Greater Los Angeles Area Council (GLAAC) is a newBoy Scouts of America Council made from the merger of theLos Angeles Area Council and the San Gabriel Valley Council. The vote to merge was held on March 21, 2015.[1] The new name for the council, Greater Los Angeles Area Council, was announced on June 11, 2015. The new council centers is in Los Angeles. Due to the large size of the two original councils, the merger was a process which was completed over a time span, and finished in 2017.
GLAAC has three Scout shops in Los Angeles, San Pedro and Arcadia.[2] GLAAC operates eight BSA camps in the greater Los Angeles area.[3][4]
With the founding of theBSA in 1910, the first goal of the San Gabriel Valley Scout leaders was to organize as new troops. Paid professionals, many of whom wereYMCAleaders, were recruited to spread the new Scouting program. They were sent out into the San Gabriel Valley towns to organize new troops and recruit leaders. By March 1919, there were nine active troops with 190 boys in the SGV. The Pasadena Council (also known as the Pasadena District Council) of the Boy Scouts of America was organized March 3, 1919, with jurisdiction over Pasadena, Altadena andLamanda Park.
A charter was granted by the BSA National Headquarters dated April 1, 1919 to the Pasadena District Council. Tallman Trask was hired to be the first Scout Executive. He had been a District Executive for theLos Angeles Council. He had also served as Los Angeles' camp director. Prior to joining the BSA, Trask was an executive for the YMCA and had run several camps for them. By October 1, 1919, there were 15 active troops with 299 scouts.
The council's name was changed in 1929 to Pasadena-San Gabriel Valley Council to better reflect the geographic area served by the council. In 1951 the name was changed to San Gabriel Valley Council to shorten it and better identify the 29 cities and towns it served.[5]
The cities of Diamond Bar, Pomona and Walnut were added to Golden Eagle District whenOld Baldy Council was split at the Los Angeles–San Bernardino county line on May 1, 2006, and was merged into the San Gabriel Valley Council andCalifornia Inland Empire Council.
The cities of La Verne, San Dimas and Claremont were added to Valle De Sol District when Old Baldy Council was split at the Los Angeles–San Bernardino county line on May 1, 2006, and was merged into San Gabriel Valley Council and California Inland Empire Council.
A former district called Trails of the Valley District was moved into the Lucky Baldwin District and Mission Amigos District in 2010.
Holt Scout Ranch (now closed) was an SGVC camp located in theSan Bernardino Mountains. It was named in honor of Herbert Brayton Holt on June 15, 1968. The camp was previously known as Camp Cedar Canyon, and opened in 1955. In 1975, it was sold to a private party. The camp was located off SR-38.34°05′27″N116°58′01″W / 34.0907°N 116.96684°W /34.0907; -116.96684 (Holt Scout Ranch) The fire access road, which started at the hairpin curve onSR-38 connected to the camp entrance road. Just before the camp entrance (where the camp director's home was located), the fire access road forked to the left to make its way up the mountain. A picture of "Old Dobbs" is on many Holt Scout Ranch items.[12][13][14]
Holcomb Valley Scout Ranch (now closed) was a BSA camp, at 7,500 feet (2,300 m)elevation, located north ofBig Bear Lake in the old mining district ofBelleville in theHolcomb Valley on the site of the old Hitchcock Ranch. The ranch is north of the town ofFawnskin. The camp offered a week-longOak Badge-National Youth Leadership Training class, and offered a Boy Scout summer resident camp until 2012, when the program was ended. The camp was closed a few years later.[23] One hike offered is to theBig Bear Discovery Center.[24] Cougar Crest hike to Bertha Peak gives views ofBig Bear Lake.[25] Spring creek trail offers a more level long hike. South of the camp, not far away, is thePacific Crest Trail. To the east and near the camp is the publicUSFS[26] Holcomb Valley Camp Ground.[27]
Holcomb Valley Scout Ranch was formerly part ofOld Baldy Council. The Scout Ranch was turned over to the San Gabriel Valley Council in 2005. The Old Baldy Council took title to the property in 1965 from William Hitchcock. The Hitchcock Ranch is still part of the Holcomb Valley Scout Ranch.[28] Guy Reide, Old Baldy's Scout Executive (1949–1966), in 1965 worked with William Hitchcock to have the ranch turned into a Scout camp. Loren Baldwin became the first camp ranger, and Holcomb Valley held its first Boy Scout summer resident camp in 1974. The camp is named afterWilliam F. Holcomb,[29] who discovered gold there and staked a claim in May 1860 with his partner. Holcomb became known for his marksmanship. After 10 years of prospecting he still had no major success. As food sources were diminishing, some of theprospectors hired Holcomb to hunt forgrizzly bear to provide food for the long winter months. While trailing a bear up Polique Canyon he found Holcomb Valley. Tracking the injured animal, he passed a quartz ledge shining with gold.[30]
Manywestern films and TV shows were shot in Holcomb Valley.[31][32] For a short time under Old Baldy Council the camp was called "Camp Lipscomb" after US CongressmanGlenard P. Lipscomb.
Originally known as Monrovia Scout Reservation, Camp Trask was purchased in 1966. The camp was dedicated as Tallman H. Trask Scout Reservation on May 13, 1972.
The San Gabriel Valley Council'sOrder of the Arrow lodge[35][36] was the Ta Tanka Lodge (#488). In 2016 the Ta Tanka Lodge merged with the Siwinis OA Lodge to form the new lodge: Tuku'ut. Its totem is theSaber-Toothed Cat.[37] Ta Tanka Lodge started with 120 members who chose theSioux wordta tanka meaning "bullbuffalo" as its name and as theirtotem a white buffalo.[38]
Since 1933 the Ta Tanka Lodge has hosted a weekend campout on the weekend afterThanksgiving, called Desert Caravan, held in various campgrounds in theMojave Desert.[41] Caravan was later moved to Labor Day weekend camp at Camp Holcomb Valley. Caravan is open to troops and families of the SGVC with events liketreasure hunt,team games,dutch ovencobblercook-off,chili cook-off and acampfire program.[42]
Ta Tanka Lodge has four local chapters:
Hunkpapa[43]— Lucky Baldwin and Mission Amigos Districts
^abc"San Gabriel Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America: 2006-2007 Council Calendar, Activity Planning Guide, and Business Directory". Pasadena, CA: San Gabriel Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America. 2006.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
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