I’ve been doing these trail rides into Santa Clarita Valley history for almost 50 years now. We just celebrated Christmas for 2025 and hope you were surrounded by loved ones. May you become, most joyously, the person you were meant to be.
My own view?
It would be folly to offer a sincere, “God bless.” I think the tense is off. I strongly suspect, rather, that God blesses — 24/7, every second of the day. We have to realize that. Thanks to all of you for reading, whether for the first time or over the decades. As a slightly late Christmas gift, here’s a look at a smattering of Christmases in the SCV, throughout the years …
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
— All history is local. St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, is credited with invented the Christmas carol. The Catholic saint reportedly conducted the first-ever sermon in song and singing from the Bible. The tradition was kept in England up until the time of Richard the Lion-hearted and, for a while, was diverted into more somber chants. In the 17th century, during the reign of the Puritans, caroling went underground, as the Puritans felt any celebration should not be joyous. It wasn’t until the 19th century when the carol came back. At first, it was sung in homes, although that was through the illegal printing and distribution of the songs. In 1840, the world’s most famous carol, “Silent Night,” was created and, from then on, caroling enjoyed its popularity. Local angle? San Francisquito Canyon was named after the famed 13th-century saint — and, Christmas bonus — the Santa Clarita Valley was named after his contemporary and student, St. Claire.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, Early 20th Century — The LeBrun family ranched much of San Francisquito Canyon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Several years back, George LeBrun recalled the simple life of being a boy and riding a burro to school. He noted that in those early days, they were so poor, they didn’t have a Christmas tree, rather, the children hung their socks above their beds.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1919 — The SCV’s single men play the married men in baseball, Christmas Day. The young fellows beat the oldsters, 9-5. Tom Frew’s granddad served up all nine runs to the bachelors.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1920 — Will Noble ran a “Christmas Special Mattress Sale” campaign in the local paper. What gives you the willies is that the San Fernando merchant also ran the mortuary business next valley over and folks were asking just where Will was getting those mattresses …
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1922 — Christmas Cheer means different things to different people. Our locally based federal agents, called The Dry Squad, found 35 gallons of moonshine on the abandoned Shannon Ranch. Ed Escabosa was arrested for bootlegging, too. His plea? He was too drunk to remember what happened. Leading the raid was our local federal moonshine agent, James Bond. But not the 007 James Bond …
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1923 — Before laptops and battery-powered gadgets, Santa appeared at the annual Christmas tree lighting, which wasn’t at Henry Mayo Hospital, but over at the Hap-a-Land Hall on Market Street. (The one the City Council just tore down?) Children were given bags containing apples and nuts. Reports of the day said they were happy to have them.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1924 — Newhall Elementary’s view of Christmas vacation was to let the kids out at noon, Dec. 24.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1926 — Signal newspaper editor A.B. “Dad” Thatcher wrote an editorial that you don’t see too often in modern newspapers. From Dad’s heart: “Let no one forget the occasion of this holiday, for it marks the beginning of the brightest part of time. Men had existed for centuries hardly better than animals. They had valued earthly comfort most of all, and their idea of bliss was that comfort they could create for themselves. He whose birth is observed today, brought a new vision. Righteousness for the sole standpoint of the golden rule and the commandments, and no from the hope of earthly reward was indeed a new viewpoint for the world. And it has brought to his world everything that is worthwhile. Law, order, morality, all that makes life safe or livable, comes from this one source.”
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1927 — Downtown Newhall almost burned to the ground. The old Staughty Pool Hall caught fire and cyclonic winds fanned the flames. Nearly every able-bodied soul in town joined to battle the blaze before it spread. Even recently retired silent screen superstar William S. Hart manned a bucket brigade to douse the flames. An iron roof on the pool hall helped keep the fire from consuming the entire village. With no pressurized water system, the few hydrants could only be used to fill buckets. Humorously, the burnt refrigerator at the Motor Stage Cafe was opened and a large block of ice rolled out.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1929 — Clerks at the Newhall and Saugus post offices complained about the big Christmas mail rush. They handled nearly 1,000 cards, letters and packages.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1930 — One of Santa’s helpers got a severe tongue-lashing. Seems one of the locals donned the red and white outfit, fake beard and hair and handed out Christmas presents to several of the children at a Newhall program. Then, afterward, he stayed for the party and climbed out of his suit and costume in front of the kids — to their shock and horror.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1935 — Two hapless crooks mistook a pair of sheriff’s deputies for gas station attendants. Gerald Deal and George Anderson asked the cops to fill up their Ford auto and that they were in a hurry. The cops noticed the back seat was filled up with a lot of loot that suspiciously resembled stuff liberated from several cabins up Bouquet Canyon.