The unincorporated area of Val Verde, a few miles northwest of Six Flags Magic Mountain and 4 miles from Castaic Junction, has a population of approximately 2,800 residents and 900 homes. Although it’s small in size, the unincorporated community that is often forgotten is also rich in historical significance, dating back to the Jim Crow era, when it was a haven for African Americans — and it’s set to celebrate its 100 th anniversary. The Val Verde Historical Society is scheduled to host its “Back to Val Verde for Val Verde’s 100!” celebration on Aug.
31 beginning at 11 a.m. with live music, speakers and family fun at Val Verde Community Park.
The event is open to the entire community and free of cost. The event aims to bring in new visitors, shed light on the community, and provide a step toward revitalizing the area. Val Verde, also known as “Green Valley,” became a safe place during the 20 th Century for African Americans seeking recreational activities when racial segregation was in place, said Tim Williams, president of the organization and a longtime resident of the community.
Williams moved to Val Verde when he was just 6 years old in 1959. He now shares the town’s history with anyone curious enough to ask and advocates for the community to receive the care it deserves. “Back in the early 1900s there was the Jim Crow laws and Blacks couldn’t [own] property, couldn’t visit certain pools or certain beaches,” he said.
“This Black investment group led by a man named Sidney Dones ...
got together with other investors and were looking for investment properties that they can sell to Blacks.” Dones and the group of investors came across Laura C. Janes, a wealthy Pasadena woman who owned over 10,000 acres of land called Val Verde.
The collective of investors began to create advertising campaigns that highlighted recreational activities such as hiking, camping, and softball aiming to catch the attention of African Americans, Williams added. Val Verde’s community truly began to flourish in 1924 when Ed Waterman donated 53 acres in the area to the county explicitly to be made into a park open to everyone, Williams said. “That’s how Val Verde the park got started, a clubhouse was built and that is now the community center.
” The clubhouse became a staple in the community where families gathered for social events such as Friday night dances. “I remember it so fondly,” Williams said. Eventually the town earned its nickname “The Black Palm Springs” because people of color traveled to Val Verde to vacation.
“We had restaurants, a couple of nightclubs and so it was that type of feeling, people couldn’t wait to get to Val Verde and enjoy themselves,” he said. Over the years toward the end of the Jim Crow era, the changes in laws and policies also meant change for the Val Verde community with newcomers beginning their lives in the town hidden within the mountains, and others leaving for new beginnings. “Some people moved out and moved on [and] .
.. in the ’60s and ’70s there was a little small migration of people coming in,” he said, adding many of them were Latino and Caucasian, making the area more diverse.
The community of Val Verde has remained small, but changes are needed to improve the community, Williams said. “It’s more of a neighborhood now or a small unincorporated area like we call it, [but] we still have major needs,” he said. “We don’t have a cell tower out here for an emergency.
We need a marquee to let people know what’s going on, something happening at the park. I’m trying to fight for little things like that.” Williams added that a traffic light was added just a few years ago at the intersection of Henry Mayo Drive and Chiquito Canyon Road, a location known to be dangerous for pedestrians with cars dashing by.
“For decades that’s been a dangerous corner. I remember so vividly in the ’60s a lady and four of her grandkids got killed there,” Williams said. Val Verde also needs more beautification of its natural environment because the overgrown weeds bring the look of it down, he added.
Williams encourages local residents to join the community of Val Verde for its 100 th birthday. “I just want to let people know that we’re here, we’ve been here for a long time because it surprises me when people have never heard of Val Verde. It’s like a punch in the gut.
I say, ‘We’re gonna change this, make sure people know who we are, we exist, and how we came to be.’”.
