Holy City is an unincorporated community in Santa Clara County, California. Once considered a Utopian community in the 1920s and 1930s, it is now considered a ghost town. [1] The town is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains, off State Route 17 on Old Santa Cruz Highway. [2] It is part of the Lexington Hills census designated place. Its ZIP code is 95026, and its area codes are 408 and 669.
Holy City was founded in 1919 by cult-leader William E. Riker and about thirty of his followers. Calling his ideology "The Perfect Christian Divine Way", Riker preached celibacy, temperance, white supremacy, and segregation of the races and sexes. [3]
Riker bought the 142 acres (57 ha) that became Holy City. During the early years, the city was the only development between Santa Cruz and San Jose, known for its strange roadside attraction signs. [4] They attracted tourists to a restaurant, service station, zoo, observatory, peep show, soda stand, barbershop, shoe repair. [4] The town was incorporated in 1926.
The religious community had no church; services were held in Riker's home. By the 1930s the PCDW confirmed disciples probably never numbered more than about 30 people, however the population of Holy City and the surrounding neighborhood peaked at around 300. [5] By 1938, only 75 men and 4 women lived at the site.
A radio station was built in Holy City in 1924 and went on the air on July 7 of that year under the call letters KFQU. [4] In April 1931, KFQU had been operating on a radio frequency far from its assigned frequency. [6] The station went off the air in December 1931, and had its license renewal denied on January 11, 1932, due to "irregularities."
The town began to further decline in population in the 1940s, with the construction of State Route 17. [5] Holy City was no longer on the main route through the mountains. With the end of the Great Depression, many of Riker's followers were able to find work elsewhere. The town was disincorporated in 1959, and Riker lost control of the property. Several of the buildings mysteriously burned down shortly afterwards. [1]
The developers who purchased the property eventually put it up for sale in 2006, but it lingered on the market until 2016, when it was bought for $6 million by Robert and Trish Duggan. [4] The Duggans are members of the Church of Scientology. Robert Duggan has been referred to as the church's "largest financial supporter" by former Scientology executive Mark Rathbun. [7]
The Holy City Zoo, a former comedy club in San Francisco, had the sign, table and chairs that all came from the original site of the zoo. [8]
Los Altos is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census.
Mission Santa Cruz is a Spanish Californian mission. Located on Mission Hill, it was founded on August 28, 1791, by Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, the successor of Father Junipero Serra. The mission was dedicated that same year. The present mission chapel building is a replica located near the original site, on which Holy Cross Church now stands.
Santa Cruz is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a popular tourist destination, owing to its beaches, surf culture, and historic landmarks.
Santa Cruz or Santacruz may refer to:
The Central Coast is an area of California, roughly spanning the coastal region between Point Mugu and Monterey Bay. It lies northwest of Los Angeles and south of the San Francisco Bay Area, and includes the rugged, rural, and sparsely populated stretch of coastline known as Big Sur.
Universal City or Universal Studios Complex is an unincorporated area within the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Approximately 415 acres, within and immediately outside the area is the property of Universal Pictures, one of the five major film studios in the United States: about 70 percent of the studio's property is inside this unincorporated area, while the remaining 30 percent is within the Los Angeles city limits. Universal City is nearly surrounded by Los Angeles, with the area's northeastern corner touching the city of Burbank.
Almaden Valley, commonly known simply as Almaden, is a valley and neighborhood of San Jose, California, located in South San Jose. It is nestled between the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west and the Santa Teresa Hills to the east, bordering the town of Los Gatos and West San Jose neighborhood.
State Route 17 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from State Route 1 in Santa Cruz to I-280 and I-880 in San Jose. SR 17, a freeway and expressway, carries substantial commuter and vacation traffic through the Santa Cruz Mountains at Patchen Pass between Santa Cruz and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Chemeketa Park is an unincorporated community of approximately 150 homes located in Lexington Hills, in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Santa Clara County, California, that is now effectively a rural neighborhood of Los Gatos, California. The postal designation for Chemeketa Park is "Los Gatos 95033", although it lies approximately five miles South of the official boundaries of the incorporated town of Los Gatos. The community is in area codes 408 and 669.
