Gorman is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located in Peace Valley south of the Tejon Pass, which links Southern California with the San Joaquin Valley and Northern California. Due to this location, the area has served as a historic travel stop dating back to the indigenous peoples of California. Tens of thousands of motorists travel through Gorman daily on the Golden State Freeway (Interstate 5) since the highway's completion in the mid-20th century.
thumb|Gorman sign.
Geography
Gorman is in size.
History
18th century
upright|thumb|James Gorman Sr. gave his name to the rest stop in the Tejon Pass.
Gorman is "one of the oldest continuously used trail and roadside rest stops in California," as the Native Americans of California "would have stopped there when it was the Tataviam village of Kulshra'jek" explains Mountain Communities historian Bonnie Ketterl Kane.
The Spanish and Mexican colonial El Camino Viejo passed through the area en route to Old Tejon Pass. The route of the Stockton–Los Angeles Road went through Tejon Pass after 1852.
19th century
The Gorman area was part of Rancho Los Álamos y Agua Caliente, an 1846 Mexican land grant.
The first American settler in the area was a man named Charles Johnson, after 1853.
After Johnson's death, his widow, Soledad Girado ran the place, which by 1855 had become known as Rancho la Viuda (Widow's Station).
Reed's Station
A man named Reed took up residence next, calling it Reed's Ranch. In 1857 a woman was killed on his ranch when the great Fort Tejon earthquake struck the area and collapsed the roof of his adobe house.
Reed then built a substantial log house, which became Reed's Station, on the Butterfield Overland Mail 1st Division Stations in 1858. A stop for the postal stagecoach, it was located 8 miles southeast of Fort Tejon and 14 miles west of French John's Station.
The Butterfield Overland Mail ceased in 1861, but was replaced later by the Telegraph Stage Line, which stopped at most of the former stations, including at renamed Gorman's, where the horses were changed. Six of them were used for the pull up Tejon Pass from Bakersfield to Gorman's. The log "public house", which furnished food, lodgings, and liquor, soon became known as Gorman's Station a.k.a. Gorman Station.
The 1950 movie "Hi-Jacked" featured location footage shot in Gorman.
The 1960 movie Psycho also briefly featured footage filmed in the township.
;Ridge Route
The Ridge Route road through Gorman was paved in 1919. In 1923, the first gasoline station in California to be located away from a railroad track was established by Standard Oil.
21st century
In January 2006, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected a bid by 32 of the area's 75 property owners to give up Gorman so it could be annexed to Kern County. Reasons cited for the proposal included red tape and zoning regulations restricting development in Los Angeles County. However, Los Angeles County and opponents of the proposal did not want to lose sales- and occupancy-tax revenue the county collected annually from Gorman businesses. More than a thousand firefighters were assigned to battle the blaze, particularly near the Pyramid Lake recreation area. The fire was 100% contained on Wednesday, June 26, after burning for 11 days. The cause is under investigation.
thumb|Gorman in 2008.
thumb|Gorman, California in 2011.
Government and infrastructure
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) operates a resident deputy program in Gorman staffed by two deputies. Oversight of the Gorman substation is provided by the Santa Clarita Valley Station in Santa Clarita. Deputy Sheriff Arthur E. Pelino, the then resident deputy of Gorman, was shot and killed at his Gorman office with his own firearm by a suspect he was processing in 1978. The County of Los Angeles sends a bookmobile to Gorman every Tuesday.
thumb|A small paved lot in Gorman, CA.
Education
Gorman Joint School District
Gorman Elementary School
thumb|Gorman Elementary School, shown here in 2008, has two classrooms.
Accounts differ as to the origin of Gorman Elementary School, although the pioneer Ralphs family certainly played a role in its founding. According to researcher Harrison Irving Scott, the first school in the area appears to have been the one-room Manzana School, a mile south of Gorman, where in 1925 there were only four pupils — the Ralphs brothers, Glenn, Harry, Albert and Dewey. After it was torn down, the children went to Quail Lake School in another one-room schoolhouse. Gorman Elementary School was built by the federal government's Works Progress Administration in 1939. There is no accessible record of the first teacher, but Martha Forth was the second; she taught in 1941–1943.