Moorpark, California

The origin of the name "Moorpark" is unknown, but most sources agree that the town was named after the Moorpark apricot, which used to grow in the area (hence the apricot flower on the town's seal and flag).[13] The apricot, in turn, was named for Admiral Lord Anson's estate Moor Park in Hertfordshire, England, introduced the apricot was introduced in 1688.[14][15][16]

Some of Moorpark's previous unofficial and official names include Epworth, Fremontville, Penrose, Fairview, and Little Simi.[12]

Chumash people were the first to inhabit what is now known as Moorpark. A Chumash village, known as Quimisac (Kimishax), was located in today's Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park. They were hunters and gatherers who often traveled between villages to trade. The village of Quimisac once controlled the local trade of fused shale in the region.[17][18] The area was later part of the large Rancho Simi land grant given in 1795 to the Pico brothers by Governor Diego de Borica of Alta California.

Robert W. Poindexter, the secretary of the Simi Land and Water Company, received the land when the association was disbanded. A map showing the townsite was prepared in November 1900. It was a resubdivision of the large lot subdivision known as Fremont, or Fremontville.[19][20] An application for a post office was submitted on June 1, 1900, and approved by August of that year. The application noted that the town had a railroad depot.[18] The town grew after the 1904 completion of a 7,369-foot (2,246 m) tunnel through the Santa Susana Mountains. Moorpark was then on the main route of the Southern Pacific Railroad's Coast Line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The depot remained in operation until it was closed in 1958. It was eventually torn down around 1965.

Moorpark was one of the first cities to run off commercial nuclear power in the entire world, and the second in the United States, after Arco, Idaho on July 17, 1955, which is the first city in the world to be lit by atomic power. For one hour on November 12, 1957, this fact was featured on Edwin R. Murrow's "See It Now" television show.[21] The reactor, called the Sodium Reactor Experiment was built by the Atomics International division of North American Aviation at the nearby Santa Susana Field Laboratory. The Sodium Reactor Experiment operated from 1957 to 1964 and produced 7.5 megawatts of electrical power at a Southern California Edison-supplied generating station.[22]

Moorpark College opened on September 11, 1967. Moorpark College is one of the few colleges that features an Exotic Animal Training and Management Program. Moorpark was incorporated as a city on July 1, 1983.

In 1996, Moorpark's Little League All-Star team represented the West Region in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

In February 2005, a Siberian tiger named Tuffy that escaped from a local residence was shot and killed in one of Moorpark's parks. This created a great deal of uproar, because the animal control officers used a gun instead of a tranquilizer to kill the tiger, primarily because the tiger could not be shot from the proper angle for a tranquilizer to prove effective. Candlelight vigils were held for the late Tuffy. The couple who owned the tiger had moved from a licensed facility in Temecula, California, to an unlicensed facility in the Moorpark area of Ventura County. They lost their U.S. Department of Agriculture exhibitor license because they failed to notify the department of the move within 10 days. The wife pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor count of failing to maintain records of exotic felines. The husband pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, making false statements and failing to maintain proper records. Each was sentenced to home detention, three years probation, and fined $900.[23]

Just a month later, in March 2005, the fairly complete remains (about 75%) of an unusually old mammoth, possibly the rare southern mammoth (Mammuthus meridionalis), were discovered in the foothills of Moorpark at the site of a housing development.[24] The fossilized skeleton is believed to be from a 800,000 to 1.4 million years old mammoth, which is estimated to have had a weight of ten tons.[12]

In 2006, the Moorpark city council transferred governance of their library from the Ventura County library system to their own newly created city library system. The library, which opened in 1912, celebrated its centennial in 2012.[25]

On February 28, 2006, a housing proposal, North Park Village, which would have added 1,680 houses on 3,586 acres (15 km²) in the north-east area of the city, was defeated by a landslide in a city election.[26]

In 2016, Mike Winters, the Vice President and Historian of the Moorpark Historical Society, published a revised history of Moorpark that covers the years from Moorpark's beginnings to the 1930s. The book, published by Arcadia Publishing is entitled Images of America: Moorpark.