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1936 — The worst air disaster in local history occurred two days after Christmas when an airliner crashed in Rice Canyon, killing all 12 aboard. Hundreds of helpers, looky-looers and reporters sped up to the rugged mouth of Rice, only have to continue, on foot, in an unrelenting and freezing downpour.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1937 — The Schlotman family celebrated Christmas with five generations of their kin at the Pico Canyon home of Loretta Reynolds. Grandma Schlotman, 98, was one of the country’s last surviving Civil War widows.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1938 — Minnie M. Martin and Emma Johns, they were the best of friends. The two ladies worked the Newhall precinct for years and with the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, even being kidded about both of them being there. Emma had been friends with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in her youth in Maine. Minnie, 91 and her best friend Emma, 92, died peacefully within three days of one another.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1942 — The Yule tide was a somber one in the early days of World War II. With gas, oil and rubber rationing the centrally located travel oasis of the Santa Clarita Valley was hit hard. Holiday traffic on the main artery, Highway 99, was just a trickle. Many garages and gas stations from Newhall to Castaic were closed by the end of 1942. The Motor Stage Cafe and bus stop closed, as did the historic Woods Garage in Saugus (it would reopen later). Even the Saugus Cafe would be hit, closing for nearly 18 months.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1943 — One of the best columns ever written in The Signal appeared on Christmas Eve, 1943. Owner, editor and publisher Fred Trueblood penned a touching comparison of Joseph and Mary trying to find lodging 2,000 years earlier and a young soldier trying to stay warm and safe in a fox hole during World War II. A most touching tome.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1944 — Residents — at least the early risers — were treated not to snow but a pea soup fog on Christmas morn, 1934. The terrible visibility was blamed for the crash of a B-24 Liberator bomber in the rugged hills above Acton. Local mounted sheriff’s deputies and volunteers trekked into the freezing mountains to find the bodies of all 10 crewmen.
— Sgt. Joe Johnson never made it home for Christmas, either. He was stabbed to death by a fellow Marine sergeant on a troop train chugging through Saugus. Imagine that. You survive World War II and several battles in Europe only to die in a crap game at the hands of one of your own — on Christmas Day.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1946 — It was a white Christmas, and, a soggy one. All the creeks were torrents. Christmas week was also a milestone. We switched from hand magneto crank telephones of the previous 22 years to a simple lifting of the phone to reach one of six operators at the phone company on Walnut (Tom Mix’s old place). Some had to suffer new telephone numbers and a brand new ringing sound. Still. Some of the outlying residents kept the magneto system because it wasn’t as scratchy.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1947 — Prisoners from Wayside Honor Rancho got together to put on a Christmas pageant, reenacting the Nativity scene. The prisoners were dressed as shepherds and such. No word on who played Mary.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1948 — It wasn’t a very merry Christmas for about 50 hobos hitching a ride through Saugus. A gang of machine-gun carrying lawmen stopped the train and forced the freeloaders off into the freezing night air.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1951 — The Christmas Quake of ’51 hit the Gorman area and was felt here in Newhall. It was initially estimated between a 5.5 and 6 magnitude. Burglar alarms went off, dishes rattled and Christmas trees shimmied, but there was hardly any damage. For one thing, there was hardly anything out here …
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1954 — You old-timers will remember Margaret Hampton at the long-defunct Snak Shak on San Fernando Road. She was the irascible owner who didn’t like women or kids — well. She didn’t like them sitting in her eatery because A) they didn’t eat enough; and 2) they dawdled. Margaret kept a very thick sock hanging over the griddle where she put tips and donations. For what, she wouldn’t say. Right before Christmas, it leaked out that the $75 she had raised would go for buying shoes for local needy kids.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1953 — Let’s throw in a little sports trivia. Hart High beat Burroughs 2-0 — on a forfeit. Seems the score was tied 43-43. Gary Yurosek (who would later become the movie star, Gary Lockwood) was fouled right before the buzzer. Burroughs coach Bill Flora didn’t think so. Instead of playing the overtime, Flora walked off the court, taking his team with him and lost on the default 2-0 score.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1954 — Our yearly present from the phone company was handed out to all the homes with phones. It had all the numbers for the Santa Clarita AND Antelope valleys, along with everyone from here to Frazier Park. There were just 4,400 phones for 1,000 square miles.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1958 — It was 90 degrees.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1959 — Some of the church people were more than a little upset with the American theater. Seems the week of Christmas, the management was playing the double bill of “The Headless Ghost” and “Horrors of the Black Museum.”
