Calico Ghost Town - Old West Desert Village & Dangerous Mine Shafts
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- A visit to Calico Ghost town in the desert of Southern California . An old mining community that allows visitors to explore most the property .
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My first visit to Calico was many years before it was restored and became a tourist destination. It was a true ghost town back then. No commercial parts. Took kids there a few years back, old stove is still in the same spot.
I love going there. We always stop at Peggy Sue's 50's diner for the wonderful history and then go on to Calico.
After spending a week camping out in the hills there's nothing better than a peggy sues pizza!All the food is great but I compare all other pizza to theirs.
I lived in Barstow as a kid and I absolutely loved going to Calico Ghost Town. I've eaten in that restaurant many times and they serve a great breakfast. So many great memories with my Mom, Dad and Sister. My favorite building is still the school house. It used to be open and you could go in and sit at the desks.
This brought back some really wonderful memories. Thank you for doing this video.
Thanks for the tour. You did the place justice. It has been awhile since I was there. We use to ride horses through the town and in the hills. My dad was the head of operations, and helped develop Calico, and get going starting about 1971 I was there too, but in a much smaller form 50 years ago. My dad's finger prints are still there in the way it was put together, it's sense of spirit, and the way it apparently still is. Most of it has not changed, but there used to be organized cowboy events, such as races, shoot outs, and trail rides etc. I still have the pins. The town used to be lively when it was newly opened and a novelty. It was the inspiration for Knotsberry Farm.. I believe Knotsberry donated the town to the country. If you went to see the graveyard, you'll find Tumbleweed. He was the first, and perhaps the only actual person to be buried there after Calico was opened in what was the old cemetery. He was from New Jersey and had no family... a true hobo. I saw him many times as he was an unofficial resident who became a regular, and popular character in the town along with the Park employees, and concession personal who lived in town, who ran the general store and restaurant, and once lived in those abandoned living quarters you recorded...there are other hidden resident cabins you did not see. He fit the part well, and the Regional Parks honored him. My dad made sure he was not forgotten. If there are photos of Tumbleweed, he'll have a long white beard, and looked the part. Many persons had their picture taken with Tumbleweed.
Mr. Knott lied to me and the whole 3rd grade class! Said he was a farmer round about armagosa. Short speech around the stagecoach camp.
You failed to mention, or make the connection while reading the sign. The Walter Knott is the Walter Knott of Knotts Berry Farm. Calico is the town he based the Ghost Town at Knotts Berry Farm on. He was a big supporter of Calico and helped keep it alive.
Way back in the 1960's my parents would drive us 7 kids from San Diego up to Hesperia to visit Dad's sister and her family. We always spent a day at Calico Mines, as it was referred to back then. It was still pretty raw and a lot of it was merely taped off to keep curious visitors from wandering off outside of the attraction because there were still open mine shafts out there within sight of the main area. One false step and you'd not hit bottom until you fell 500 feet or so. Ah, great times....:)
Geeze, I had a summer job there when I was in high school. so did some of my friends. Memories.
I remember doing that tour, they told us that the rumor is the stray cats that live there year round are the souls from the residents that used to live there lol.
I went there once as a teen with my family in mid 2000’s. It was fun!!!! It’s pretty well kept!!! Definitely want to go back as an adult!!!!
Two things I really miss at Calico. The train that brings you up from the parking lot that is not used anymore and the mine ride that's now just a walk through.
We used desks like those in the old schoolhouse when I was in elementary school in the early 60s. No inkwells, but they still had the holes.
Was there in the late 60’s. There was no restrictions for climbing the mountain or exploring the mines. Was extremely dangerous with all the exposed mine shafts on the slopes of the mountain. We camped there one weekend and had plenty of time to explore the mines, etc. Thanks for the video of what it’s like after all these years.
I visited Calico in the early 60"s when I was 6 and again Dec. 2019. I am pleased that San Bernadino Co. is keeping it in good shape. The old gun fights were fun but paying staff to shoot each might be tough on the budget. The streets used to be dirt and rock and now they are asphalt. The asphalt sucks but it was probably required for accessibility. The magic from the eyes of a 6 year old has faded but if you are a kid at heart you will love it.
If you went there in Dec 2020 that means you can time travel which is cool.
@@Peter-pv8xx Fixed it,thanks.
I have a photo of myself with that large cowboy from back in my touring band days!! But I never went into Calico, never had time! One day for sure.
Hey I like the new icon pic! 💜💚💛💚
That place looks amazing. Kinda reminded me of the Wild West town the Griswold's stopped off at in National Lampoon's Vacation.
I think that was at the Paramount Movie Ranch.. He's been there, too.
