Happy Face Hill on the 118 Freeway gets a vibrant blue and yellow facelift
If you ever travel the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway west through the Santa Susana Pass you must have seen Happy Face Hill on the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties near the Kuehner Drive exit.
If you haven’t, you’re in for a treat if you’re heading to or through Simi Valley. After all, what other local hillside in the region can boast 8,000 Facebook followers?
The smiley face, or happy face, was recently spruced up with tiny 4”x5” bright blue and yellow flags, a dramatic remaking of the giant face created in 1998 by Northridge gardener Sonny Klamerus who carved it into the hillside using a weed-whacker, shovel and herbicide.
The giant face has had many looks over the years, and its newest facelift has given life to the happy face. It took 30 volunteers, including scouts and community volunteers, who spent six hours on March 16 and 17 placing 9,000 flags inside the face located on a steep, angled hill.
The jazzed up face is bright yellow, outlined in white, with dramatic blue slits for eyes and a mouthy, cheeky blue smile.
About a decade ago, the Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise decided to revive the aging Happy Face Hill landmark, which is owned by an adjacent town home association and was formerly under the auspices of a nearby Jewish cemetery. The Rotary Club got permission from the homeowner association to maintain Happy Face Hill.
“One of our members was a landscape architect, and it took us a bit laying it out,” recalls Bill Klepper, the Rotary Club’s director of community service. “It’s exactly 100 feet in diameter and we wanted to angle it so that you can get a really good, nice view of it as you come down the hillside.”
Ever since then, it’s been a hit.
The face will welcome those attending the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce’s event on March 22-24, the Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary Cast Reunion & Festival. And the facelift will be seen by the crowds going to Rotary Club’s annual Happy Face Music Festival held this year in May on Memorial Day weekend.
“People love it,” Klepper said. “It just puts a smile on their face. We get great pride in maintaining it. And we get energy when working on the hill, and cars driving by beep. They are excited. It’s kind of cool.”