Traffic accidents along Brea Canyon Road (and tips for safety)

Brea Canyon Road can be one of the most fun roads to drive along, yet one of the most deadly. Each year several people lose there lives along this road. Driving along, you see small white crosses dotting the landscape of Brea Canyon offering us an eerie reminder to drive safely. Even if it is not a deadly accident, a car accident will block Brea Canyon road and will cause it to back up onto Central ave and will cause havoc with the entire traffic situation in Brea, so please remember to drive safely. Back in the 90's my neighbors sister was killed after she careened off Brea Canyon road after a night of drinking and partying. She was discovered the next morning, dead, when the Brea fire department was on their patrol of the road. She was only in her early 20's and this could have been prevented had she have had a designated driver and proper guard rails been installed. I also know first hand that Brea canyon rd. is very dark at night so many times, an animal such as a coyote or deer may try to cross, the best thing is to slow down and not try to swerve for the animal. Another problem is that the guard rails along Brea Canyon rd. have reflectors that become un-reflective over time due to graffiti or dirt getting on them, so please use caution around turns. Never drink and drive. Living adjacent to Brea Canyon rd, the sound of sirens are not uncommon.

Litter problems along Brea Canyon Road!

Brea Canyon road, by no doubt, is one of the funnest and most scenic roads to drive along in Orange county. However, there is a big problem along this road, LITTER! For as long as I can remember, Brea Canyon road has had litter problems. In recent times however, it seems to have gotten worse. Along Brea canyon road, there are sofas, parts of an old Jacuzzi, bottles, and various other piles of trash dumped along their and never cleaned up. There was a sofa dumped there several years ago and when I called to complain about, guess what cal-trans does? They bury it with dirt! Cal-trans very easily could have hauled away the old sofa, and it's not like they would have had to drive very far to do so, there yard is located at the mouth of Brea canyon road! What makes matters even worse is that the City of Brea, Diamond bar, or Rowland Heights (all cities in Brea Canyon), have no regular litter removal program. This, I believe should be changed, especially with all the taxes every CA resident dishes out each only to have it spent on frivolous things. 

These photos show SOME of the litter:

 Here on the left is the half buried sofa, it is located just after the bridge, on the right when you are coming from Brea Blvd.

This pile of trash is located off Brea Canyon road, in front of Nieto & sons trucking, it looks like someone decided this would be a good spot to dump their crap, scumbags.

Well, that's it for now anyway, hopefully the City's will implement a program to keep Brea Canyon road clean, I haven't had very much luck calling the city of Brea.

Portola came through Brea Cañon in 1769

Located on Brea Canyon road there is a memorial marker, many wonder what it is or says but very few have actually gotten out of there car to see what it is. I investigated one day and here is what I found.

It reads:

"DON GASPOR PORTOLA

With 60 men camped here July 31 1769 on his march from San Diego to Montery dedicated June 2, 1932 Grace Parlor No. 242 Native Daughters of the golden west."

After doing some research on Portola, I found that he was a Spanish conquistador who was responsible, along with Father Junipero Serra, for planting missions along the coast of California. Portola started out on July 13, 1769 working his way up the coast. On July 31, 1769 he camped in Brea, I could find no info if he did anything other than just camp here, so I'll assume that's it. On August 2, he had reached Los Angeles, Santa Barbra on the 19th, and had reached the mouth of the Salinas river on Oct. 1, but fog obscured the Santa Cruz shore, making the rough bay look like open ocean, reaching Santa Cruz on October 18th and the San Francisco Bay area on October 31. They realized they had missed the harbor of Monterey and did not find it on their return to San Diego. The difficult journey had lasted six months and they had failed to reach their goal. Nonetheless, their voyage is commemorated as a interesting piece of California history. As you can see, this placard was donated in the early days of Brea, way back in 1932 by the Native Daughters of the Golden West, Grace parlor 242, who is an organization of California born women who are devoted to preserving California history. The plaque alone is a piece of history, with it's heavy-duty bronze construction it dates from the early days of Brea, 1932! Stop by sometime and take a look at the marker, it is located in front of (the former) Brea Cañon Oil Company property gate. There will be a spot where you can pull your car or bike off the road. Be safe!

-Corey