If you opt to follow US-101 rather than coastal Hwy-1 into Los Angeles, be sure to check out the somnolent suburb of Simi Valley, 20 miles east of Ventura. Home to the jury that acquitted the LAPD officers who beat Rodney King, it’s also where the hilltop Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (daily; $5; 805/522-8444) fills 150,000 square feet of Spanish-style stucco. The “Great Communicator” was interred here following his death in 2004; to get here, take US-101 to Hwy-23 North, exit at Olsen Road, and follow the signs.
The other Simi Valley sight to see is Bottle Village (donations; 805/583-1627), a complex of small buildings and sculptures built out of glass bottles, TV sets, hubcaps, and assorted other recycled refuse in the 1940s and 1950s by the late Tressa Prisbey. Badly damaged in the 1992 Northridge earthquake, and subject of a heated battle between preservationists and those who think it’s a pile of junk, the village can be viewed from the road or by occasional guided tours; it’s at 4595 Cochrane Street, a mile south of the Hwy-118/210 freeway between the Tapo Canyon and Sterns Road exits.
