6 Things Newbury Park Is Known For

NEWBURY PARK might often get overlooked for its bigger twin-brother to the east, but in this article our Newbury Park limousine and Thousand Oaks party bus office will give the small town of Newbury Park some well-deserved limo attention. This small town in the western parts of the Conejo Valley might be mostly annexed by Thousand Oaks by now, but despite the fact that the Conejo Valley has more or less become one for administrative purposes, Newbury Park (just as Westlake Village) remains its own community with its own unique feel. Here you can find more rustic homes than anywhere in Conejo Valley, more trails, more horseback-riding opportunities and generally a more laid-back feel than most places in Southern California. With barely 40,000 residents, Newbury Park remains a small town, with a small town feel emphasized by the mountains surrounding the town to the west, south and north.

The area has been inhabited for thousands of years by the Chumash Native-Americans and is known not just for its ancient history, but for a variety of reasons. Clients of limo services told us for example how Newbury Park is home to America’s biggest urban national park! And that it is home to the world’s largest biotechnology company. Did you know that movies such as We Bought a Zoo (2011), Bedtime Stories (2008) and It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) were filmed here? With its unique position between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, you can enjoy a quiet day at home and head in a short Thousand Oaks party bus or limo ride to Hollywood for the night. It’s also perfectly situated for wine-tasting tours, with just a short limo ride for Malibu wine tours in the Malibu Canyons or a little longer for the great vineyards of Santa Ynez. Let our Newbury Park limousine services present 6 things one of America’s wealthiest and safest communities is known for!

7. Great Outdoors

Besides the largest urban national park lands in the United States (see #5), there are many more great places to experience nature in Newbury Park. There are for example hiking trails connecting to Thousand Oaks’ Wildwood Regional Park, where Newbury Park limousine riders can enjoy over seventeen miles of hiking trails. This park can be accessed from the Arroyo Trail in Rancho Conejo Playfields, where you can cross Hill Canyon and La Branca before climbing the Mountclef Ridge in Santa Rosa County Park and access Wildwood proper. Many order Newbury Park limousine vehicles to head to the Dos Vientos, a neighborhood in western Newbury Park known of its many celebrities and luxury homes. The Dos Vientos Open Space can be accessed from Dos Vientos Community Park by following the Park View Trail. When the Park View Trail stops at Via Ricardo, one can either cross the road and hike to the top of Conejo Mountain (Powerline/Edison Trail), or follow Via Ricardo to the to the left for 0.1 mile before entering the Vista Del Mar Trailhead. You can alternatively ask limo services to drop you off by the trailhead, but there are no parking spaces here. This is where we’ve had Thousand Oaks party bus and limo clients coming to check out Twin Ponds and the great views of Conejo Valley and Oxnard Plains. Another popular hike is the Rosewood Trail in Ventu Park Open Space leading to the top of Angel Vista, a mountain peak in the Santa Monica Mountains. Other great hikes can be found in the Potrero Ridge Open Space, Deer Ridge Open Space and many more places. There are also hikes crossing the Santa Monica’s and going all the way to the Mugu Lagoon by the Pacific Ocean. Up in the Santa Monica’s there are many Chumash artifacts and cave paintings. For example on the property of Malibu Family Wines, a popular Malibu wine tours destination. As our limo services have served the community for over twenty years, trust the expertise of our limo services for a great outing in the Conejo Valley!

6. 4th Safest American City

Few places in America are safer than Newbury Park. The entire Thousand Oaks was rated America’s 4th safest city by the FBI in 2013, which makes it the safest city in California. Furthermore, the research company Niche, rated Thousand Oaks as America’s second-safest city in 2016. The homicide rate here is less than a sixth of the national average and it usually goes years between a murder taking place in Newbury Park. While crime has been increasing in the Greater Los Angeles Area, the Greater Thousand Oaks Area remains amongst the safest places in the United States. Our annual ratings by the FBI is something our Newbury Park limousine and Thousand Oaks party bus services take great pride in! What’s better than running limo services in home of America’s safest communities?