Nailed it. It's a California to Vegas must do. The water slide was big when I was little but we were poor. Now they just break in and skate. Get some!
My kinda place. I love homegrown attractions like this. I would enjoy going to places like Carhenge, as much as Stonehenge.
Definately a place I need to visit. Thanks for all you do.
Exploration Unknown Thank you for all the entertainment and videos you provide for us man. I know you guys don't get much because youtube demonetizes your channels. So thank you so much.
That place looks amazing
Exploration Unknown I went on an elementary school trip in the early 2000’s and I’ve never forgot about this place ! Here I am grown as ever still wanting to visit again interesting to see all these videos on RUclips about it .the staff was so wonderful and treated me so nice while on that field trip !!! Memories to last a lifetime 😍 p.s the sarsaparilla (first time I ever knew that was the real root beer 🍺!! Is delicious 😋 I can still remember how good it was !!
Yeah definitely worth it!
@@notavailable9113 yes. I think my senior ditch day trip went here in 1968!!
Much more added features to the Ghost Town since I was there. Lucky to have been given the opportunity to ride a horse through those hilltops of the Calico Ghost Town with the USMC Special Services.
I had lived 40 miles away from Calico when I lived in Victorville (greatest city in the world, not really) but this town takes on a different feel at night. Great ghost tours there.
More like Victimville buhahahaha..... It sucks
@@RogerWareInc you arent lying.
@@ShawnRosell haha most of the desert does.
I went on one of those ghost tours several years ago. The tour guide is a friend of mine. Saw shadow people crawling all over the schoolhouse.
true that, the desert is magic
G'Day Adam from Australia. I like it when you get out on the road I like seeing the back roads and the wonders of your great country. I have been watching your vids for a couple of years now...
thats what i think Aussie!Aussie!Aussie! G'day mate'! I spent over 40 years in tourism and have been on all seven continents and 113 countries but I love Australia and Aussies AND your unique wildlife, even though most of it will kill you! One of the biggest thrills of my life was meeting my conservation heroes, Steve Irwin -I still miss him.Hope you're a Wildlife Warrior too!
crikey Connie,, Steve was a good fella. Australia is bonza !!!
Check out wonder hussy on you tube shes all the back country
We my mom, dad, and me, my brother Jimmy, my sister Sandra filmed westerns there and my dad won the worlds fastest gun draw as Johnny Ringo in 1976 and my mom played the old hag Omg those days bring back some special memories. We lived out on Hesperia Rd in Victorville, California on the big old ranch out there
Oh Adam, we went there some years ago on a cross country trip.
I really enjoyed 'revisiting' Caliico. (It was mobbed when we were there.☹) This was a terrific video. Thank goodness places like this exist to preserve the past. 👌👍
some rides are based off of that calico ghost town place at knots berry farm
Calico & Knott's are owned by the same company.
Walter Knott originally purchased the site in 1951 and began restoration. In 1966, Knott donated calico to San Bernadino County and is a county regional park.
Since 1997, Knott's Berry Farm amusement park has been owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. which is based in Sandusky, Ohio.
Knots has an area themed after Calico. Calico was temporarily owned by Walter Knot before donation to San Bernardino County as a reservation park. I currently work at Calico and know much more of the history of the place.
Walter Knot worked there as a boy.
dumbas
Visited there in 1974. Went motorcycle riding down on the flats. Good memories
Calico and Bodie are both alot of fun! I miss the Mojave sometimes.
Michael Chitwood I grew up visiting both of them, and I worked and lived in Bodie for the 2013 tourist season.. They’ll alway have a special place in my heart.
This is where Knott’s Berry Farm got their theme from!
There needs to be better signage advertising this to people off the Interstate 15. Last weekend while i was traveling to and from Vegas I barely noticed a sign for the place. I know where it's at, but I'm sure a heck of a lot of people have no idea such a cool place is up in those hills.
This place looks sick! I love the whole cowboy ghost town thing so this place is on the top of my list. The inside of the mine was really cool
the place looks "sick" ? LOL. Okay dude. You're just too cool. lol.
@@sanfrancisco9661 I know this is 2 years later but what a strange reply lol
I love this place so much. Hi everybody
hi
Visited this place over 20yrs ago from the UK, absolutely loved it. Still have a couple of souvenirs from here. Thank you for bringing back some very happy memories.
I spent many years with my family in Calico and we had 3 businesses there. The Calikage Melodrama Theater, a gift shop and the Old Tyme Photo Shoppe. The photo of the Dentist and suffering Patient is one I took around 1978. Great memories of Calico!
Growing up we would visit and camp there once a year. Had a lot of fun. ☺ Now I want to bring my kids out there..
