A boomtown turns to a ghost town on the site of the first successful oil well in California

Mentryville is not, by itself, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I included it here because of its relationship to Pico No. 4 (Etan Does LA visit #97), one of the first two LA sites to be added to the National Register.

Took my favorite adventure partner to Mentryville, a historic ghost town built in the late 1870s after Charles Mentry struck oil at Pico No. 4 in 1876 – The first successful commercial oil strike in California.

We didn’t make it all the way to the oil well, but we did see an abandoned house, barn, chicken coop, school and outhouse (HER shot a video, naturally), and befriended a local dog named Pebbles.

Highly recommended outing for curious Angelenos, history buffs and ghost hunters alike. We’ll be back soon with Megan Rosenbloom for the hike to Pico No. 4!