Bell Canyon history:

Bell Canyon is a 1,700-acre (6.9 km2) residential unincorporated community located near West Hills and the western San Fernando Valley in the Simi Hills. Although only minutes from the Los Angeles City limits, Bell Canyon is a Horse Community located in neighboring Ventura County.

In 1967 the Spruce Land Corporation and Boise Cascade joined in a partnership to purchase the geographic Bell Canyon area to develop the future community of Bell Canyon. In the fall of 1968, the Bell Canyon Equestrian Center, designed by renowned 'Southern California modern ranch style' architect Cliff May, was built and began operation. In 1969 a new subdivision called "Woodland Hills Country Estates" was developed and opened for sales. It was a success, selling nearly all the 800 home site lots within ten days. In the fall of 1969 the new residential property owners took leadership of the community association and renamed the development "Bell Canyon," after Charles A. Bell, the original homesteader here and son of pioneer Horace Bell. He was a leading late 1880s newspaper publisher, Los Angeles attorney winning many cases for clients against neighbor Miguel Leonis, and the 1906 Justice of the Peace for Calabasas. Legend says he lost a right arm in an 1887 shootout when raiding a moonshiner. The Rancho El Escorpión compound adobes, from the 1840s to the 1960s at the mouth of Bell Canyon, were actually outside the land grant and on Bell's property.

The dramatic gateway to modern Bell Canyon is flanked by Escorpión Peak (1,475 ft) (450 m) in El Escorpión Park and the sacred Chumash 'Cwaya Cuquele' ("the feathered banner is waving") jagged outcrop of sandstone, and verdant riparian Bell Creek flowing by in Bell Canyon Park.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_California