I really enjoy visiting Ghost Towns.
I remember in the 70’s-80’s it wasn’t nearly as touristy. My friends family owned the restaurant and I spent many many summers out there running around as a kid.
It's a good tourist destination
I was there in 1980 with my sister from the UK. We had Miners Stew and a cold Beer, one of the hottest places on earth I've ever visited and unforgettable!
I think my senior class ditch-day trip went here in 1968!
Grew up minutes from Calico and spent most my life enjoying the place. Thanks for a great job on the vid, made my day miles away in Utah. I miss home so much.
I wish I could go this place
My wife and I love Calico, we would visit on every halloween since its when we got married. Its a kick at night!
I saw that place with my Father in 66. Hasn't changed much.
I use to come here all the time when I was a kid. They say the schoolhouse is haunted by the last school mom and the play house is haunted by an actress name Esméralda. They love the town so much they never left.
The peanuts shells on the floor reminds me of my grand mother. When she grew up her mom used to use peanut shells to polish the floor.
When I was a kid my grand mother would use peanut oil on the floor, tell us to put on our worn out socks and run down the hall and slide up and down the hall into the front room, just to polish the floor for her
Stepping back into the paved old west.
I think this was one of the first videos that I watched from "The Daily Woo," while I was researching Calico Ghost Town :)
I love those old west towns. Thanks, Adam.
I was in ROTC in High School. Every year, we would do a parade here at Calico. Thanks for bringing back the memories, and welcome to my neck of the desert! You should check out downtown Victorville, they've filmed a lot of movies there.
Drove by this place for years and years. Brings me back
I legit live 15 minutes away from here, as in Barstow.
Shannon Morse I’m so sorry for you. ;^p
So sorry too.
What’s good out there? Y’all go shootin or like, what’s fun out there? Hahaha
t werner Barstow’s really not all that bad. We just like to pick on it, like we do to poor ole Fresno.
One thing I remember about Barstow my rental car got sandblasted and that's no lie🤣🤣🤣
I'm glad Adams back u tube just wasn't the same without the Woo.
My wife and I visited Calico a couple years ago driving from Los Angeles to Iowa. Cool place to visit. If I remember right it was 110 degrees that day.
You ought to go there when it warms up.
That was fun haven't seen that place in fifty years.
Good job on the video. There are some great ghost towns in Arizona that we have made videos of as well.
Everyime i went there they had nothing but old buildings and mines looks like they comercialized it
This place was once owned by Knott's Berry Farm.
Great video! I pass this exit all the time on my way to Vegas. One of these trips, I'm going to have to make a detour and actually check out this cool little town!
I drop by this place about 30 years ago. The Calico ghost town sign was there by the Interstate freeway, but the town was not apparently ready to accept visitors then. I was more like in a preservation stage until improved to accept the public.
I got a few pictures that I must first find, then scan...
Must have been a lot more than 30 years ago. I used to live in Barstow back in the '70s and went to Calico several times. It was never closed that I can remember.
Wonderful historical and mysterious place .
Memories! When I was a kid to taking my kids And can’t forget the Sarsaparilla ❤️ Thanks!!
❤️
Grew up in Vegas and saw a lot of old mining Ghost towns. Had a blast going through this place too when I was a kid. I loved and miss those days. I miss being back in Vegas and going out on the Ghost tours in these old mining towns.
Oh man, I was there in 1978 on a family vacation. It was still a ghost town, buildings with caved in floors, broken boardwalk sidewalk, old cemetery. It was super cool. I heard a rumour that it had been tourist trapped up. Thanks for sharing, Woo. Happy trails, Pard!
Very cool that you stopped here I use to go here all the time when I was a kid
Well done. Thanks for visiting a place I won't get to visit.
Oh, I was hoping you would actually visit all the 1,000+ abandoned mine shafts past the Calico sign on the mountain. There is at least one or two roads leading to the right of the town. We took the scouts back there in 1974. Camped overnight, ate breakfast, went shooting, then went into the mine shafts. Talk about scary. Once you got into any mine, your flashlights were swallowed-up in darkness. It would only let you see a few feet in front of you. Dusty and dry, almost chocking dust. Calico GT is cool, but the mines further on: really cool.
Omg I'm dying laughing when the brochure blew away🤣
Haha
You seem to hit it on a day when all the new hires picked up the trash. Also around October when they spook up the place. I love calico- camping is cheap the cabins aren’t expensive- at least when I was there- they have civil war reenactments- Amazing- Use to have Ghost tours- Easter Egg hunts- it’s a lot of up hill walking and can be very hot. Still, I love Calico.
I'm glad you pointed out that was a beetle!
