{{Short description|Unincorporated community in California, United States}} {{other uses|Castac (disambiguation)}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox settlement |official_name = Castaic Junction, California |settlement_type = Unincorporated community |nickname = |motto = <!-- Images --> |image_skyline = Valencia, CA, Castaic Junction, View N from CA 126, 2012 - panoramio.jpg |imagesize = |image_caption = Castaic Junction as viewed from SR 126 |image_flag = |image_seal = <!-- Maps --> |image_map = |mapsize = |map_caption = Location in Santa Clarita Valley##Location in California |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = |pushpin_label = Castaic Junction |pushpin_map = Santa Clarita##California |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = {{Flagu|United States|size=23px}} |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = {{Flag|California|size=23px}} |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name2 = {{Flagicon image|Flag of Los Angeles County, California.svg|size=23px}} Los Angeles <!-- Government --> |government_footnotes = |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name = |leader_title1 = |leader_name1 = |established_title = |established_date = <!-- Area --> |unit_pref = |area_footnotes = |area_magnitude = |area_total_km2 = |area_land_km2 = |area_water_km2 = |area_total_sq_mi = |area_land_sq_mi = |area_water_sq_mi = <!-- Population --> |population_as_of = |population_footnotes = |population_total = |population_density_km2 = |population_density_sq_mi = <!-- General information --> |timezone = Pacific (PST) |utc_offset = -8 |timezone_DST = PDT |utc_offset_DST = -7 |elevation_footnotes = |elevation_m = |elevation_ft = 1017 |coordinates = {{coord|34|26|35|N|118|36|39|W|region:US-CA|display=inline,title}} <!-- Area/postal codes & others --> |postal_code_type = |postal_code = |area_code = 661 |blank_name = GNIS feature ID |blank_info = 270336<ref name="gnis"/> |blank1_name = |blank1_info = |website = |footnotes = }} '''Castaic Junction''' is an unincorporated community located in Los Angeles County, California.<ref name="gnis">{{cite gnis|270336|Castaic Junction}}</ref> It is located at the crossroads of Interstate 5 and State Route 126 near the confluence of Castaic Creek and the Santa Clara River.
Places in Castaic Junction carry a Valencia zip code (91355), and it is adjacent to the City of Santa Clarita.
Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park is just south of the junction.
==History== Father Juan Crespí camped near what is now Castaic Junction in 1769, at which time there was a "thriving Indian village" on the site.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2002-04-28 |title=Neighbors Fight Onslaught of Commuters |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-neighbors-fight-on/139937370/ |access-date=2024-01-31 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=19}}</ref>
Castaic Junction was the official southern end of the Ridge Route. The name dates to 1887, before highways were built, when a railroad siding was set up at the junction.<ref name="scvhistory.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/ap2221.htm|title=SCVHistory.com AP2221 – Castaic – Castaic Junction Train Siding|access-date=6 February 2016}}</ref>
A highway bridge at Castaic Junction was destroyed by the collapse of the St. Francis Dam in 1928.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Main Highway Bridge at Castaic Junction destroyed by the flood following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam, Castaic vicinity (Calif.), 1928 - UCLA Library Digital Collections |url=https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz002dcrw2 |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=digital.library.ucla.edu}}</ref>
The community had an Art Deco−Moderne style train depot, serving the railroad line that ran along the Santa Clara River between Saugus and Piru. The depot was demolished around 1990.<ref name="scvhistory.com"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.castaicareatowncouncil.org/main19.htm|title=Castaic Area History|access-date=6 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923200743/http://www.castaicareatowncouncil.org/main19.htm|archive-date=23 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Just beyond the north end of the Magic Mountain parking lot is the site of the adobe ranch house for the historic Rancho San Francisco, a Mexican land grant that encompassed the Santa Clarita Valley from Piru to Canyon Country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/perkins-rsf-1957.htm|title=SCVHistory.com – Rancho San Francisco: A Study of a California Land Grant, by Arthur B. Perkins|access-date=6 February 2016}}</ref>
According to local legend, icon James Dean ate his last meal at the Tip's Restaurant formerly at the crossroads of Highway 126 and The Old Road before he drove on north.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/sg093005-dean.htm|title=SCVHistory.com – Castaic Junction: James Dean's Last Stop Before Immortality?|access-date=6 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2148.htm|title=SCVHistory.com LW2148 – Castaic Junction – Tip's Restaurant Matchbooks|access-date=6 February 2016}}</ref>
==See also== *{{C|Santa Clarita, California|Santa Clarita, California topics}} *Rancho San Francisco *{{slink|Death Valley '49ers|Burnt Wagons (Jayhawkers)}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Santa Clarita}} {{Los Angeles County, California|state=collapsed}} {{Santa Clara River}}
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Category:Unincorporated communities in Los Angeles County, California Category:Santa Clarita, California Category:Santa Clara River (California) Category:Unincorporated communities in California
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