newbury-park-panorama
Panorama of Newbury Park, taken by our local limo services

5. America’s Largest Urban National Park

928 acres of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) is located within southern Newbury Park and is recognized as the largest urban national park in the United States. Here Thousand Oaks party bus and Newbury Park limousine clients come to experience the great outdoors. The limo services take people for example to the Rocking K Horse Rentals to rent a horse and go horseback-riding in the mountains! Rated the top thing to do in Newbury Park by TripAdvisor, going on the Big Sycamore Canyon hike which cuts through the Santa Monica Mountains on its way to Point Mugu by the Pacific Ocean is another favorite. Also located in the Santa Monica’s are a variety of great wine-tasting venues where customers head out on Malibu wine tours with a limo to wine-tasting rooms at SIP Malibu Grapes, Cornell Winery, Malibu Family Wines and elsewhere. While visiting the area, don’t forget to go by the ancient Native-American village Satwiwa, which has been inhabited for thousands of years (see #4).

santa-monica-mountains
Sunset in the Santa Monica Mountains
4. Native-American History

Believe it or not, but Newbury Park has a thousands of years old history! Having been inhabited by the Paleo peoples and later the Chumash Indians, Native-Americans have a long history in the Conejo Valley. Drawn by its abundance of walnuts, berries and other food sources, Conejo Valley was home to hundreds of Chumash Native-Americans living in four different villages in today’s Newbury Park. Historians and anthropologists have also found evidence of mammoth hunting in the area, and mammoth bones are for display to the public at the Stagecoach Inn Museum. The Santa Monica Mountains in southern Newbury Park have been home to hundreds of Native-Americans and there are over thousand archeology sites in the mountains. It has been thousands of artifacts and petroglyphs discovered here, making the Santa Monica’s one of the largest densities of archeological finds in the world. Further up in the Santa Monica’s is where we find Malibu Family Wines, where we often take people on Malibu wine tours and to see the Chumash petroglyphs on their property! Newbury Park limousine- and Thousand Oaks party bus clients who want to experience the local ancient-old history can get party bus services or a limo and visit the Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center in southern Newbury Park, an area located by Boney Peak in the Santa Monica’s, which is a holy mountain to the Chumash Indians. When then-president George W. Bush visited Newbury Park in 2003, he flew a helicopter to Satwiwa from Newbury Park High School.

chumash-indian-satwiwa-newbury-park
A Chumash flute player at Satwiwa
  3. World’s Largest Biotech Company

Amgen is located here and is not just the biggest employer in the Thousand Oaks area, often serviced by sedan- and limo services. Amgen is also the world’s largest biotechnology company! Amgen is also an annual stop for the Amgen Tour of California, one of America’s most important bicycle races. We often transfer spectators with our Thousand Oaks party bus services and limo in Newbury Park for clientele who wants to see the race from the start line. We had for example a Newbury Park limousine going here on May 17th, 2016, to see the beginning of stage three which took place in Thousand Oaks. Amgen has over 7,000 employees and have drawn scientists from throughout the world to the area. The company specializes in biochemistry and molecular biology, and produces medications to the world market.

amgen-tour-of-california-newbury-park

  2. Movie Productions

Taken its size into consideration, few places at its size have produced more movies and TV-series than Newbury Park! A popular event for Thousand Oaks party bus- and limo services is to visit the famous locales where clients’ favorite movies were filmed. Did you for example know that Mr. Nottingham’s mansion in Bedtime Stories (2008) is located at 2300 White Stallion Rd.? You may have thought the Rosemoor Animal Park in We Bought a Zoo (2011) seemed familiar. This movie was actually filmed at Greenfield Ranch in Hidden Valley! The airport scenes from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) was filmed at the former Rancho Conejo Airport, while Commando (1985) was partially filmed in Hidden Valley. Lassie Come Home (1943) was mostly filmed in Hidden Valley, while some scenes were shot in Wildwood Regional Park, immediately north of Newbury Park. Also partially filmed here was the movie It’s Complicated (2009). The home of Jane Adler (Meryl Streep) is located at 714 West Potrero Road in Hidden Valley and is a popular stop for cinematic limo tours! Many older Western-type films and TV-series have been shot in Wildwood in nearby Thousand Oaks. Some include the Grapes of Wrath (1940), Bonanza (1959-1973), The Rifleman (1958-1963), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Shenandoah (1965), The Plainsman (1966), Wuthering Heights (1939), Man of the West (1958) and many, many more.

