For years, a Saturday in Stevenson Ranch meant crossing the 5. Brunch was in Valencia. The good sushi was in Old Town Newhall or over the hill. The hike everyone talked about was somewhere off Placerita. Anything worth building a weekend around required at least one freeway on-ramp.
That has quietly changed. Between the Calgrove exit and the Pico Canyon light, a short run of The Old Road now holds a trailhead with a Spanish-style lodge, a Mexican brunch spot in the old Coco's shell, a beer-and-burgers crafthouse that used to only exist on the Central Coast, and a one-chef omakase counter that opened without much fanfare. String them together and a 91381 weekend does not need a freeway.
Start at 24255: the trailhead most residents drive past
The address is Newhall on paper, but the entrance sits on The Old Road a quarter mile off Calgrove. Ed Davis Park in Towsley Canyon is named for former State Senator Ed Davis, who championed the preservation of Towsley Canyon, and offers a peaceful haven just west of the I-5 between the Santa Clarita and San Fernando Valleys.
Two things about this park that residents who drive past it every day tend to miss:
- The main lot is free. There are three parking areas, and the main lot and overflow lot closest to the road are free, while a smaller lot further into the park costs $7.
- There are two very different loops from the same trailhead. The Towsley View Loop Trail runs 5.4 miles with 1,075 feet of elevation gain, and the park also has the Canyon View Loop Trail, which is just 1.9 miles long.
That second point matters more than it reads. A resident with a stroller and a resident training for a Backbone Trail day hike can both leave from the same wooden gate. The 1.9-mile Canyon View is a before-breakfast walk. The 5.4-mile View Loop is a real morning.
The geology is not a footnote. In a 5.3-mile loop you'll work up a sweat, hop near frothy streams, dodge natural tar pits, and walk through a narrow slot-like canyon area of upturned sedimentary rock called The Narrows. The Tataviam people used the naturally occurring asphalt for healing purposes and to seal their basketry. That is not a stat you find on a Yelp page.
The park closes at sunset and the gates are real. Plan the hike as an early activity, not an afternoon one. A 7 a.m. start in July puts you back at the car before the switchbacks bake.
If you have out-of-town family in the guest room, this is where you take them. Towsley Lodge is a beautiful Spanish-style ranch house that sits atop a large green knoll surrounded by cottonwoods, and it is available for private day or overnight group rental. Most residents have never walked up to look at it. It is a two-minute detour off the road into the park.
24930 Pico Canyon: brunch in the Coco's shell
Drive back out to The Old Road, turn north, and the first light is Pico Canyon. On the corner, in a building most of the neighborhood remembers as Coco's, is the second location of a Saugus favorite.
According to Alejandra, the restaurant manager, the new spot is at the intersection of Pico Canyon Road and The Old Road, and Casa Canela occupies the spot where Coco's restaurant formerly stood. The address is 24930 Pico Canyon Road, and it runs a long day: Casa Canela in Pico Canyon, Stevenson Ranch is open daily 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. with dining, catering, and private events.
That 7 a.m. open is the interesting number. It means the Towsley hikers who started at sunrise can pull into the lot with dirt on their shoes and order the chilaquiles trio while the parking spaces are still empty. A restaurant that treats 7 a.m. as a real service hour is doing something most of the corridor does not.
A few specifics to know before you walk in:
- The kitchen leans breakfast-forward. From hearty breakfast burritos to delectable chilaquiles with unique sauces, the menu is designed to please every palate.
- Happy hour is not a weekend thing. Happy hour is Mon-Fri 2:00pm to 5:30pm.
- There is a private dining area, and the space handles large parties for birthdays and rehearsal dinners without requiring a drive to Valencia.
25636: where the game goes on the tower
Half a mile north on The Old Road is a building that opened as Finney's Crafthouse in 2024. This is the Stevenson Ranch outpost of a Central Coast chain, and it is the first time the brand touched the Santa Clarita Valley.
Finney's is so excited to finally open in the Santa Clarita Valley. Stevenson Ranch is an amazing family focused community whose residents are always looking for fun experiences. With our 4-sided bar and TV tower, you won't be able to find a better spot in town to watch your favorite sporting event while enjoying a Surfing Hippos Hazy IPA alongside a Finney's Bison Burger.
