Santa Anita Creek (Santa Anita Wash on federal maps) is a long stream in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It flows southwards from its headwaters in the south ridge of the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains () are a mountain range located in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert ...

, to form the beginnings of the Rio Hondo near

Irwindale } Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 1,472 at the 2020 census, 1,422 at the 2010 census. The ZIP Codes serving the area are 91010, which is shared with Duarte, 91702, which i ...

Course

The creek begins on the east slope of Mount Wilson, inside the

Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) of the United States Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County in Southern California. The ANF manages a majority of the San Gabri ...

. It flows in a curve southeast through

Santa Anita Canyon Santa Anita Canyon is a canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, within the cities of Sierra Madre, CA, Sierra Madre, Monrovia, CA, Monrovia, and Arcadia, CA, Arcadia in Los Angeles County, California. Geography The 'Big Santa Anita Canyon' with San ...

, then drops over the Sturtevant Falls. The North Fork comes in from the left about a quarter-mile above the falls, and the East Fork also from the left about a quarter-mile downstream. The creek then flows south through a group of about 80 historic cabins on the canyon floor, before receiving Winter Creek from the right near Chantry Flat. Shortly downstream of there, it drops over Hermit Falls and flows into Santa Anita Reservoir, which is impounded by the Santa Anita Dam. Leaving the foothills the creek continues southwards through Sierra Madre,

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

and Arcadia as the Santa Anita Wash, flowing in a concrete channel. It turns southeast towards

Azusa AZUSA refers to a ground-based radar tracking system installed at Cape Canaveral, Florida and the NASA Kennedy Space Center. AZUSA was named after the southern California town Azusa, California where the system was devised in the early 1950s. ...

, then south again at

, where it empties into a small flood control basin. The water continues out of the basin as the Rio Hondo, which flows southwards to junctions with the San Gabriel River and the

Los Angeles River The Los Angeles River (), historically known as by the Tongva and the by the Spanish, is a major river in Los Angeles County, California. Its headwaters are in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and it flows nearly from Canoga Park ...

References

{{reflist Rivers of Los Angeles County, California San Gabriel River (California) Tributaries of the Los Angeles River Angeles National Forest San Gabriel Mountains Arcadia, California Irwindale, California Monrovia, California Sierra Madre, California Rivers of Southern California