In November 2024, a head-on crash in a remote section of San Diego County killed at least one person.
The fatal head-on crash took place on Valley Center Road at Paradise Creek Lane, about a mile and a half south of Harrah’s Resort Southern California, according to the California Highway Patrol. Crashes like this are very serious.
The one-time home to luminaries such as Gary Cooper, Fred Astaire, Taco Bell founder Glen Bell, John Wayne, and Mae West is at the far northeast tip of Greater San Diego.
In the late 1860s, the area now known as Valley Center was referred to as Bear Valley and was the habitat of the now-extinct California grizzly bear pictured on the flag of California. In 1866, the largest grizzly ever recorded in California was shot and killed in Valley Center.
The Valley Center History Museum, which opened in 2003, commemorates these things. Other exhibits and events include a stagecoach, which served as a Civil War ambulance, provided local transportation, and was featured in a number of Western motion pictures, along with a preserved grizzly bear.