had very dry winter with few plants germinating, and more have not appeared despite the recent series of rainstorms. The hills are mostly green with a few scattered poppies around, and a few other wildflowers here and there along the trails such as fiddleneck, slender-keeled fruit, goldfields, filaree, grape soda lupine and others.”
Since I will be in the area on May 5th, I’m wondering would it be worth paying the $10 to get into the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve or would I be better off just stopping along the side of some of the roads up there to look at poppies and take photos? Yet since I have never been to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve before, I’m not sure if there are other things to see and do once I get inside.
Your thoughts (if you have been to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve). Thank you.
Nick
This year is a sad year for our poppies. To be honest, I would not pay the $10 even though there are some cool trails to hike, and you would see some wildflowers.
Here is a short itinerary to see a couple cool things.
1. Take the 14N to Ave G. Drive it west, and you will experience the only musical road in this country. You might have seen it on the Honda Civic commercial a couple years ago. This is not the exact one, but they rebuilt it on the far outskirts of town.
2. Go to 60th St West and take a left, and then a right at Avenue I. Take this a couple miles until you see the Antelope Valley Resource Conservation District, it should be right around 110th West. If you are into native plants and flowers, this is your spot. They grow and sell native plants acclimated to the High Desert and Coastal Southern CA. You will see some neat plants.
3. Continue on Avenue I until it ends. It will turn right some and then you will see Munz Ranch Road, take a left. Drive until you see an opening to aqueduct. Park your car there and walk up the hill. Walk along the aqueduct for about 1/2 mile, and then on your left you will see Shea's Castle. This place has quite the hollywood history, and you will also have a gorgeous view from this point.
4. After that continue up Munz Ranch Road, and check out Lake Elizabeth, it is very pretty. It is a cool little town, get a bite to eat.
After that I would just drive around the western AV some, it is gorgeous, and you will probably find some wildflower viewing areas. If you can come in the morning, during the spring time, afternoon winds can really pick up. The wind is refreshing as long as it is not too cold.
5. Depending on your day it might be worth driving out Avenue D/138 towards Gorman, there are many beautiful areas there. If you like history Fort Tejon park in Frazier Park is quite enjoyable, especially on a Saturday if you catch them during their living history days.
Also I would look into checking out the portion of the Pacific Crest Trail that runs through the Antelope Valley, it is beatiful, and you have great views.
May 5th is the day after the new Museum of Art & History opens up in Lancaster on the BLVD. Depending on what your plans are, you can check out the museum and get a feel for the history of the AV. There are some great restaurants down there, and you could even check out a play at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center. The Western Hotel is a neat museum downtown, its on the historic register, and is the oldest downtown structure (c. 1888). While you are downtown, it is also worth checking out the childhood home of Judy Garland, it is off of Cedar Avenue, and Milling. (I think its Milling).
One other thing is the Antelope Valley Indian Museum, the county just fixed it up real nice, there is much there. But this is on the far eastern portion of the valley.
I thought I would just give you a short list of cool things to do in the valley, especially since the wildflowers are not quite as impressive this year. If you want any more cool things to see and do, I know of plenty.
WOW!!! Thank you very, very much LancasterisAwesome. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to provide me such a wonderful and detailed list of “Things To Do”. How AWESOME & COOL!!!
I’m not sure if we would be able to do all of this in one day, because we may stop on the way to Mt. Wilson, since we have never drove on the Angeles Crest Highway and the Angeles Forest Highway before, and just wanted to sightsee on this nice leisurely roadtrip. Plus we want to look at some of the new homes in both Palmdale and Lancaster.
Yet for sure, I will take your advice an not go to the “Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve”, yet we will probably make almost a day of it up there and we will probably do ½ of your list, as all of it sounds most exciting . . . as I really did want to do more than drive up the highway to Palmdale and Lancaster and only drive on the Civic Musical Road, look at new homes, and look at poppies.
Thanks a MILLION, LancasterisAwesome. PLUS, via your other post, I think that we will go to Apollo Park and have a picnic . . . I just hope that the weather is nice on that day.
I am glad I could be of help. To be honest, I know I wrote a lot, but I kept on thinking of more and more things you could do, so I really just couldn't stop. I am just proud of my area, and want other people to enjoy it as much as I do.
I understand, I also could not see all those things in a day either!
Plan your picnic for earlier in the day, maybe lunch, and generally the wind is not blowing. It is just during the afternoon that it really picks up during spring time. Spring is our windy season. It can be breezy at other times of the year, but it is in spring, with the seasons changing that we have some intense winds from time to time. Late summer, fall and most of winter and early spring are our good weather seasons, where you can pretty much count on pleasant weather. If you are planning on having a picnic, it is also worth checking out the milestones of flight museum there at Fox Field, which is right next to the park. They have some amazing planes.
