500 WALK BACK IN TIME AT MENTRYVILLE GHOST TOWN.Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer To see the first commercial oil site on the West Coast, 500 visitors filled the streets of Mentryville as the ghost town ghost town, term for any once flourishing American community that has been abandoned, generally for economic reasons. While most of the towns have little or no population, they often contain old buildings, which may serve as tourist attractions. opened its doors Saturday for the first time since it was abandoned in the 1930s. ``I was waiting for this to open,'' said Charles Grossman, 53, of Newhall, who came to Mentryville with his wife, Paris, and their dog. ``I've been curious to see what this was like - to see a piece of history.'' Mentryville was acquired by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is an agency of the state of California in the United States founded in 1979 and dedicated to the acquisition of land in the Santa Susana and Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills, north and west of Los Angeles, for preservation as open as part of 800 acres donated by the Chevron oil company. Founded in 1876 and named after Alex Mentry, Mentryville was home to 100 families during periods when the demand for oil was booming. Mentry became the first president of Standard Oil of California. ``We're lucky that the conservancy was able to keep the land and preserve it like this,'' Grossman said. ``There are so few of these areas left. It's important to hold on to them. And this is so close to home.'' The Grossmans spent two hours walking a small trail and taking a guided tour guided tour guide n → visite guidée; what time does the guided tour start? → la visite guidée commence à quelle heure? of a barn, a garage, a house, a livery stable and a schoolhouse still standing on the property. Visitors now may enter only one of the buildings - the schoolhouse - but the conservancy, the Friends of Mentryville organization and Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, city officials hope to restore other Mentryville buildings and create a visitor center. Among the activities Saturday were guided tours, picnics, hayrides and dancing. A barbershop quartet barbershop quartet Popular vocal ensemble consisting of four unaccompanied male voices. The voice parts are tenor, lead, baritone, and bass, with the lead normally singing the melody and the tenor harmonizing above. entertained. ``This is neat,'' said 11-year-old Jeremy Thomas as he sat in the ghost town's Felton School. ``These really old buildings are pretty cool to look at.'' He asked a docent if a pipe leading to a stove was the air-conditioning pipe. The boy winced in the heat when he learned there was no air conditioning air conditioning, mechanical process for controlling the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and circulation of air in buildings and rooms. Indoor air is conditioned and regulated to maintain the temperature-humidity ratio that is most comfortable and healthful. in the late 1800s. ``It's an interesting thing to bring children . . . and show them how people lived 100 years ago - before we had things like air conditioning,'' said Jeremy's mother, Sheri Thomas of Newhall. ``This school is a lot different from the classrooms they're used to,'' she said. ``It's good for them to get a different perspective.'' ``This has been a great turnout. We're really pleased,'' said Elfreda Higgins, vice president of the Friends of Mentryville. ``We must have had more than 500 visitors so far. ``It's a valuable resource for the community to be able to visit a place like this. It has a complete history of the oil well.'' ``This is very well done,'' said Sue Palmer Sue Palmer, born in 1948, is a British author on child education. She regularly contributes to the Times Educational Supplement. Toxic Childhood In 2006 she wrote Toxic Childhood, about the implications of modern lifestyle on the development of children. , 52, of La Mirada La Mirada (lä mĭrä`də), city (1990 pop. 40,452), Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1960. La Mirada derives from the Spanish for "the view," referring to the panoramic view of the surrounding valleys from atop the city's hills. . ``I like old towns, and this is the real thing. Everything in Southern California is new, so you never get an idea that there is a history.'' CAPTION(S): Photo: (1) Steve Cozzetto, riding Hercules, helps Mallory Hanna getthrough soft dirt near the ghost town of Mentryville. (2) Eileen Gates, left, one of the docents dressed in period clothing, answers questions about an oil town that thrived from the 1870s to 1930s. (3) Some of the visitors to Mentryville take an old-fashioned hayride hay·ride n. A recreational ride in a large wagon or other vehicle piled with hay. to Johnson Park for a picnic Saturday. (4) Wayne Walters of Sunland examines the still-intact drive chain on an oil-well pump used before the '40s. John Lazar/Special to the Daily News |
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