Over 75 percent of homes in Moorpark were constructed after 1980.[13]

• "Old Town Moorpark" is the area surrounding High Street, and is the historic center of the city. A feature of the downtown area are the pepper trees that line High Street, planted by Robert Poindexter who was responsible for the plotting and mapping of the town. This area also features the High Street Arts Center (a Performing Arts center operated by the City of Moorpark), and various restaurants and businesses.
• The Peach Hill and Mountain Meadows neighborhoods are south of the Arroyo Simi, and most of the homes here were built within the last 30 years. Moorpark High School is in this area, as well as many parks, including the Arroyo Vista Park and Recreation Center, the city's largest park. This area contains a large part of the city's population.
• Campus Park is named for Moorpark College. An additional substantial development is occurring to the north of the existing city, in the area of the Moorpark Country Club.

• The city is serviced by Amtrak California's Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink's Ventura County Line commuter rail, with a train station located on High Street, in the center of the city. Metrolink offers a commute rail to Los Angeles.[27]
• The city of Moorpark has a mass transit bus system, known as the Moorpark City Transit.

In 2017, Moorpark had 12,235 jobs (up from 10,820 jobs in 2010) and retail sales of $281 million (up from $264 million in 2010).[28] Most of these retail businesses are located along the community's Los Angeles Avenue corridor, with the community's historic downtown area, known as Historic High Street, as a secondary retail hub.

Moorpark is notable for several restaurants opened by celebrity chefs, including Fabio Viviani, a Top Chef "fan favorite," and Damiano Carrara, a third-place finisher on Food Network Star.

SR 118 just before the intersection with SR 23 in Moorpark

• California State Highway 118
• California State Highway 23

Moorpark is located at 34°16'52" North, 118°52'25" West (34.281056, -118.873561).[30]

Central Moorpark lies in a valley created by the Arroyo Simi river. It is situated on flatlands and mesas at the base of numerous hills. It is located immediately west of Simi Valley, California.[13][27]

The city is divided by Highway 118, locally known as Los Angeles Avenue. Old Town Moorpark (Downtown) is located north of Route 118. Many newer residential communities can be found south of Route 118.[13]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.8 square miles (33 km²). 12.6 square miles (33 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km²) of it is water. The total area is 1.72% water.

Moorpark is served by Moorpark Unified School District. Numerous schools in Moorpark are scoring above the 75th percentile in California, the top quarter in state.[13]

A few events are held in the Moorpark area during the year, most notably Moorpark "Country Days", a single day parade and festival in late September or early October, American Civil War battle reenactments in early-November (in 2019 this annual event was cancelled), an "Apricot Festival", usually in the spring or summer, and an annual fireworks celebration on the third of July every year. The "Country Days" parade includes various vendors, entertainment, and family friendly games/crafts. Children march with their schools, sports teams, dance companies, etc. Local businesses are also encouraged to march. The July 3rd fireworks are popular around the rest of Ventura County, as people can go to the Moorpark fireworks on the 3rd, and still see their own local city's fireworks on July 4.

In 1961, Julius Goldman founded Egg City, the largest chicken ranch in The United Stares at the time located just north of Moorpark, California. Many chicken coops were spread over acres of concrete, with millions of chickens in them. Most of the roads to the ranch were lined by large palm trees. The main office building had a giant chicken statue on the top of it which was later lost in a fire. Local residents were somewhat irked by the farm, when the smell of it wafted to Moorpark on windy days. The odors also commonly flowed to the nearby town of Fillmore. The Pacific Ocean can be seen from the property peaks, although it is farther inland. The business suffered a setback in 1972, when millions of chickens were slaughtered because of the threat of Newcastle disease. There were three well sites on the property and a manmade lake near the main entrance gate. The main well at the hatchery is considered to be one of the deepest and largest privately owned wells in the entire county. In 1989, 3 more massive concrete pads were built at the hatchery location. Egg gathering was done from 36 houses by hand, with workers placing eggs onto plastic flats while riding electric carts. Liquid, dry and shell eggs were processed at the 8,000 Sq ft hatchery facility warehouse with yolk and albumen available in individually. The farm finally closed in 1996. In early December 2006, a wildfire destroyed the dilapidated remains of Egg City.[43]

