Topanga, California is an unincorporated neighborhood in western Los Angeles County, USA. It is located in the Santa Monica Mountains and occupies Topanga Canyon. Topanga is 12,748 acres (52 km²) in size, and is bounded on three sides by State Park or conservancy lands, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean and a small strip of Malibu, which is the main community to the west. On the east is Pacific Palisades. Topanga has a population of 5,441 as of 2000. The ZIP Code is 90290 and the area code is 310. It is in the 3rd County Supervisorial district.
Topanga Creek drains Topanga Canyon and is the third largest watershed entering the Santa Monica Bay. The creek is one of the few remaining undammed waterways in the area, and is a spawning ground of the endangered steelhead trout. The area typically receives about 22" of rain annually. Topanga State Beach lies on the coast at the outlet of Topanga Creek. Topanga Canyon Boulevard, California State Route 27, is the principal thoroughfare, connecting the Ventura Freeway with Pacific Coast Highway. The road largely follows Topanga Creek.
Topanga Canyon contains lands of both Topanga State Park, which is the largest park in the Santa Monica Mountains, and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. It is part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
Topanga is the name given to the area by the Tongva tribe, and may mean "a place above." It was the western border of their territory, abutting the Chumash tribe that occupied the coast from Malibu northwards. Bedrock mortars can be found carved into rock outcroppings in many locations.
Topanga was settled by Whites beginning in 1839. The first ranch was homesteaded in 1885.
In the 1950s blacklisted actor Will Geer had to sell his large Santa Monica home and move his family to small plot in the canyon where they could grow their own produce. Geer's friend Woody Guthrie had a small shack on the property. They unintentionally founded what became an artists' colony.
Members of Charles Manson's "family" began their campaign of murder on July 31, 1969 with the torture and murder of Topanga resident Gary Hinman, a music teacher who had opened his home to anyone needing shelter.
The Old Topanga Fire began on November 2, 1993. Within an hour it was already burning 1,000 acres (4 km²). It resulted in the largest mobilization of emergency resources in a twenty-four hour period in California history. By the time it was extinguished ten days later 16,516 acres (67nbsp;km²) of watershed and at least 388 structures were burned in Topanga and adjoining areas.
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