Rare Old Map of Ojai, California by USGS, 1942 – Santa Paula & Santa Clara River
Restored in our London workshop from the original 1942 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.
Restored in London • Printed and framed in Australia
Restored from the original 1942 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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Gift message & custom finish
If you want to add a gift message, or a finish (jigsaw, aluminium board, etc.) that is not available here, please request it in the "order note" when you check out.
Every order is custom made, so if you need the size adjusted slightly, or printed on an unusual material, just let us know. We've done thousands of custom orders over the years, so there's (almost) nothing we can't manage.
You can also contact us before you order, if you prefer!
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Issued in 1942 by the United States Geological Survey, the “Santa Paula” map presents a finely observed portrait of the Ojai–Santa Paula...
Continue readingIssued in 1942 by the United States Geological Survey, the “Santa Paula” map presents a finely observed portrait of the Ojai–Santa Paula region at a pivotal moment in California’s modern history. Marked as an Advance sheet, it carries the immediacy of a working government map, prepared for practical use in land management, infrastructure, agriculture, and scientific study. The sheet captures the Santa Clara River corridor and the broken terrain of the coastal ranges with the disciplined clarity for which USGS mapping became famous. Roads, railroads, watercourses, cultivated lands, and settlements appear within a rigorous topographical framework, offering a view of Ventura County before later waves of suburban expansion reshaped many of its valleys and transportation routes.
The US Geological Survey brought to this map a national tradition of precision cartography, using contour lines to translate rugged terrain into an intelligible visual language. Around Santa Paula and Ojai, those contours describe the steep ridges, narrow valleys, depressions, and folded hills typical of Southern California’s coastal mountain landscape. The map’s traditional topographical style is both functional and elegant: elevation is rendered through measured linework, while color distinctions help separate cultivated areas, transport corridors, water features, and varied land cover. This was cartography made for analysis, but it also possesses a quiet aesthetic appeal, revealing the structure of the land with an almost architectural sense of order.
At the heart of the map lies Santa Paula, historically tied to agriculture, citrus groves, oil activity, and the transportation routes of the Santa Clara River Valley. The river itself forms one of the principal organizing features of the sheet, its course accompanied by roads, rail lines, and worked lands that show how settlement followed the valley floor. Santa Ana Road and other routeways trace the practical geography of movement through the region, connecting farms, townsites, and smaller communities such as San Miguelito. Green-shaded agricultural areas evoke a landscape intensively shaped by cultivation, where orchards and fields occupied the flatter ground between the enclosing ridges and seasonal watercourses.
To the north and west, the map reaches toward Ojai and the surrounding hill country, where the terrain becomes more intricate and enclosed. Creeks and streams descend through unnamed canyons, feeding the broader watershed and cutting natural lines through the uplands. The cartographic depiction of these watercourses is especially revealing in a semi-arid region, where drainage patterns, seasonal flow, and access to water shaped settlement and land use. Mountain ranges and ridges dominate much of the surrounding country, their elevations and slopes carefully modeled by contour intervals. The result is a vivid impression of California’s coastal interior: fertile valleys bordered by abrupt, complex highlands.
Historically, this 1942 map belongs to an era when American cartography was becoming increasingly standardized, scientific, and responsive to modern planning needs. Produced during the Second World War period, it reflects the importance of accurate geographic information for transportation, resource management, civil engineering, and regional development. Yet it also preserves a distinctly local landscape: agricultural districts before extensive postwar growth, roads before later realignments, and communities at a smaller scale than they would later assume. As a record of both natural form and human occupation, “Santa Paula” captures the interplay between mountains, river valleys, farms, and towns in one of Southern California’s most characteristic inland-coastal settings.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Ojai
- Santa Paula
- San Miguelito
- Santa Clara River
- Santa Ana Road
- Watercourses, including creeks and streams
- Farmlands and agricultural areas
- Mountain ranges and ridges
- Roads and railroads
- Various unnamed valleys and hills
Historical context & cartographic details
- Created by the US Geological Survey (USGS)
- Published in 1942, with a 1942 imprint
- Marked as an Advance map
- Shows Ojai, California, Santa Paula, and surrounding areas
- Produced by the USGS, renowned for highly detailed and accurate topographical mapping
- Uses a traditional topographical style with contour lines to show elevation changes
- Employs color gradients to indicate land use and enhance visual interpretation
- Depicts elevations and depressions typical of California’s coastal mountain ranges
- Reflects the geography and human settlements of the region in the early 1940s
- Documents the landscape before later development and urban expansion altered the area
Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.
Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.
This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.
The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.
Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.
Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.
This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.
For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.
Issued in 1942 by the United States Geological Survey, the “Santa Paula” map presents a finely observed portrait of the Ojai–Santa Paula region at a pivotal moment in California’s modern history. Marked as an Advance sheet, it carries the immediacy of a working government map, prepared for practical use in land management, infrastructure, agriculture, and scientific study. The sheet captures the Santa Clara River corridor and the broken terrain of the coastal ranges with the disciplined clarity for which USGS mapping became famous. Roads, railroads, watercourses, cultivated lands, and settlements appear within a rigorous topographical framework, offering a view of Ventura County before later waves of suburban expansion reshaped many of its valleys and transportation routes.
The US Geological Survey brought to this map a national tradition of precision cartography, using contour lines to translate rugged terrain into an intelligible visual language. Around Santa Paula and Ojai, those contours describe the steep ridges, narrow valleys, depressions, and folded hills typical of Southern California’s coastal mountain landscape. The map’s traditional topographical style is both functional and elegant: elevation is rendered through measured linework, while color distinctions help separate cultivated areas, transport corridors, water features, and varied land cover. This was cartography made for analysis, but it also possesses a quiet aesthetic appeal, revealing the structure of the land with an almost architectural sense of order.
At the heart of the map lies Santa Paula, historically tied to agriculture, citrus groves, oil activity, and the transportation routes of the Santa Clara River Valley. The river itself forms one of the principal organizing features of the sheet, its course accompanied by roads, rail lines, and worked lands that show how settlement followed the valley floor. Santa Ana Road and other routeways trace the practical geography of movement through the region, connecting farms, townsites, and smaller communities such as San Miguelito. Green-shaded agricultural areas evoke a landscape intensively shaped by cultivation, where orchards and fields occupied the flatter ground between the enclosing ridges and seasonal watercourses.
To the north and west, the map reaches toward Ojai and the surrounding hill country, where the terrain becomes more intricate and enclosed. Creeks and streams descend through unnamed canyons, feeding the broader watershed and cutting natural lines through the uplands. The cartographic depiction of these watercourses is especially revealing in a semi-arid region, where drainage patterns, seasonal flow, and access to water shaped settlement and land use. Mountain ranges and ridges dominate much of the surrounding country, their elevations and slopes carefully modeled by contour intervals. The result is a vivid impression of California’s coastal interior: fertile valleys bordered by abrupt, complex highlands.
Historically, this 1942 map belongs to an era when American cartography was becoming increasingly standardized, scientific, and responsive to modern planning needs. Produced during the Second World War period, it reflects the importance of accurate geographic information for transportation, resource management, civil engineering, and regional development. Yet it also preserves a distinctly local landscape: agricultural districts before extensive postwar growth, roads before later realignments, and communities at a smaller scale than they would later assume. As a record of both natural form and human occupation, “Santa Paula” captures the interplay between mountains, river valleys, farms, and towns in one of Southern California’s most characteristic inland-coastal settings.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Ojai
- Santa Paula
- San Miguelito
- Santa Clara River
- Santa Ana Road
- Watercourses, including creeks and streams
- Farmlands and agricultural areas
- Mountain ranges and ridges
- Roads and railroads
- Various unnamed valleys and hills
Historical context & cartographic details
- Created by the US Geological Survey (USGS)
- Published in 1942, with a 1942 imprint
- Marked as an Advance map
- Shows Ojai, California, Santa Paula, and surrounding areas
- Produced by the USGS, renowned for highly detailed and accurate topographical mapping
- Uses a traditional topographical style with contour lines to show elevation changes
- Employs color gradients to indicate land use and enhance visual interpretation
- Depicts elevations and depressions typical of California’s coastal mountain ranges
- Reflects the geography and human settlements of the region in the early 1940s
- Documents the landscape before later development and urban expansion altered the area
Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.
Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.
This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.
The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.
Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.
Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.
This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.
For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.
Many of our maps and art prints are chosen as thoughtful gifts for homes, offices, studies and meaningful places.
Choose a framed option for the easiest ready-to-hang gift, or choose an unframed print if the recipient may prefer to select their own frame.
We make orders locally in 23 countries around the world, so gifts can often be produced close to the recipient. This helps them arrive faster, travel more safely, and avoid customs or import duty surprises.
- We can deliver directly to the recipient
- Framed pieces arrive ready to hang
- Unframed prints are carefully packed in a strong protective tube
- Almost every order is made locally, for faster, safer gifting
- 90-day returns give the recipient time to decide
If you are not sure what to choose, please contact us. We can help you pick the right map, size, finish or delivery option.
Most orders are made locally and delivered in around 2–3 working days, depending on the product, size and destination.
We print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world, so your order is usually made close to you or your recipient. That means faster delivery, less time in transit, and no customs or import duty surprises.
Personalised and customised pieces usually take an extra 1–2 working days, because we prepare your design and send it to you for approval before printing.
Very large framed orders can take a little longer, as they need extra care in production and delivery.
Every order is carefully packaged: unframed prints are sent in a strong protective tube, while framed pieces are securely packed with protective materials around the frame.
If you need your order by a particular date, please contact us before ordering. We’ll check the best production route and delivery option for your location.
Express delivery is available at checkout for most countries. Next-day delivery is available in the UK, US, Singapore and the UAE.
Your order is covered by our 90-day returns policy and 10-year guarantee.
Our standard frame is a gallery-style black ash hardwood frame, with a simple, modern look. It is approximately 20mm (0.8in) wide. You can also view some lovely customer photos of framed maps and art.
We use super-clear acrylic glazing, also known as Perspex or Acrylite, instead of traditional glass. It is lighter, safer, and has lower reflectivity, giving the artwork a clearer, cleaner appearance.
Six standard frame colours are available at no extra cost: black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white, and antique gold. Custom framing and mounting/matting is also available for customers looking for something more specific.
Most maps, art prints, and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced wooden box frame, and then float the piece within a wooden outer frame. The finished result is beautifully presented, with no glazing between you and the artwork.
All frames are supplied ready to hang, with either string or brackets fitted to the back. Very large frames will include heavy-duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag, and other materials.
If you would prefer to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read our size guide before ordering.
Every Unique Maps piece begins with an authentic cartographic source or an original design from our London studio.
For our historic maps, we source rare originals from libraries, archives, auction houses and private collections around the world. We carefully restore each map for print—repairing age-related damage, balancing colour and improving clarity while preserving its original detail, texture and character.
Once restored, the map is prepared for your chosen size and finish. Your piece is then printed and, where selected, framed close to its delivery destination.
Our map prints use acid-free 200gsm archival matte paper and fade-resistant pigment inks, creating a rich, non-glossy finish designed to last. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
Canvas, cotton-rag and other specialist presentations are also available. Learn more about our materials and finishes.
Personalising your map
You can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. For personalised designs, we send a proof before printing and you can request changes before approval.
For more complex bespoke commissions, contact our design team.
Original or Aged
Choose Original for true-to-source colour, or Aged for a warmer, richer antique character created with our specialist ageing process. See examples of our Aged maps.
We’ve been restoring and producing maps and art prints since 1984, and we stand behind every piece.
Every order is covered by our 10-year guarantee and damage-free delivery guarantee. If your piece arrives damaged, we’ll replace or remake it free of charge. If anything else isn’t right, contact our workshop team and we’ll put it right promptly.
See our returns and refund policy for full details.
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