The layout matters more than the menu. A four-sided bar with a screen tower in the middle is the piece of local infrastructure the neighborhood was missing. Before Finney's, watching a Rams game in a room with more than two TVs meant driving to the Westfield or somewhere off McBean. Now it is a right turn.
Hours run 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. The late close on Saturday is the piece that changes weekend behavior. A Stevenson Ranch resident with an 8 p.m. dinner reservation nearby can walk in for the second half of the college football late window and not feel rushed.
26802 and change: the omakase nobody expected
Keep going north on The Old Road, past the Hyatt cluster, and you land in the strip near 26802. This is the part of the corridor that used to be pure chain: the Starbucks, the sandwich place, the taco spot. Then, quietly, an omakase counter opened.
Ananto Sushi in Stevenson Ranch was open one year ago and is a hidden gem in a neighborhood of Los Angeles. You will be impressed with its daily Omakase offering with fresh raw dishes, in addition to a great presentation. The owner is also chef, who worked for an upscale Japanese Omacase restaurant in Beverly Hills for many years before opening his own upscale Sushi restaurant one year ago.
Two things about that sentence deserve attention. One, the chef-owner comes out of Beverly Hills omakase, which is a specific culinary lineage, not a generalization. Two, the review is dated January 2026, which puts the opening in early-to-mid 2025. A year in, most of the neighborhood still has not tried it. There is an ample big parking lot in front of the restaurant for free.
Ananto is the piece that changes the geography of a Stevenson Ranch anniversary dinner. Before, the answer was a drive. Now the answer is a five-minute drive from the front door of a Summit or Southern Oaks home.
Stitching it together
Look at the four addresses:
| Address | What it is | Why it changes the weekend |
|---|---|---|
| 24255 The Old Rd | Ed Davis Park trailhead | Two-tier trail system, 1.9 or 5.4 miles from one lot |
| 24930 Pico Canyon Rd | Casa Canela | 7 a.m. open, sit-down brunch inside the 91381 |
| 25636 The Old Rd | Finney's Crafthouse | Four-sided bar, first SCV location |
| ~26802 The Old Rd | Ananto Sushi | Omakase counter from a Beverly Hills chef |
The corridor is roughly two and a half miles end to end. That is a bike ride. It is a rideshare that costs less than a coffee. It is, more to the point, a stretch of road that a resident can now use as a Saturday spine without ever pointing the car south toward the 5-14 interchange or east toward Valencia.
What was missing until recently was not restaurants. Stevenson Ranch has never lacked for places to eat. What was missing was a sequence: a place to start a day outside, a place to eat after you sweat, a place to sit through an afternoon game, and a place to end a night. In 2024 and 2025, the sequence filled in.
A one-tank Saturday, in order
- 7:00 a.m., park free at 24255 and take the Canyon View Loop for 1.9 miles, or the View Loop if you have three hours.
- 9:30 a.m., breakfast burritos or the chilaquiles trio at Casa Canela on Pico Canyon.
- 12:30 p.m., stop at the Stevenson Ranch Library at 25950 The Old Road on the way back, which has been activated as a cooling center July 30 to August 2, 2026 in the hotter stretches.
- 3:00 p.m., a burger and a Hazy IPA at Finney's for the late game window.
- 7:30 p.m., an omakase seat at Ananto if you booked ahead.
None of that crosses the freeway. That is the point.
The residential read
Stevenson Ranch homes have always sold on schools, hillside views, and access to the 5. The corridor is now something the neighborhood pitch can lean on directly: an outdoor-to-omakase weekend within the ZIP code, without a drive to Valencia Town Center or a run down to the Valley. For anyone weighing a move within the SCV, or a first home in a Summit or Southern Oaks pocket, that shift is worth noticing.
If you want to talk about what this corridor is doing to buyer interest in Stevenson Ranch, or you are thinking about listing a home here and want to know how to market the walkable-adjacent lifestyle, the team at Armando & Valerie lives and works this market every week. Reach out for a conversation, a walk-through, or a free home valuation when you are ready.
