Mentryville

** Dog friendly My Betty would have had fun here. Please bring water, a bowl and poop bags for your pupPlease pick up after yourselvesFirst off no cell service for me anyway, I have Spectrum.Large empty parking lot available at 10am on a Thursday.Note: posted no off road parking. I didn't have any cash on me and parking meter was not working, so unfortunately I had to turn right around and leave. Payment is $5 in an envelope that you put into the "iron ranger". I wouldn't make a special trip out there but if I am ever nearby again I'd probably check this out. Note: my cell was "off line" until 2.4 miles away on Pico Canyon Rd from Mentryville parking lot.

Mentryville was a pretty cool experience. We got to visit it through Parapod's haunted tour. Has some history and people claim it is haunted. The pictures I posted pretty much describe it. It was fun to travel back in time for a bit and imagine how life was back in the day.

Fun, historic ghost town to visit, it is definitely a walk through on your own and peak through the boarded up windows type of place. I wish there were guided tours inside the buildings, but maybe someday there will be, if funding becomes available. There is also a nice hike at the end if you choose to embark on that.

Nice hike with a nicely paved walkway, small little houses and barn at the start and even a tiny park with a barbecue further up the trail. highly recommend for a first hike with also being able to throw rocks on the river to your left.

Mentryville was established in 1876 and was one of the first oil towns in the state. Today it is known as a black gold ghost town in the Santa Clarita Valley. This area is rich in California oil history and is truly a hidden gem. We parked outside the designated parking fee area and had no problems walking in. Trail is family friendly and handicap accessible.

A historically investing park in Pico Canyon. A few western style buildings and remnants from the first oil drilling days. I guess it continues to be a great place for filming since as we were getting there a makeup hair trailer was just leaving. It was a very hot day since we were there around 2pm. There were only a couple of cars in the parking lot, $5 to park. We're hiked for a short time because of the weather. We enjoyed our lunch at a picnic table under the California pepper tree which looks like a weeping willow. A nice day in the Santa Clarita area.

I learned of this place from a column by Charles Fleming in the LA Times. You do not have to pay to park if you park outside the first gate you come to at the fork in the road. It will make your hike/walk 3/8 of a mile longer, but there's no fee. If you drive in to park, you avoid that extra walk and you take an envelope, put your $5 in it, and put the receipt on your dash and the envelope in a metal holder. Perhaps you should take a small envelope with you in case they're out, something that some reviewers have commented about.From the paid parking, there's a short walk over dirt to get to the blacktop road that comes in from the front gate and where the Mentryville historic plaque is located. Along the way, there are buildings including the Mentry house, the "Movie House," and the Felton School. About the movie house--the Internet Movie Database says the film referenced on the paper at the house was filmed in Canada. The sheet says it was filmed there. Wikipedia mentions other TV and movie shoots here but not "One Magic Christmas."I consider this to be more of a stroll of about 2 miles round trip. It's a gentle grade going up all on blacktop. At the end of the blacktop, you reach Johnson Park where there are picnic tables and grills for cooking. Also here is the oil rig #4 that for many years pumped oil in Mentryville, the first place in California where commercial oil was discovered.You can continue up the road from Johnson Park and the trail will rise about 1,000 feet to an overlook of the canyon. Now that's a hike and worth doing on a cool day.Enjoy Mentryville. It's considered a ghost town and it's close to Los Angeles.

Nice park run by Santa Monica Mountains Conservency. No park personnel around, crowd was nice. Pay $5 to park, Many people park at the entrance and walk the road up to the lot. There are three picnic areas and one trail that connects the upper and lower road. Mentryville was an 1880's oil boom town built around its oil well, Pico No. 4. the site of the first commercially successful oil well in the western United States. Named for Charles Alexander Mentry, the oil well's tenacious driller--and later superintendent of the company that would become Chevron--Mentryville was home to over 100 families until the early 1930's. Pico No. 4 went on to become the longest continually operating oil well in the world, closing in 1990. Historic buildings still stand including Charles Mentry's grand thirteen-room mansion, a one-room school house, and a period barn. Mentryville and Pico No. 4 are registered as California State Historical Landmarks.

This is a great place for paranormal investigators. The people here say that the place is haunted but there is some type of dark energy here. I do recommend if paranormal investigation is set here. The place has good hikes and do bring some cash for parking. The mansion really did creep me out so I recommend that if you bring your children do not go into the mansion.

It's a nice hike and there are some interesting historical relics to look at on the way. But there is some 'dark energy' in this place and I am not usually sensitive to such things. I also agree with commenters about the ranger/manager. He was rude, surly, and even agressive. So follow the signs and rules carefully (if you can find them). Then, happy hiking!