Vasquez Rocks
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Vasquez Rocks
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Vasquez Rocks
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| Location: | Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California |
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| Nearest city: | Agua Dulce, California |
| NRHP Reference#: | 72000228 |
| Added to NRHP: | June 22, 1972 |
Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is a 905-acre (3 km²) park located in the Sierra Pelona Mountains, in northern Los Angeles County, California. It is in the Agua Dulce vicinity between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley north of Los Angeles and seen easily by motorists driving the Antelope Valley Freeway (CA 14).
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[edit] History
These rock formations were formed by action of the San Andreas Fault.[1] In 1873 and 1874 Tiburcio Vásquez, one of California's most notorious bandits, used these rocks to elude capture by law enforcement. His name has since been associated with this geologic feature.
The land and rock formations were acquired by the Los Angeles County government in the 1970s.
Vasquez Rocks was added to the National Register of Historic Places (site #72000228) in 1972 due to its significance as a prehistoric site for the Shoshone and Tataviam peoples.[2]
[edit] Role in entertainment
In 1935, Universal Pictures assigned Stanley Bergerman as executive producer on the film Werewolf of London. Bergerman suggested the Vasquez Rocks as the location for what was supposed to be Tibet.[citation needed] Since then, Vasquez Rocks have been used innumerable times in motion pictures, various television series and in moving and still photography advertisements, and continue to be used in them today.
The triangular rock summit can be clearly seen in, for example, an Outer Limits episode called "The Zanti Misfits", in "Arena", an original series Star Trek episode where Captain Kirk rolls a boulder onto an alien of reptiloid origin called a Gorn, and throughout a Bonanza episode called "Between Heaven and Earth". The prominent rock formation has been nicknamed "Kirk's Rock" due to being featured in several Star Trek episodes, each time representing a different planet.[3]
The Vasquez Rocks were also used prominently throughout all three seasons of the science-fiction television series Roswell as something of an important location for the main characters and their story. The area is also featured as the location of the Command Center for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers throughout Power Rangers Turbo. Also featured in the movie Paul, and in the 2009 "South by Southwest" episode of NCIS.
Tom Ford's 2009 movie, "A Single Man" shows the characters George Colin Firth and Jim Matthew Goode lounging on rocks in a black-and-white flashback scene.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Frizzell, VA, Jr & Weigand, PW (1993). Whole-rock K-Ar ages and geochemical data from middle Cenozoic volcanic rocks, southern California: A test of correlations across the San Andreas fault in: The San Andreas fault system: displacement, palinspastic reconstruction, and geologic evolution (Matti, Jonathan C.; Powell, R. F.; Weldon, R. J.,eds). Boulder, Colo: Geological Society of America. ISBN 0-8137-1178-9.
- ^ "CALIFORNIA - Los Angeles County". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/ca/Los+Angeles/state9.html. Retrieved 2008-01-07.
- ^ "Kirk's Rock". Television Tropes and Idioms. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KirksRock. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
- Robert P. Sharp, "Southern California", revised edition, K/H Geology Field Guide Series, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, Dubuque, Iowa, 1975. Cover.
- Vasquez Rocks (television use in Bonanza and Star Trek) - (also see its following page)
- Los Angeles Orienteering Club - Orienteering Events
[edit] External links
- Official Vasquez Rocks County Park website
- Movie Sites.org - Vasquez Rocks
- Unearthed Outdoors: Vasquez Rocks maps & weather
Coordinates: 34°28′48″N 118°19′00″W / 34.479887°N 118.31657°W
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- Historic districts in Los Angeles
- Film shooting locations
- Rock formations in California
- Parks in Los Angeles County, California
- Regional parks in California
- Protected areas of the Mojave Desert
- Landforms of Los Angeles County, California
- History of Los Angeles County, California
- Landmarks in Los Angeles, California
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Los Angeles County, California
- Historic districts in California
- Sierra Pelona Mountains