See also our full list of Best Movies Filmed in Thousand Oaks!

lassie-come-home-1943
Lassie Come Home (1943) was filmed here
1. 4th Richest Place In America

With a median household income of over $107,000, Money Magazine ranked Newbury Park as having America’s 4th highest median household income as of 2013. As far as per-capita, the town has the 11th highest income in the United States. The area remained for a long time a poorer community than adjacent Thousand Oaks, but has in the latest years improved significantly. A negative to the growing household incomes might be the soaring home prices: the median house value here is $728,900, an average growth of two percent per year. The real estate prices here are in fact higher on average than 91.1 percent of U.S. cities. It may therefore be to no surprise that CBS News ranked the Thousand Oaks-Newbury Park area as America’s 7th wealthiest area in 2013. But don’t fear, you don’t have to be a millionaire to order limo services or party bus in Thousand Oaks – we offer a lowest-price guarantee on party bus and limo services, guaranteeing you the lowest rates for rentals in the Conejo Valley.

Whether you’re looking for a Newbury Park limo service or Thousand Oaks party bus services to party it up in the Conejo Valley, or for a ride down to LA or Hollywood, let our limo services help you! We are proud to offer the largest fleet of luxury vehicles in Southern California. We have offices in various cities throughout California, including our services’ headquarters in Thousand Oaks and minor offices in Simi Valley, Ventura, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Palm Springs. Besides party bus nights out, wedding services and LAX sedan service, we also specialize in wine tours Malibu, Santa Barbara and Temecula Valley. So whether for a night of clubbing, Malibu wine tours, prom transportation, a ride to Vegas or any other need for transfers, contact our limo company today!

Looking for things to do? Check out Best Things To Do In Thousand Oaks!

5 Best Malibu Tours: Boat Tours, Safari, Celebrity Homes, & More!

From wine-touring, parachute jumping and whale-watching tours, Malibu has lots to offer visitors and locals! Our local limousine services we have served the community for over twenty years and is proud to be the largest and top rated Malibu limo service. Whether you’re looking for a limo ride to a hotel, restaurant, the Adamson House, Getty Villa or maybe one of the many great beaches, we can take you there! Besides wine-tasting tours and regular transportation, we also specialize in LAX airport transfers, wedding services, nightly party bus rentals, corporate travels and more. Without further due, here are our “Top 6 Malibu Tours”!

6. Movie tours

A recent trend has been to book a party bus or Malibu limo service for a tour of movie locations and celebrity homes in Malibu. Over a thousand movies and television series were shot here. Just a few examples include the house in Hannah Montana (2006-2011), located at 30760 Broad Beach Road, while the house in Two and a Half Men (2003-2015) can be seen at Malibu Colony Rd. Westward Beach is featured in the ending scenes of Gangster Squad (2013), while Harper’s home in Friends with Benefits (2011) is located at 22416 PCH. Malibu can also be seen in films such as The Big Lebowski (1998), Furious 7 (2015), Iron Man (2008), The Karate Kid (1984), Iron Man 3 (2013), Grease (1978), Terminator 2 (1991), Cast Away (2000) and The Fast and the Furious (2001). Hundreds of movies have been filmed at the Century Ranch, a former movie ranch now known as Malibu Creek State Park. Although this movie ranch was sold to the government for $5 million in the 1970’s, people still go on cinematic tours here with limousine services. Some of the classic movies filmed here include Planet of the Apes (1968), Doctor Dolittle (1967), The Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), Love Me Tender (1956) starring Elvis Presley, Tarzan Escapes (1936) and Tarzan Triumphs (1943). Also newer movies have been made here. More recent movies featuring Malibu Creek State Park are Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Helter Skelter (2004), Without Warning (1980), Infection (2005) and many others. TV-series filmed here include M*A*S*H (1972-1983), The Rifleman (1958-1963), and others. As many movies have been filmed at various Malibu wineries, you can also reserve wine-tasting tours combined with famous movie sites.

limousine-in-malibu-limo-service-on-wine-tour
Cornell is a wine-tasting venue featured in The X-Files (2000) and Barnaby Jones (1976).

5. Celebrity homes

Tours of celebrity homes have become particularly popular for limousine services in recent years. So often tourists and locals alike rent limousines from our Malibu limo service to go check out the homes of their biggest stars. Just some of the celebrities residing here are Lana Del Rey, Angelina Jolie, Miley Cyrus, Mel Gibson, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Streisand and numerous others. The tours offered by Starline Tours will show you more than forty homes of the rich and famous, but will also stop by various famous filming locations. Starline Tours will show you the homes of Cher, Leonardo DiCapro, Bruce Willis, Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Sandler and many others. Some of the movie locations they’ll point out are famous spots from Iron Man, Baywatch, Planet of the Apes and many others. Some of their tours will also make a stop by some of the area’s most visited tourist destinations, including Paramount Ranch, Point Dume, Malibou Lake and the Adamson House.  

