Web Site Celebrates Unique Community

Internet surfers are landing daily on the World Wide Web site dedicated to this little mountain community, created and maintained by two residents as an ode to their unique neighborhood.

“It occurred to me one day as I was driving to the post office that if there was a [Web] site here that citizens could participate in, it would hold the attention of the community,” said Gary Meyer, Topanga Online’s webmaster, or designer of the home page.

Meyer, who with his wife, Patric Hedlund, started Sweet Pea Communications out of their home, updates the page and manages information sent in by their neighbors. Launched as an experiment in December 1995, Topanga Online’s main page recorded 10,000 hits, or visits, last year.

Meyer said the Rumors and Legends page is the site’s most popular, detailing subjects such as the origin of the Buddha mural along Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

“People in Topanga have a natural inclination toward anything with the name ‘rumors,’ ” he said. “I think they come in to check to see if there’s a mention about them in there that they are not aware of, and maybe one day there will be.”

Another popular page is Topanga Cyberfriends, where users post mail soliciting everything from hiking partners to wedding reception sites. One recent posting was from a neighbor who had purchased a potbellied pig and was seeking someone with whom to trade pig stories.

But the site also has been used to disseminate information about natural disasters affecting the area collected by the Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness.

Gerry Haigh, president of the Topanga Historical Society and an admitted Internet neophyte, is supportive of the page because it highlights the area’s unique atmosphere and local color.

Meyer said Topanga Online has surpassed its creators’ expectations.

“I think we’d have to sneak out of town in the middle of the night if we ever took it down,” he said.

Topanga Online can be found at https://www.forests.com/topanga