San Fernando Valley : Ghost Town to Get New Look for Public
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When company’s coming, even an old, abandoned oil town could use a sprucing-up.
Wielding paintbrushes and pruning tools, volunteers recruited by Santa Clarita City Hall and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy will give historic Mentryville, a 119-year-old ghost town, a new look next month before it opens to the public later this year.
Mentryville--a 20-acre site with eight buildings intact--is part of a 3,000-acre plot of parkland in Pico Canyon that Chevron Corp. sold to the conservancy last spring.
The city of Santa Clarita has since become involved in the preservation of the ghost town.
“We’ll be doing some cosmetic work to clean the site up,” said Rick Putnam, director of parks, recreation and community services.
“Some weeding, some tree pruning, a little bit of painting, repair of some fences.”
The cleanup is scheduled for Aug. 26.
“We will not just throw open the gates, because Mentryville is a very sensitive historic resource and we want to make sure this is done right,” said Rorie Skei, a conservancy official.
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