Presentation will bring colorful history to light

Ruth Kilday, the head of Taylor Kilday & Associates, will present a talk on original pioneering in the Santa Monica Mountains to the Calabasas Historical Society at 7 p.m. on Thurs., Nov. 16.

The event at the Calabasas Library is free and open to the public.

The topic of Kilday's talk is "Legends of the Land: Provocative People in Poetic Places."

Kilday will discuss the men and women who settled the ridges and canyons across the Santa Monica Mountains through Spanish grazing concessions, Mexican land grants and regular homesteading She'll pay special attention to the area around Calabasas.

Included will be the story of a man who raised bees for honey, secluded himself in a woodland cabin and armed himself againstrespassers. His home is now parof the wildlife corridor. A n other story Kilday tellis about stylish posoffice auditor, a singlf e m a l homesteaderwhose courtestimony helped open west Mulholland Highway and Pacific Coast Highway. Kilday will also reveal new research about the daughter of Spanish colonizers who for 35 years fought for her right to defend 30,000 acres in the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Kilday's professional career in California land conservation includes work with the National Park Service, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

She was executive director of the Mountains Conservancy Foundation and now serves on the boards of the MCF and the Malibu Lagoon Museum.

The Calabasas Library is at 23975 Park Sorrento next to the Calabasas Commons.

The Calabasas Historical Society is a nonprofit organization established in 1979 to promote and preserve the historical interest of Calabasas and surrounding lands.

For reservations to Kilday's presentation, call (818) 333.6306 or email kewcalabasas@aol.com.