4. Paragliding

What could possibly be better than paragliding over the Malibu Coast!? Taking off from the mountain tops above Malibu, this is your chance of seeing Malibu and its “27 miles of scenic beauty” like never before. Enjoy views from soaring above the city as far up as 5,000 feet with Malibu Paragliding. $200 for a 30 minute flight might be expensive, but is guaranteed to give an experience you won’t forget!

parachuting-in-malibu

 3. Safari tours

One of the truly few places in the world to offer wine-safari-tours are located right here in Malibu. As the Malibu Wine Safari is also owned and operated by Malibu Family Wines, it makes for a great combo with wine-tasting tours! Situated in the Malibu Canyons, surrounded by beautiful vineyards, this safari makes for a great getaway with gorgeous surroundings. Here you can find animals such as alpacas, giraffes, zebras, water buffalos, yaks, llamas, turtles and more. Located at the Saddlerock Ranch’ 1,000 acre vineyard, you can witness animals, vineyards and even thousands of year old Chumash Indian pictographs on a unique safari tour. Visit their websites to learn more about the various tours they offer, including their explorer tours, family tours, mimosa tours, vinter tours and more. Remember to ask about their own movie-star giraffe – featured in Hangover III! When renting a Malibu limousine service to this location, you may also ask about their famous movie ranch, which is featured in a variety of movies!

safari-at-malibu-family-wines

2. Ocean adventures

With its 27 miles of scenic beauty, there are many ocean adventures to be explored in Malibu. Whether you’re into deep sea fishing, scuba diving, paddle boarding or whale-watching, there is a Malibu ocean tour for you. Prefer your own yacht rental? Check out Luxury Liners! How about something smaller, maybe a kayak? The Malibu Surf Shack should have something for you. For tours of the ocean, Malibu Coastal Adventures have many options. Not only do they offer tours to the Channel Islands, but among their most popular rides are also the dolphin- and whale-watching cruises departing from the Malibu Pier. Malibu Coastal Adventures also offer scheduled boat rides for sports fishing and scuba diving. For the best Malibu beaches, trust our limousine services for your transportation! While maybe the Surfrider Beach, hence the name, could be best for surfing, minor beaches with less waves might do best for swimming. Our top beaches for swimming would therefore be the smaller Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beaches: El Matador-, El Pescador- and La Piedra State Beaches. Order a Malibu limo service to visit the beach might be most popular for tourists, but we’ve also had locals ordering party bus services to the beaches here. Although not in Malibu, wine-tasting tours in yachts on the ocean is offered by a variety of Santa Barbara boat services. For a wine-tasting tour at sea, check out Sunset Kidd or Santa Barbara Sailing Center.

whale-watching-in-malibu

  1. Wine-tasting tours

With over fifty wineries spread throughout the Malibu Canyons, Malibu has a blooming wine-industry with several options for sipping wine. The three most popular ones are Rosenthal Wine Bar & Patio, Malibu Family Wines and Cornell Winery & Tasting Room. These are three unique wineries with their own specialities and beauty, but are the three most popular tasting rooms for our limo- and party bus clientele. At Rosenthal Wine Bar & Patio you can enjoy great Malibu-grown wines in the most Californian atmosphere – just across the PCH from the Pacific Ocean. Besides sipping great wines, there are often great live entertainment here such as live music on Friday nights. Occasionally there’s also food trucks available on the location serving great tacos, burritos and more. At Cornell Winery & Tasting Room, located high above in the Santa Monica Mountains, there are no need for food trucks. This tasting room is located right next door to The Old Place Restaurant, which makes for a great dinner experience before or after wine-sipping. This rustic winery is located in an old Western-themed building, perfect for those with an interest for wine and history. Last but not least, Malibu Family Wines is nestled in its own canyon in the Santa Monica’s and offer a truly unique tasting experience. Here you can often experience live entertainment such as music nights, standup comedy, outdoor movie screenings and more. Besides the occasional food truck, ask your Malibu limo service to drive by the nearby Malibu Café for a great outdoor dinner by the creek. Other Malibu tasting rooms include SIP Malibu Grapes, Rocky Oaks Estates and the Cielo Wineyards, but keep in mind that some of these are only open to private tours that must be scheduled beforehand. Contact our party bus- or limousine services and we can schedule vineyard tours here for you.

malibu-wine-tasting-tours
Enjoy entertainment while tasting wine at Malibu Family Wines.