Redwood Estates is a rural unincorporated community along State Route 17 in the coastal Santa Cruz Mountains in Los Gatos, California, United States. The Census Bureau includes it in a census-designated place named Lexington Hills. It lies inside the confines of Santa Clara County. The area is about eight miles from downtown Los Gatos and nine miles from the Santa Cruz County community of Scotts Valley.
William Edward Riker was a White supremacist religious leader and perennial candidate who founded the community of Holy City, California, and was an unsuccessful candidate for California Governor. Other nicknames included "Father", "The Comforter", "The Professor", "The Emancipator".
Chambless is a ghost town in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, United States, south of Interstate 40 on the historic Route 66.
Summit is a small unincorporated community more frequently referred to by locals as the Loma Prieta Community located partially in Santa Clara County but predominantly in Santa Cruz County, California, in the mountain ranges of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It lies at the summit along Highway 17 from which is gets its name. Home to a series of abandoned railroad towns and tunnels from the South Pacific Coast Railroad which operated until the 1940s, Public transportation by bus is also no longer available from the Summit Road area. VTA route 76 has been cancelled since June 2010, and the Highway 17 Express only stops in Scotts Valley. It is one of the few places in the San Francisco Bay Area to receive snowfall and the mountain pass which links the Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay is closed at this spot when snowfall is too heavy. The next town to the south is Scotts Valley and to the north Redwood Estates. The area serves as a rest stop with food for people traveling across the mountains.
Wrights, California is a ghost town in unincorporated west Santa Clara County, California. It is located near Summit Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains, on the north bank of Los Gatos Creek, east of State Route 17.
Lexington, California, is a ghost town in Santa Clara County, now submerged by the Lexington Reservoir. Originally located along Los Gatos Creek, the town was 550 feet above sea level.
Patchen is a ghost town in the Santa Cruz Mountains, in Santa Clara County, California. It is located along the old Santa Cruz Highway.
Glenwood, California, is an unincorporated area of Santa Cruz County. It is located at coordinates 37°6′29″N121°59′8″W, and is 891 feet above sea level.
Agua Mansa is a former settlement in an unincorporated area of San Bernardino County, near Colton, California, United States. Once the largest settlement in San Bernardino County, it is now a ghost town. Only the cemetery remains.
West Santa Clara is an unincorporated census county division (CCD) located on the eastern side of the Santa Cruz Mountains in northwest Santa Clara County, California. The area covers approximately 50 square miles (130 km2), much of it open space, and contains Boronda Lake, Felt Lake, and Lake Ranch reservoirs, as well as Sanborn and Stevens Creek county parks. The Foothills, Los Trancos, Monte Bello, Pearson-Arastradero, Picchetti Ranch, Rancho San Antonio and Saratoga Gap preserves are also located in the area.
Loma Chiquita is an unincorporated rural area along the ridge leading to Loma Chiquita summit in southwest Santa Clara County, California. The area covers the associated ridgeline and hillsides, from the eastern base of Loma Prieta, towards the west near the intersection with upper Little Uvas Road. The northern part faces the Mountain Home area, and the southern part overlaps with Uvas Canyon.
The abandoned, 142-acre property between Santa Cruz and San Francisco is a rare swath of available land, complete with its own zip code, 95026. "It's a great property, only five miles away from civilization," said Dave Haugh, a Grubb & Ellis senior vice president in San Jose, in a brief phone conversation ... On the plus side, it features majestic redwood trees and a creek with waterfalls. On the minus side, it has no sewer system, some dilapidated buildings and a creepy history ... Developers who bought Holy City in 1968 evicted squatting hippies, thought of turning what was left into some kind of campground, and ultimately accomplished nothing. Now they're in their 80s and want to sell.
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