During the Cold War, LA96C was a U.S. Army Nike missile control site and military reservation, one of 16 Nike missile sites that protected Los Angeles from a feared attack by Soviet bombers. From 1956-1968 it operated as an active battery, with radar searching the sky for enemy airplanes. As new military technology made the Nike missiles obsolete, the site was turned into San Vicente Mountain Park, where nature is reclaiming the military ruins.
