California's Lost Attempt to Build a 10th National Park

Initial conservation efforts for Toyon National Park began in the 1920sThe widow of Frederick Hastings Rindge, who purchased thousands of acres in the Santa Monica Mountains in 1892, May eventually became known as the “Queen of Malibu” for her fierce opposition to anything that would bring more people to her coastal empire, including railroads, roads and homesteaders. In short, she wanted to keep the pristine coastline and the chaparral hillsides to herself. But all of her legal fights cost money, and Rindge started selling land to family members and renting out beachfront lots to celebrities. In the end, even that...