Moorpark, California

The town most likely 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, 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]

Moorpark was part of Rancho Simi, owned by Don José de la Guerra y Noriega, founder of the prominent Guerra family of California.

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 Edward 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.[23]

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.[24]

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.[25] 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.[26]

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.[27][28]

Western Moorpark

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][30]

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]

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).[38] 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.

Several businesses have been opened by celebrity chefs, including Fabio Viviani,[39] a Top Chef "fan favorite," and Damiano Carrara, a third-place finisher on Food Network Star.[40]

The High Street Arts Center, a theater in downtown Moorpark

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, an annual fireworks celebration on the third of July every year, and the Moorpark Film Festival in August. 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.

The City of Moorpark established an “Arts in Public Places” (AIPP) program in 2005 and later created the Arts Commission in 2006 to support the AIPP efforts.[42] In August 2019, Moorpark engaged the services of ArtsOC to develop an Arts Master Plan. While the initial role of the Arts Commission was to oversee the AIPP program, their role has expanded to include general oversight and implementation of the Arts Master Plan to engage, strengthen, and harness the visual and performing arts in Moorpark.

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] In the November 2020 election, Daniel Groff (District 2, Western Moorpark) and Dr. Antonio Castro (District 4, Downtown/Central Moorpark) became the first two Moorpark City Councilmembers elected to represent districts.[45]

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 October 2020, there were 23,290 registered voters in Moorpark, with 8,845 registered as Democrats (38.0%), 8,045 registered as Republicans (34.5%), 4,993 registered with no party preference (21.4%), and the remainder split among other parties.[46]

Moorpark is served by Moorpark Unified School District which includes Moorpark High School.

Additionally, there is The High School at Moorpark College, a middle college located on the Moorpark College campus. In this program, students take English and Social Studies classes at the high school level and Math, Science, Foreign Language and other electives at Moorpark College to fulfill the requirements for graduation and the Associates Degree simultaneously.[47]

• The city is serviced by Amtrak California's Pacific Surfliner and by Metrolink's Ventura County Line commuter rail system with service to Los Angeles, with a train station located on High Street in the center of the city.[30]
• The city of Moorpark has a mass transit bus system, known as the Moorpark City Transit.

Major highways

SR 118 just before the intersection with SR 23 in Moorpark

• California State Highway 118
• California State Highway 23

A number of movies have been filmed in Moorpark. Kings Row (1942) starring Ronald Reagan 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.[54] 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.[55] Scenes from the TV series Super Soul Sunday starring Oprah Winfrey are filmed at Apricot Lane Farms.[56] In 2018, the documentary The Biggest Little Farm was released, telling the story of Apricot Lane Farms.[57] A special, "The Biggest Little Farm: The Return", was released in 2022.[58] The Disney movie Magic Camp has scenes filmed in the High Street Arts Center on High Street.

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.

• Brian Blechen, professional football player for the Carolina Panthers
• Kelli Berglund, actress
• Walter Brennan, screen actor[59]
• John Chester, documentary filmmaker, TV director, and cinematographer
• Jan Ebeling, German-American equestrian, who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• Sean Gilmartin, MLB pitcher
• Tim Hanshaw, former NFL player (1995 drafted in the 4th round by the San Francisco 49ers)
• Rick Jason, actor
• Drake London, wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons
• Zach Penprase (born 1985), Israeli-American baseball player for the Israel National Baseball Team
• Dennis Pitta, former professional football player
• Dillon "Attach" Price (born 1997), professional Call of Duty player
• Gary Sinise, actor[60]
• Paul Winchell, ventriloquist, inventor, and the voice of Tigger.[61]

• Chaparral Middle School (Moorpark)
• Mesa Verde Middle School (Moorpark)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Moorpark, California.

• Official website
• Moorpark Chamber of Commerce
• Moorpark Historical Society