Last fall the gates in upper Franklin Canyon stayed shut. In September 2025 LADWP posted notice that it would close Franklin Canyon Road between the north and south swing gates for a repair project scheduled from October 2025 to April 2026. During that work nobody could use the road, by car or on foot. On March 10, 2026, the utility updated its project page to say Franklin Canyon Drive was "now open to all traffic." The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, which runs the park day to day, now says the repairs are finished and both the North and South Gates are open to vehicles.
The timing matters for Beverly Hills Post Office. A one-mile trail joins Franklin Canyon to Coldwater Canyon Park, where TreePeople is based, and TreePeople has packed ten days in mid-to-late October with events. This is the first October since the repair started that the whole system is open from end to end.
What LADWP Rebuilt in Upper Franklin Canyon
LADWP's description covers about 2,200 feet of roadway repair, a new retaining wall, and large stones set into the hillside to control erosion and steady the slope. The utility says the wall is there to cut down how much runoff from the hillside reaches the road. It also says the finished road will carry emergency vehicles as well as everyday visitors.
LADWP has not published the storm or the year that caused the original damage. Neither its project page nor its construction notice names one. The March update leaves room for a little more work. It says any remaining tasks will be done with temporary shutdowns or flaggers. For now the road is open, with an occasional flagger possible.
The upper canyon has been part of the city's water system for more than a century. MRCA's history says William Mulholland and the Department of Water and Power started building a reservoir in upper Franklin Canyon in 1914, to hold water newly brought in from the Owens Valley. The agency that built that reservoir is the same one that just rebuilt the road leading up to it.
The Mile That Makes Two Parks Into One
Franklin Canyon covers 605 acres between the San Fernando Valley and Beverly Hills. MRCA lists chaparral, grassland, oak woodland, a three-acre lake, an ADA-accessible duck pond, wide picnic grounds, and more than five miles of trails. The lake and pond sit on the Pacific Flyway. Some birds live there year-round and others stop over by season.
MRCA lists three named trails, and each one does a different job:
- Discovery Trail, 0.3 miles round trip and easy, loops through the black walnut woodland on the canyon floor.
- Hastain Trail, 2.3 miles round trip, rated moderate to strenuous, climbs a fire road through chaparral to an overlook above the lower canyon and west Los Angeles. On clear days you can see the Pacific. It then drops on singletrack to the lawn by the old Doheny house.
- Berman Trail runs one mile to Mulholland Drive, rated moderate to strenuous, and MRCA describes it as the route across the Santa Monica Mountains from Franklin Canyon to Coldwater Canyon Park and Wilacre Park.
The Berman Trail is what makes the two parks one system. With the Franklin Canyon road open again, you can drive to the lake, picnic area or nature center, then walk up to Mulholland and over to TreePeople's grounds at Coldwater. The reverse works too. Most of the year the walk is just an option. In late October it gives you a way into Coldwater Canyon Park that doesn't depend on Coldwater's limited parking.
MRCA's history credits Congressman Howard Berman and conservationist Sooky Goldman with pushing the Department of Water and Power and the National Park Service to turn Franklin Canyon into a park in the 1970s, when it was slated for development. The National Park Service bought Franklin Canyon Ranch in 1981. That same year the William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom, named for the Supreme Court justice, began running public education programs. The Sooky Goldman Nature Center, the Sam Goldman Amphitheater and the Eugene and Michael Rosenfeld Auditorium all stand in the park today. So does the Spanish-style house the Doheny family built in the lower canyon in 1935, when oil baron Edward L. Doheny's family used the land as a summer retreat and cattle range.
MRCA's park rules say its parks are open from sunrise to sunset. The Franklin Canyon page doesn't list separate current hours for the Sooky Goldman Nature Center or the Outdoor Classroom. Call the park at (310) 858-7272 before planning around either one.
Ten Days at Coldwater Canyon Park
TreePeople's calendar, last updated October 8, puts its fall programming into one short stretch at the Mulholland end of the trail. In order:
- Friday, October 16, 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. A volunteer shift for the Coldwater Canyon "Betty" Restoration on the Betty Dearing Trail. The work includes pulling invasive species and maintaining the trail to cut erosion and wildfire risk.
- Friday, October 23, Moonlight Hike. TreePeople and Living Earth start check-in around 6:30 p.m., music begins shortly after 7, and hiking groups head out promptly at 8. The listing asks you to "bring a blanket, pour some tea," and says parking is limited, so carpooling and rideshares are strongly encouraged. The registration form lists tickets at $20 per adult and $10 per child under 15. When we checked, the form said maximum attendance had been reached.
- Saturday, October 24, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Oaktoberfest Tree Giveaway. TreePeople will hand out 200 coast live oak seedlings at its Coldwater Canyon park. The giveaway is part of its Rooting for LA effort to plant 28,000 trees by 2028. To get a seedling, register in advance.
- Sunday, October 25, 11 a.m., Community Reading of "Do You Speak Tree?" Author Josh Oaktree reads his nearly wordless graphic novel for young readers outdoors under the coast live oaks, and the audience helps tell the story. The event is free, and with Halloween close, guests are welcome to come dressed as a favorite animal or tree.
- Friday, November 20, 7 p.m. The next Moonlight Hike on the calendar.
Parking is the pressure point on all of these. Two of the four October listings come with limits. The Moonlight Hike asks people to carpool, and Oaktoberfest needs advance registration because only 200 seedlings are available. Franklin Canyon's reopened road and parking, plus the one-mile Berman Trail up to Mulholland, give you another way in that doesn't involve Coldwater Canyon Drive. That route is a daytime choice, since MRCA's sunrise-to-sunset rule covers Franklin Canyon. For the 8 p.m. Moonlight Hike, plan on arriving at Coldwater directly.
The Betty Dearing Trail and the Berman Trail Are Different Trails
The two trails are easy to confuse because both meet around Coldwater Canyon Park. MRCA names the Berman Trail as the link between Franklin Canyon and Coldwater Canyon Park and Wilacre Park. The Betty Dearing Trail is the one TreePeople volunteers will work on October 16. That restoration is meant to keep the Coldwater side's slopes from washing out and to reduce fire fuel.
Both sides of the ridge are dealing with the same problem this fall. LADWP's wall and large stones in Franklin Canyon and TreePeople's volunteer crew on the Betty Dearing Trail are both there to hold hillside soil in place, keep runoff off the paths, and keep routes open for the people who use them.
A Week Built Around the Ridge
Here is one way to use the reopened canyon and TreePeople's calendar together, based on the trails and times above. On Saturday morning, October 24, start at Franklin Canyon. Walk the Discovery Trail through the black walnuts, or climb the Hastain Trail to the overlook, then come down to the lawn by the Doheny house. If you registered for Oaktoberfest, take the Berman Trail to Mulholland and on to Coldwater Canyon Park before the giveaway ends at 1 p.m. Sunday's free reading at 11 a.m. is an easier trip for families with young children. Picking up an oak seedling the day before ties into the same story, since "Do You Speak Tree?" is a graphic novel about trees, read aloud under coast live oaks.
If you missed out on October 23 tickets, the November 20 Moonlight Hike is next. MRCA describes Franklin Canyon's lake and pond as a permanent and seasonal home for Pacific Flyway birds, and the upper road is open all the way to the gates for the first late autumn since the repair.
Over more than two decades on the Westside, Steve Frankel has seen how much access to places like Franklin Canyon and Coldwater Canyon Park adds to daily life in Beverly Hills Post Office, and he takes that into account when advising homeowners here. If you own on the canyon side of 90210 and want a private read on where your property stands this season, please Request a Confidential Home Valuation.
