carbuff
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4.30a-4.45a isn't really that early in that area. It might be dark (the roads there are well-lit) but it was a Friday morning and the commute starts early in SoCal. Las Virgenes Road goes from the 101 Freeway to the PCH, Mulholland runs east-west across the ridges and connects to other thoroughfares.
Everyone is looking for the least-stressful route to work. At tech companies in Santa Monica or Playa, people adjust their hours to very odd times to avoid peak commuter hell. You'll find people who will go in at 3.30a if it means they can be out in the early afternoon because it has a very direct impact on your quality of life.
People get up at that hour to run or workout or, depending on tides, surf. I'm a horse person and in that area, there are a lot of small private horse properties at which people tend to be early risers.
The Starbucks in Calabasas, 3.8 miles away from the campground, opens at 4.30a. The Starbucks at Cross Creek, on PCH just south of Las Virgenes, also opens at 4.30a.
Thank you for that information.
Similar places around New England normally open around 7; the early Dunkin Donuts by the highway says it opens at 5:30 but you don't want to count on it until about 5:45. We frequently leave very early for hiking, and most of the time we get coffee an hour or two down the road because there just isn't anything open. So knowing that people are up and around at that hour alters my perspective on the situation.