The city government operates under a council-manager form of government. The Mayor is elected at-large for two-year terms, and four City Councilmembers are elected to staggered four-year terms. The Mayor and City Councilmember positions are non-partisan. Through 2018, the City Councilmembers were elected on an at-large basis. In April 2019, the City Council voted to transition to a district-based election system for the four City Councilmembers, beginning with the November 2020 municipal election.[44]

The city government operates municipal facilities throughout the community, including the Moorpark City Library, Moorpark Active Adult Center, Arroyo Vista Recreation Center and Community Park, Ruben Castro Human Services Facility, Moorpark Public Services Facility, and the Moorpark Police Services Center, which contains offices for the Ventura County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol. The Ventura County Fire Department provides fire protection for Moorpark, with two fire stations in the city.

In the California State Legislature, Moorpark is in the 27th Senate District, represented by Democrat Henry Stern, and in the 44th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Jacqui Irwin. In the United States House of Representatives, Moorpark is represented by Democrat Julia Brownley in California's 26th Congressional District.

In February 2020, there were 21,707 registered voters in Moorpark, with 7,957 registered as Democrats (36.7%), 7,535 registered as Republicans (34.7%), 4,829 registered with no party preference (22.2%), and the remainder split among other parties.[45]

A number of movies have been filmed in Moorpark. An example is Kings Row (1942) starring Ronald Reagan, which featured a scene filmed at Spring Road and Los Angeles Avenue. The film Paranormal Activity 3 has a portion taking place in Moorpark.[18] J.J Gittes (Jack Nicholson) gets shot at an orchard in a scene in Chinatown (1974), which was shot at Trident Ranch.[47] The big game scene in The Best of Times (1986) was shot at Moorpark Memorial High School, while scenes in The Great Man's Lady (1942) were filmed at Joel McCrea's ranch.[48] Scenes from the TV series Super Soul Sunday starring Oprah Winfrey are filmed at Apricot Lane Farms.[49] In 2018, the documentary The Biggest Little Farm was released, telling the story of Apricot Lane Farms.[50]

• Frankie Banali, rock drummer (Quiet Riot)
• Brian Blechen, Professional Football player for the Carolina Panthers
• Kelli Berglund, actress
• Walter Brennan, screen actor[51]
• John Chester, documentary filmmaker, TV director, and cinematographer
• Jan Ebeling, German-American equestrian, who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• F. Gary Gray, music video and film director ("Friday", "Italian Job" (2003), "Straight Outta Compton")
• Tim Hanshaw, former NFL player (1995 drafted in the 4th round by the San Francisco 49ers)
• Rick Jason, actor
• Zach Penprase (born 1985), Israeli-American baseball player for the Israel National Baseball Team
• Dennis Pitta, professional football player for the Baltimore Ravens.
• David Pollock, actor and politician.
• Dillon "Attach" Price (born 1997), professional Call of Duty player
• Gary Sinise, actor[52]
• Paul Winchell, Ventriloquist, inventor, and the voice of Tigger.[53]

• Moorpark College
• Moorpark High School
• State Route 23
• State Route 118
• Chaparral Middle School (Moorpark)
• Mesa Verde Middle School (Moorpark)
• Moor Park (house) origin of the Moorpark apricot

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Moorpark, California.

• Official website
• Moorpark Chamber of Commerce
• Moorpark City Library
• Moorpark Historical Society
• Moorpark @ The Official Conejo Valley Website, a Web site with local history, events, and community information.
• Moorpark Acorn Newspaper
• Moorpark Patch, a website with local news, events and community information.