The animatronics at this place are off the hook!
Whoaa..I think the warden was coming on to you.
Same.
She kinda strikes me as the type who would come onto anything with a pulse...
@@wewd I have a pulse! 🤣
The Warden definitely wanted a bit of the Ol' Woo
@@TNT_Mancave She tried to Woo him.
Calico sure has changed since I was last there. We used to be able to go into the school house and sit at the desks. Also had teeter tooter next to school. Back in the late 70s had the best ice cream ever. Brings back memories of going there for Indian Princess camping days,
I went their with my Army Platoon (545th MP CO 1CAV Ft. Hood Texas) in February of 1981 when we had a few days down from DesertTraining at Ft. Irwin before it officially became the National Trainjng Center (NTC) drive our Jeeps there and spent the day. Got a Decent Meal instead of C Rations! Long time ago!
Thanks for this video. I used to live about 2 or 3 miles from Calico. It was neat to see how a few things have changed in Calico since I'd been there last. It seems they've made it a little more touristy and less serious than it used to be. I hope you got to go on the Mystery Shack tour while you were there. That's the coolest part of Calico. Here is a trivia fact that only people who live in Yermo (that's the town just below the mountains that Calico was built on) know: Upon a portion of that dry lake bed you can see in the distance when The Woo does that pan to the left (12:00 - 12:11), the Titty Twister face/front was built there for the movie "From Dusk Til Dawn" and all scenes requiring the front of it and the sign were filmed there.
That wardens a firecracker.
She sure is lol
I'm late....but that place looks the same as it did..When I was a child.. Only thing different is the coins being tossed at the miners and the old man in the out house costing a dollar...and the skeletons ..And you brought back memories of making a toast with a beer and hitting the table for good luck....picked that up in Germany.
That was cool now I want to go check it out! Thanks for sharing your adventures.. 🙂
Remember staying in the camp ground back in the 70s in a large tent... w/o the proper padding 😬 but still fun... haven’t been back to California since 97 sad what’s happened to the State.
That general store looked like the one in the movie 'The Color Purple' where Celie helped Sophia get supplies
Superb stop on the way to vegas
Had a great day there, they even replicate a bank robbery, which was interesting to say the least
💜💜💜 this vlog, but this is my favorite time era too! Thanks for going here I've always wanted to go!
@11:15 I’ll deal with that! Now, that’s my kind of grubbin’ Reallt hangry now hehe
Looks so delicious, now I'm hungry!!!!
I went here in 1985. Pretty fun.
Been here in 1956, it has changed not too much.
School house built 1885..... Restored 1955..... Great Scott!!! Marty what have we done?
So Walter knott had a hand in everything.. I wonder which came first this attraction or knots berry farms...very cool indeed mr woo thanks for sharing
Bama Mike
From my understanding, Walter Knott purchased Calico in 1951, after Knott’s Berry Farm had been around for many years. Mr. Knott gave the ghost town to San Bernardino County in 1966.
I haven’t been to Calico in many years but I certainly enjoyed it.
Calico was founded as a town back in 1881 as a silver mining town. Walter Knot purchased and restored the town in the 1950's and then donated it to the county of San Bernardino in 1966. I currently work at Calico and learned much of the history of the place.
Kenny Rogers and the First Edition did an entire concept double album about this ghost town (The Ballad of Calico). No hit singles from it so not a lot of people know about it, but it's probably the best album ever that never got reissued on CD.
I've always loved seeing places like this in the world. Alas, i've never been to California..
I used to go there all the time as a kid.
Spectacular!
Thank you! I got a good laugh, I was there when I was 11 in 1982
It's worth a visit. Get to go through the silver mines. It's like the old wild west
Awesome video! I love ghost towns!!! And that geography was beautiful.
Never in my life, have been here...EVER!
Thanks for showing this place, Adam!
I love this place.. I've been here twice Every time I go to California or Vegas... Love love love plan on going back soon...
SUCH A COOL PLACE TO VISIT!
I've passed this place umpteen times as a kid and later as an adult on the way to Vegas. Having seen the video, I want to go there for a visit, looks like fun!
At 15:20, what a cool shot. Looked like a scene from the movie My Bloody Valentine.
Craig The Scottish Guy it did.
Was here all the time when I was a kid.pops brought us here on the way to Vegas!! Hope to bring my kid here one day!!!
Been there to Calico. Wonderful place.
My grand parents were there with Knotts who owned Calico and used it for his Knotts Berry Farm.
Just went to Calico yesterday...so awesome, love historical places.
He needs your dollar - the toilet paper roll is out of paper 🤣
I grew up about an hour away from Calico. I Want to go to visit again. An interesting place.