[22] The 48,612-acre (196.73 km2) Rancho San Francisco land grant was issued by Juan Bautista Alvarado, governor of Alta California, to Mexican army officer Antonio del Valle.

From 1858 to 1861, the Santa Clarita Valley was used as a transportation corridor for the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach service as part of its first division, stretching from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

[31] In the 1850s and 1860s, businessmen and political leaders including Andrés Pico, Sanford Lyon, Henry Clay Wiley, Darius Towsley, and Christopher Leaming came to the Santa Clarita Valley for its oil reserves.

Water from the St. Francis Reservoir coursed through San Francisquito Canyon and the Santa Clara River in a wave up to 140 feet (43 m) high and 2 miles (3.2 km) wide, destroying buildings in its path.

[42] In the early morning of July 23, 1982, a helicopter crash occurred at the Indian Dunes amusement park in Valencia during the making of Twilight Zone: The Movie, killing three people.

[44] Starting in 1970s, residents, such as educator Carl Boyer III and retired businessman H. Gil Callowhill, began efforts to determine the feasibility of incorporating Newhall, Saugus and Valencia into a city.

That December a new committee was formed to lead the fight to break Acton, Agua Dulce, Gorman, Castaic, Val Verde, Canyon Country, Saugus, Valencia and Newhall off from Los Angeles County.

As noted by Jerry Reynolds, "With strong support from the Santa Clarita Valley and Canyon Country chambers of commerce, the committee held lively, well-attended public meetings that revealed a growing interest in home rule and mounting dissatisfaction with inadequate roads."

A petition campaign and the filing of the official cityhood application with the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) requested a 90-square-mile (230 km2) area for the proposed City of Santa Clarita.

Left out were Castaic, Agua Dulce, everything west of Interstate 5, and most of the land south of State Route 14 except for Sand Canyon, whose inclusion was championed by three cityhood leaders who lived there – Lou Garasi, Jan Heidt and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon.

The proposed mine caused controversy due to its potential for air pollution, traffic congestion, and environmental damage to the Angeles National Forest and Santa Clara River.

Survivors were reunited with their parents at nearby Central Park, and injured students were sent to Henry Mayo Hospital in Valencia and Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.

[69] Although generally considered a large suburb of Greater Los Angeles, the city of Santa Clarita consists of four distinct communities: Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, and Valencia.

Starting in the 1960s and continuing into the 1990s, white Americans, primary those from affluent backgrounds, began migrating from Los Angeles to suburban cities such as Santa Clarita, Calabasas, Malibu, Thousand Oaks, and Camarillo.

[112] In 2020, the home security site Safety ranked Santa Clarita the seventh-safest city in California, specifically mentioning the low property crime rate.

The apartment and condominium complexes along Jakes Way in Canyon Country (south of the Santa Clara River, east of Sierra Highway, north of the Metrolink railroad line, and west of State Route 14) have seen some of the highest crime rates in the city.

[148] CalArts has produced numerous renowned actors and musicians including Brad Bird, Tim Burton, Julia Holter, John Lasseter, Marina Rosenfeld, Andrew Stanton, and Carl Stone among others.

Placerita Canyon State Park is in an unincorporated area east of Newhall, in the western San Gabriel foothills on the southeast side of the Santa Clarita Valley.

[198] The SCV Water Agency is currently involved in removing hazardous material from the Saugus Aquifer left behind by decades of munitions testing at the Whittaker-Bermite site (see History section above).

In addition, each library has a variety of services for students, teachers, and home schoolers, including homework help, mental health, and employment resources, as well as community events.

[208] Companies based in Santa Clarita include Princess Cruises, Honda Performance Development, Precision Dynamics Corporation, HASA,[209] and the American division of Advanced Bionics.

[224] According to an October 9, 2018, article in the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), the new management led to a conservative shift in the paper's editorial stance, which prompted a group of progressives in the Santa Clarita Valley to start their own news outlet, the Proclaimer.

[228] In addition to KHTS and KZNQ-LP, Santa Clarita and its surrounding communities are indirectly served by a number of major market Los Angeles FM and AM radio stations.

[1] On weekdays, City of Santa Clarita Transit operates commuter buses to/from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and North Hollywood Station (operating seven days per week as the "NoHo Express/757"), allowing riders to access Metro Los Angeles rapid transit subway and light rail services, as well as Warner Center, Burbank, Van Nuys, Century City, and UCLA.

The service allows for pick-up and drop-off at any address within the City of Santa Clarita and within a three-quarter mile radius of the nearest fixed route bus stop in unincorporated areas.

Bicyclists can ride from the eastern end of the city in Canyon Country along a paved path which is independent from automobile traffic all the way to Valencia on the Santa Clara River Trail.

These movie ranches lie within the studio zone, the area within a 30-mile (48 km) radius of the intersection of Beverly and La Cienega Boulevards in West Los Angeles.

"[244] Movies and TV shows filmed in Santa Clarita include Django Unchained, NCIS, Franklin & Bash, Jane by Design, Make It or Break It, The Muppets, Pirates of the Caribbean, 24, and Old Yeller.

[249] Santa Clarita has been the home of many well-known stars of Western film, including William S. Hart, Harry Carey, John Ford, and Gene Autry.

The walk was founded in 1981; previous honorees have included Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, John Wayne, Sam Elliott, Richard Farnsworth, and Bruce Dern.