2026-01: Leo Carrillo State Park

Milestones

• 37th time camping in 37 months (SHOW ON MAP)
• 2nd time camping in Los Angeles County (SEE 1ST)
• 5th time camping near film locations: Neptune’s Net (the iconic restaurant) in the movie “Point Break”, and Leo Carrillo State Beach in the movie “Grease” (SEE 4TH)

The Campground’s Namesake

Leo Carrillo was a member of the Carrillo family of California, a prominent Californio¹ family, and traced his ancestry through California, Mexico, and Spain to the year 1260. His great-great grandfather José Raimundo Carrillo, was a soldier in the Spanish Portolá expedition colonization of Las Californias, arriving in San Diego on July 1, 1769. Franciscan Friar Junípero Serra performed the marriage ceremony for Don Jose Raimundo and Tomasa Ignacia Lugo in 1781. His great-grandfather Carlos Antonio Carrillo was governor of Alta California. His great-uncle, José Antonio Carrillo, was a three-time mayor of Los Angeles.

Leo Carrillo served on the California Beach and Parks commission for 18 years and played a key role in the state’s acquisition of Hearst Castle at San Simeon and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

What Huell Howser Says…

• Movie Beach: Huell meets up with Harry Medved author of HOLLYWOOD ESCAPES a book about movie locations in California. Harry tells Huell all about the long history of Leo Carrillo State Beach, and why it is probably the most filmed beach in the world.
• White Sea Bass: Huell meets up with Bill Ernst to see what he caught… the largest White Sea Bass ever! Then Huell heads down to the Hubbs-Seaworld Research Institute to learn more about these fish and even helps release a bunch of fry.

Nice and Easy

The campground is less than a mile from the western border of the City of Malibu. I put my tent under a giant sycamore tree in piles and piles of leaves. It was very comfortable. The temperature was perfect (52-62F), no wind, no rain, blue skies in the morning, “easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy”.

There was only 1 camper nearby, but he was an older man, by himself, quiet and respectful. My kinda guy.

I setup my Starlink, so I had WiFi. There was no cell service in my location. To be fair, it was in a canyon, away from Pacific Coast Highway. I really needed my Starlink, because I had a 5pm deadline to write an article for my church newsletter. I sat at the picnic table, opened up my iPad, and emailed the article on time. Such luxury!!!

A few feet from my tent was Arroyo Sequit, an intermittent stream. There were a couple of frogs croaking at night, but not as many as I was hoping for.

I came prepared for a fantastic dinner: baked potato with melted cheese, Bratwurst and some pinto beans.

My biggest mistake was underestimating the flames. My meal was ready to eat, but I needed to lift the grill/aluminum foil off the stove. The flames were coiling up around the edges, so I couldn’t figure out how to grab it without burning myself.

By the way, aluminum foil burns up pretty quickly. Is it toxic to eat burnt foil with your meal? I would rather not look it up. Just a question that I dare not answer.

Necessity is the mother of invention. I had a foldable windscreen for cooking and a sock-hat/beanie. I then “MacGyvered”² a pot-holder+pan-gripper. I was then able to transfer my piping hot meal over to the picnic table and consume a glorious meal. I decided to immediately buy a proper tool from Amazon when I got back.

1. Californios are Hispanic Californians, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries who arrived under Spanish and Mexican rule before California was annexed by the United States. ↩︎
2. “MacGyvered” means to create or fix something ingeniously and inventively using only the materials readily at hand ↩︎