- Source: Las Virgenes Road/Malibu Canyon Road
Las Virgenes Road / Malibu Canyon Road is a north–south road that runs for 11 miles (18 km) and traverses the Santa Monica Mountains, connecting the San Fernando Valley and U.S. Route 101 with California State Route 1 and Malibu, all in Los Angeles County. The portion of the road between Route 101 and Route 1 is designated County Route N1 and nicknamed "the road from the Valley to the Sea."
Name
Las Virgenes Road is the truncated version of El Rancho de Nuestra la Reina de Las Virgenes (transl. the ranch of our Lady of the Virgins), also known as Rancho Las Vírgenes. Malibu Canyon Road was named after Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit, in which Malibu, a poor Anglicisation of Humaliwo (transl. place of the wild surf), was the name of a local Tongva or Chumash village.
Route
From the north, Las Virgenes Road begins as a dirt road at the Los Virgenes Canyon Trail in the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve. The dirt road extends for 0.3 miles (0.48 km), at which point it becomes paved as it exits the preserve and enters Calabasas. The road continues south, over U.S. Route 101, into the Santa Monica Mountains, and across Mulholland Highway. 1.7 miles (2.7 km) south of Mulholland, Las Virgenes Road becomes Malibu Canyon Road, where it continues through the Santa Monica Mountains alongside Malibu Creek until it reaches its southern terminus at California State Route 1 in Malibu.
The 8.5 miles (13.7 km) of Las Virgenes and Malibu Canyon Road between U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 is designated County Route N1.
History
Malibu Canyon Road was constructed in 1951. One year later, the road was extended to Las Virgenes Road, which at the time terminated at the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains. Once connected, the combination of these roads was nicknamed "the road from the Valley to the Sea."
The portion of this road between Route 101 and Route 1 was designated County Route N1 in 1963. This road was also considered for the north–south alignment of the never built California State Route 64, which was proposed in 1963 based on a previous proposal from 1959. Plans for the Malibu portion of Route 64, which would have been named the Malibu Canyon Freeway, were abandoned in 1970 and the rest of the route was abandoned in 1975.
Notable landmarks
Notable landmarks on Las Virgenes and Malibu Canyon Road include (from south to north): Malibu Bluffs Park, Pepperdine University, Backbone Trail, Tapia Park and Water Reclamation Facility, Malibu Hindu Temple, and Malibu Creek State Park.