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1961 — There had been a serious bout of cattle rustling in the valley. Rancher and businesswoman, Sylvia Gonzalez, 72, had her Honby spread struck by cattle thieves. Rising at dawn, Christmas Eve morning, her foreman found one steer with a broken back and another dying pitifully from a crushed skull. Their detecting deduced it wasn’t a two-headed desperado but rather, a four-legged one. A massive set of puma tracks were found around the carcass.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1965 — It wasn’t so much the Grinch but the heat wave that stole Christmas. An earlier scorching summer in the Pacific Northwest was blamed for a shortage of trees. Prices in the seller’s market went for a staggering $1.50 a food. Yup. An 8-foot tree went for 12 bucks.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1968 — The Signal penned an editorial entitled: “An Ultimatum to the Flu.” In part, our demands: “… this newspaper would like to take a strong stand on the controversial flu issue which threatens to bring this nation to a halt over the Christmas holidays. For the record, we hereby declare that we are absolutely opposed to any kind of virus, foreign or domestic, disabling any citizen of this valley.” Scott Newhall ended by writing: “If the Honk Kong flu rears its ugly head here, we will retaliate with our own Valencia Valley virus, which will be dispatched at once to distant Hong Kong for suitable revenge.”
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1969 — The seventh annual Newhall Christmas Parade went off without a hitch. Yup. We used to have a big parade that motored down today’s Main Street for years every middle of December. Clayton Moore, the Lone Ranger Himself, was our grand marshal in 1969.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1970 — It’s a very rare event when we have snow stay on the ground on the valley floor of Santa Clarita. It only occurred a few times in the 20th century. But for a few days, Santa Clarita looked like the Colorado Rockies. Hundreds were stranded as the Ridge Route was closed — AT ROXFORD — for through traffic. Our native oak and the newer eucalyptus, which aren’t used to snowfall, lost limbs and knocked over power and phone lines. Squadrons of helicopters and four-wheel drive vehicles delivered food and blankets to some folks up in the higher canyons and evacuated a few of the sick and elderly. Some of the odd events were emergency room visits for kids who were unaccustomed to packing snowballs. They made them rock hard and caused several injuries. Another oddity was a run on film. Everyone in town was taking pictures. There was a 6-foot snowbank at one Saugus house. Pretty much, the valley was cut off from the rest of the world for about two days. Interestingly, it wasn’t the biggest snowfall. We had a week of snow in 1949, and a big snow storm that last for two days in 1962. There was also a pretty good snowfall in the 1930s where local resident Ted Lamkin noted the snow stayed on the ground for two weeks.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1972 — From the Is Nothing Sacred Department, on this date, Santa Claus was mugged in downtown Newhall. Dan Curasi, 16, had been spreading cheer on behalf of the Downtown Newhall Merchants’ Association when he was attacked by four high school boys. Curasi, in his Santa identity, had been in an altercation earlier with two of the youths, and beat those two boys up after they had showered him with profanity in front of a group of wide-eyed children. The pair then showed up after dark with help, ended up stealing St. Nick’s wig and beat a hasty retreat on motorcycles.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1973 — Gasoline prices were steep — more than 50 cents a gallon. (Excuse me while I blow milk and cookies through my nose.) Grinch-like, one local station had this sign posted: “GASOLINE BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. HA, HA…”
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1977 — We were also going through a tough drought and cloud-seeding operations had to be postponed — due to rain.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1977 — There were many embarrassed officials and parents and even more confused youths. The Newhall Christmas Parade inadvertently had two Santa Clauses riding and waving in the parade. A Signal editorial condemned the faux pax and pointed out that there was only one true St. Nick. However, the newspaper came short of pointing out which one was which.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1978 — Signal gossip columnist MIMI (Ruth Newhall) was outraged when she learned that many local schools were stamping out such Christmas Carol classics as “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Silent Night” and “Come All Ye Faithful” due to the early vanguard of a politically correct movement labeled “ethnic sensitivity.” “We’ve turned in some of the world’s most appealing music for a handful of cheap jingles,” wrote Mrs. Newhall. Amen.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1982 — Thieves made off with the giant Confederate flag flying over the Dixie Diesel service station in Castaic. Measuring 20 by 30 feet, the Stars-And-Bars was valued at $700.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1984 — A parade of snow-covered cars motored in from the Antelope Valley, bringing large grins from the locals. We had a major winter storm the week of Christmas. The Ridge Route was closed for a couple of days and here, in Santa Clarita, we had almost 5 inches of rain.
CHRISTMAS in the SCV, 1985 — Hart Park had a Christmas visitor — a 200-pound black puma. A dozen officers from various agencies prowled the Newhall grounds, searching for the elusive big cat. Earlier in the week, the carcass of a deer was found on one of the trails and a woman nearly had an out-of-body experience when she saw the mountain lion vault from out of a tree and up a hill in front of her while she was walking.
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Well, dear saddlepals. See that light up ahead? That’s our time zone. Wish you all the merriest of holidays. May you spend it cozy with loved ones and may you spend it cozy and happy with yourself. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of you reading about our history over the years. Feliz Navidad y vayan con Dios, amigos!!
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Local historian and the world’s most prolific satirist/humorist John Boston has launched his new eclectic bookstore — johnboston-books.com. The long-awaited sequel to the national bestseller, ‘Naked Came the Sasquatch” — ‘Naked Came the Novelist’ — is available for sale now. Ditto with his two-volume “MONSTERS” series about the supernatural in the SCV.
