Old Topanga Canyon Road began as a stagecoach trail cut through the mountains south of Calabasas and ending at the beach just north of Pacific Palisades. In 1893, when the Long Wharf was built as part of the original Port of Los Angeles, it became an important link between the San Fernando Valley and Santa Monica. The narrow roadway still follows largely the same alignment as it did then. Many early Calabasas homesteaders built houses along the road, but those original homesteads were later demolished except for the Masson House at 23075 Mulholland Highway. Small vernacular-style houses with simple gabled roofs and wood siding were later developed along the route, and the surviving ones have been modified and expanded over the years.