One other thing, I forgot to mention earlier is War Eagle Field. The Royal Air Force had a training academy out in Lancaster during World War II. It is where they trained their pilots before they went off to war. It now is a county facility, and part of it has been converted to Mira Loma Detention Facility. It has some beautiful old buildings, and neat guard towers from the time of the war. Here is a link to a cool youtube video about it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=c65OPoQaKDk It is located on Avenue I and 60th Street West. Unfortunately it is not a museum or anything, but you can walk around the grounds, and see some cool things.
Your observations are pretty accurate. That is definitely one of the lowest income areas of Lancaster. The BLVD is up and coming, and the University of Antelope Valley is nearby, also up and coming. Yet, the areas around those are seedy. It is hard to know how to encourage you. I would not live in that part of town personally, but you really have to weigh the pros and cons. Eventually as the city and Sheriffs continue to improve that area, as they have been, it will become better. Please whatever you do, do not rent it to section 8. There are plenty of non-section 8 people that would rent. If you want to keep it safe, keep out section eight! And yes I know that there are some "good" section 8 recipients.
As far as jobs for the area. The majority employer is aerospace, either Edwards AFB, Lockheed, Northrup, Skilled Composites, etc. The people that work there are not going to live in that neighborhood though. There are also a number of people that commute down to LA or the valley to work. We have lots of military families that live up here, including myself. The majority of the AV is made up of law-abiding hard-working people, but there are also those that are not that way, and they tend to live around the area that you are thinking of investing in. Personally if you are not living up here, I probably would not encourage you to own property up here either.
I hope this helps!
Thanks for your candid feedback. I want to invest for the long term, so I am going to take care of the property and make sure I don't have bad tenants. The only way I would buy is if I have a good property manager. I think with the train station so close, up and coming BLVD with museum, library and theaters, this area has to improve - if not today, in 5-10 years when the economy improves. In the meantime, the trick is to find the right tenants to keep it occupied.
When I was in the area, a few locals told me that some solar companies were investing in the area and that could be the new active employment sector. Have you heard anything about that?
I am glad I could be of help. To be honest, I know I wrote a lot, but I kept on thinking of more and more things you could do, so I really just couldn't stop. I am just proud of my area, and want other people to enjoy it as much as I do.
I understand, I also could not see all those things in a day either!
Plan your picnic for earlier in the day, maybe lunch, and generally the wind is not blowing. It is just during the afternoon that it really picks up during spring time. Spring is our windy season. It can be breezy at other times of the year, but it is in spring, with the seasons changing that we have some intense winds from time to time. Late summer, fall and most of winter and early spring are our good weather seasons, where you can pretty much count on pleasant weather. If you are planning on having a picnic, it is also worth checking out the milestones of flight museum there at Fox Field, which is right next to the park. They have some amazing planes.
One other thing, I forgot to mention earlier is War Eagle Field. The Royal Air Force had a training academy out in Lancaster during World War II. It is where they trained their pilots before they went off to war. It now is a county facility, and part of it has been converted to Mira Loma Detention Facility. It has some beautiful old buildings, and neat guard towers from the time of the war. Here is a link to a cool youtube video about it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=c65OPoQaKDk It is located on Avenue I and 60th Street West. Unfortunately it is not a museum or anything, but you can walk around the grounds, and see some cool things.
Have Fun
LancasterisAwesome, thank you for the additional information and feedback. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you for the warning about the wind picking up, as a growing wind, could make a nice outdoor picnic a disaster. Yet with our "May Gray" days being alive and well living up to it's name (as least here in Los Angeles), we will dress very warmly on that day. Yet we will try to check out Fox Field, if we have time. Right now, we are just looking forward to the picnic in the park. Upon learning from you that they have ducks in that park, would it be okay to bring some bread or popcorn to feed them? As I know that some places ban you from feeding ducks OR the ducks stay away from people . . . so what is the situation at Apollo Community Regional Park?
I don't recall if I ever posted this... 2012 was a bad year for poppies (nothing at my house and I'm right at the north edge of the best poppy field) but here's the view from just south of my house in a good year:
I don't know what to say about this except that no one lives in these areas unless you work aviation.
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Thank you very, very much LancasterisAwesome. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to provide me such a wonderful and detailed list of “Things To Do”. How AWESOME & COOL!!!
Upon learning from you that they have ducks in that park, would it be okay to bring some bread or popcorn to feed them? As I know that some places ban you from feeding ducks OR the ducks stay away from people . . . so what is the situation at Apollo Community Regional Park? 
