Santa Susana

Santa Susana is one of three rural towns in Simi Valley that began at the turn of the 20th century. The town derives its name from the surrounding mountains, Sierra de Santa Susanna, and grew up alongside the railroad depot built by the Southern Pacific Company in 1903. The history of Santa Susana can be traced back to the Chumash Indian village of Ta'apu and a Spanish land grant, El Rancho Simi. The area was first surveyed by the Simi Valley Land and Water Company in 1887 for the sale of ranches. By the mid-1950s, Santa Susana had become a recognized agricultural center, noted for citrus and walnut production. Corriganville and Bottle Village are unique tourist destinations that originated near the Santa Susana Airport. In the surrounding mountains, quirky religious groups established communes away from the public with strange names and stories: Pisgah Grande, The Great Eleven Club, and WKFL Fountain of the World.

Title: Recently published book of photos tells story of Santa Susana
Author: Angela Randazzo
Publisher: Simi Valley Acorn
Date: 9/18/09

Bill Appleton remembers Santa Susana as a thriving community of industrious, innovative and sometimes eccentric people.

"I have a lot of fond memories as an elementary school kid hanging around at the airport and seeing Grandma Prisbrey looking for bottles, and then there was Corriganville movie ranch," he said. "There were just a lot of neat things happening in Santa Susana."

Those recollections are what spurred Appleton, 61, to put together the recently published "Santa Susana," a compilation of more than 200 vintage photographs along with his commentary on Santa Susana, its people and its history. The glossy paperback is part of Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series.

Pictures used in the book came from Appleton's personal collection and from the Simi Valley Historical Society.

The community of Santa Susana got its name from the mountains the Spanish called Sierra de Santa Susanna. In 1887, the Simi Valley Land and Water Company first surveyed the area to sell parcels as ranches.

In the mid-1950s, the township was an important agricultural center for citrus and walnut production.

"For people who are newcomers to Simi Valley, the pictures in the book show a lot of things that aren't there anymore," Appleton said. "The Santa Susana Airport was a hub of activity for many years."

The airport was at today's intersection of Los Angeles Avenue and Tapo Street. It grew from a dirt landing strip in a tomato field in the 1930s to a paved landing site for hundreds of private airplanes in the 1970s.

Appleton devoted a chapter to Corriganville movie ranch, founded by stuntman and entrepreneur Ray "Crash" Corrigan. Many B-movie Westerns and television series were filmed on the site off present-day Kuehner Drive.

In 1949, the ranch became a tourist attraction and was soon rated one of the 10 most interesting places in the country to visit.

Among the unique personalities mentioned in Appleton's book is Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey, a folk artist who, in her late 60s, built a collection of buildings made of glass bottles and other items the general public considered trash. Although damaged by the 1994 earthquake, Bottle Village on Cochran Street continues to be a tribute to her eccentric spirit.

As a fourth-generation resident, Appleton lived most of his life here, raising a family while running a professional photography studio. In 2000, he moved to Beverly Hills with his second wife, Linda, an interior designer.

In the early 1990s, while rummaging around in his mother's Simi Valley garage, Appleton came across 450 old glass plate negatives taken by his greatgrandfather, John Sparhawk Appleton, a Simi Valley pioneer in 1887.

"John Sparhawk Appleton was the first of the family to come west. He took pictures because his family back east wanted to see what was going on," his great-grandson said. "He was ahead of his time in terms of technology, whatever the technology was at the time."

Bill Appleton then started a threeyear project to print and categorize those photographs, which became the core of the book "Simi Valley: A Journey Through Time," which Appleton co-authored with city historian Patricia Havens.

"In the Simi Valley book we never did a chapter on Santa Susana, per se. It's mentioned throughout but it was never put into context," Appleton said. "For all those people who lived in Santa Susana, they're going to find this book a nice homage to the area."

The public is invited to meet Appleton at a book signing from 6 to 9 p.m. today, Sept. 18, at Aubergine Emporium, 4385 Valley Fair St., Simi Valley. "Santa Susana" may be purchased online at www.arcadiapublishing.com.

Title: 'Santa Susana' author to sign books in Simi Valley
Author: Wendy Dager
Publisher: Ventura County Star
Date: 8/28/09

Just in time for Simi Valley's 40th anniversary, Bill Appleton's new book, "Santa Susana," details the history of the community that, ironically, all but disappeared with the city's incorporation.

Appleton, who, with co-author Patricia Havens, wrote "Simi Valley: A Journey Through Time" (published in 1997 by the Simi Valley Historical Society), envisioned "Santa Susana" as a pictorial homage to one of the three communities that once comprised Simi Valley.

"The seed was planted when we did the first book back in 1997," Appleton said. "I wanted Santa Susana to have a chance for its history to be told."

"Santa Susana," the first book in Arcadia Publishing's new Images of America series, features Appleton's narrative, along with numerous formerly unpublished photos, some from museum and historical society archives, and some donated by current and former residents. There is also a photo of a rare pamphlet -- discovered by Appleton on eBay -- distributed in the early 1900s by Finis E. Yoakum, a charismatic religious figure who settled in the area.

"The new people who live in Simi Valley have no idea about all the things that were here," Appleton said.

Santa Susana stretched from what is now Tapo Canyon to the east end of Simi Valley. Within its confines was the now-defunct Santa Susana Airport, the former Walnut Growers Association Building, Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey's Bottle Village -- now a California historic landmark -- and Hollywood actor and stuntman Crash Corrigan's Corriganville, which was the filming site of a reported 3,500 movies and television shows.

While Santa Susana still exists as the name of a mountain range, historical train depot and two local schools, residents eschewed it as the city's permanent moniker on Oct. 10, 1969, when they voted to incorporate the city, and selected by a 2-to-1 margin the name Simi Valley over Santa Susana.

For Appleton, a professional photographer residing in Beverly Hills, showcasing Santa Susana in book form was a very personal experience. Appleton, 61, is a fourth-generation member of one of Simi Valley's founding families. His great-grandfather, John Sparhawk Appleton, ranched 160 acres in 1887 near what is now Royal Avenue, and his father, William H. Appleton, owned a radio and television store in Simi Valley in the late 1950s.

Appleton's father was also an avid pilot and flew airplanes out of Santa Susana Airport, just a block from his store, which is now an office building.

"My dad also had a film processing business in his store," said Appleton, who credits his family with his interest in photography.

The 128-page "Santa Susana" has 200 historic photos, including some of the airport, Corriganville, Bottle Village, notable residents, citrus crate labels, and a 1932 photo of the Santa Susana Hardware store, which is now Aubergine Emporium, an antiques and collectibles shop.

Appleton will be signing copies of "Santa Susana" from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 18 at Aubergine Emporium, 4385 Valley Fair St., as a kick-off to the store's three-day Apple Festival event.