Learn More About Exclusive Wine-Tours!

Whether for airport transfers to LAX, Malibu wine-tasting tours, transportation for your wedding, party bus services, or for any other place and occasion, contact us for the most luxurious limo rides in the Malibu area. We are particularly proud of our price-match-guarantee, which guarantees you the most affordable rates while still traveling in luxury. With minor offices spread throughout region, we are not just a provider of Malibu limo service, but we serve all of Southern California. Our limousine services have the largest fleet of vehicles in the Greater LA Area. Contact us today for a memorable day at toll-free number (866) 319-LIMO.

Award Winning Wine-Tours

Producing more wine than any other U.S. State, California is a common destination for wine tourists and wine-tasting venues. A great alternative to getting a designated driver for your wine-tour experience could be a reserving luxury transportation and be chauffeured in style to and from various wine-tasting venues. Although Northern California with its world-famous Napa- and Sonoma Valleys might be the first destination that comes to mind for many considering a wine-tour in California. But do you really have to leave the Los Angeles area? Some of the most unsoiled and scenic wine country is in fact found in Southern California. Besides great wine-tasting venues in the Malibu Canyons and Temecula Valley, the Santa Barbara region has become an emerging destination in recent times. At Blackhawk Limousine & Transportation we have offered customized, award-winning Santa Barbara wine tours for more than twenty years. The wineries and vineyards of Santa Barbara County offer a genuine wine-tour location, with far less tourists, traffic and crowds, compared to its counterparts in for example Northern California’s Napa Valley. For more information about our Santa Barbara wine tasting offers, keep reading and we will expand on a few of our best selling wine tours.

Firstly, no article on Santa Barbara wine tours is complete without a significant portion about the gorgeous Santa Ynez Valley. Located in the heart of Santa Barbara County, the Santa Ynez area has become one of the world’s most famous wine regions. The more than 2,200 acres of wine country found here is surrounded by oak trees, green hills and some of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the state. Maybe particularly after the movie Sideways was released in 2004, the interest in our Santa Ynez wine tours have exploded. Maybe mostly known for its great Pinot Noir, this particular valley has made more award-winning wines than any other place in Southern California. Fun small towns such as Los Olivos have a charming appeal with numerous wineries, boutiques and smaller cafes. The wineries here range from cozy wine tasting rooms in historic buildings to rather spacious buildings surrounded by green vineyards. And maybe best of all, taking a luxurious Santa Barbara limo tour through the wine country lets you sit back, relax, sample wine, all while taking in the beauty of the vineyards without worrying about driving. Having been the top rated Santa Barbara limo service now for more than twenty years, Blackhawk Limousine & Transportation is happy to provide a price-match-guarantee on all wine tours, so you can be sure you not only ride with the best service, but also for the lowest price available.

Besides our Santa Ynez wine tours, another popular Santa Barbara wine tasting destination is the Santa Maria Valley. These 7,500 acres of vineyards are among the oldest wine regions in the state. The region is maybe particularly known for its great Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs, but there are now more than twenty wine varietals grown in the valley, which makes it an easy task to find a great wine. The Santa Maria Valley, being rather larger and more spread out than the Santa Ynez Valley, offer tons of selections in all types of wineries and vineyards. Certain venues here – such as the Star Lane Winery, Pali Wine Company and Flying Goat Cellars – are located less than twenty minutes from the Santa Ynez Valley in the small town of Lompoc. These wine-tasting venues can therefore easily be visited on trip to Santa Ynez. Because of this region’s great selections and numerous choices for some amazing wine tasting, a great initial source could be visiting http://www.santamariawines.com which may be helpful in picking what wine-tasting venues to visit. For more information about what venues to pick, our Santa Barbara limo reservation specialists will be able to advice and assist you in choosing your venues. To find your ideal destination you may want to think about the following. Would you prefer a wine-tasting room in walking distance from others? Or would you rather visit a winery surrounded by vineyards in a more remote location? Would you like it to be a dining option? Is a large selection of wine varietals important?

For whatever questions you may have, the reservation specialists at our Santa Barbara limo service will be able to help you out and accommodate your request for an amazing wine tour experience. Our luxury transportation agents are wine tour experts and will help you though the reservation of your limousine wine tour. Call us today at toll-free number (866) 319-LIMO to speak to one of our reservation specialists!