[Update 5/4/26 2:35 PM PT—I'm thrilled that LAist is giving Mountain Oaks with a new article and video (jump to the bottom of this post to watch it). In light of the recent attention on the property, I've tweaked my 2014 post below for factual accuracy and to add details about the Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority's new involvement in the property.]
...which was rumored to be a cover for such illegal activities as gambling and drinking alcohol...
...and, generally, partying during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and 1930s.
The Kadletz family had purchased the mountainside property in the 1920s and carved it up into 400 tiny lots...
...each measuring about 10x10 feet.
If you owned even just one of those lots (upon which there wasn't room to do much of anything but set up a tent camp), you got access to the entertainment and facilities of the resort, known as the Verdugo Lodge.
Some people bought multiple lots to create a parcel big enough for vacation cabins.
Actual houses were constructed in this lovely, secluded area in the 1930s...
...the last having been built in 1948.
There were 14 houses total (now 12), and most of them have been renovated, updated, upgraded or expanded upon in some way since.
Although the houses—and their residents, many there for decades—remain, there are only a few traces of the resort itself, which was abandoned in the 1960s.
A sprawling meadow used to contain a golf course.
The large pool is overgrown...
...overshadowed by trees...
...practically buried in dirt and weeds.
The City of Glendale annexed Mountain Oaks in 1952...
...but considered it an illegal subdivision...
...non-conforming to the zoning code.
Current residents can stay there...
...but they can't build...
...leaving many of those tiny lots vacant, forever.
Amidst the houses today are ruins galore...
...including those of the former Verdugo Lodge...
...which witnessed many a party...
...on both of its two stories...
...with a gentleman's club upstairs (with gambling) and a ballroom downstairs.
If there really was a speakeasy at Mountain Oaks (and there was indeed a 3 a.m. raid that sent party attendees running for the hills), this was probably it.
This is where the Kadletz family lived as well...
...along with the caretakers of the property.
The Verdugo Lodge also featured outdoor entertainment...
...with a bandstand...
...featuring various musical acts.
You can still see the Jeep trail where caterers would drive up to deliver the refreshments for the parties.
Walking through the old picnic grounds...
...and baseball field...
...you can still find the outdoor fireplace...
...which once warmed those who occupied the outdoor dancefloor at night.
[Update 2026] LAist recently visited the site with local historian Mike Lawler, who gives a little tour in the video below:
Tucked away in the Verdugo Mountains, the residents of the Mountain Oaks privately-owned tract are exposed to threat of fire, the mature live oak trees that surround them easily converted into kindling. Although they are under constant watch by the fire department, they also have their own water supplies, touting their own fire hydrants at the highest elevation in the area.
Banded together in a Homeowner's Association, they're not exactly living off the grid—not exactly living in a state of lawlessness—but they're not exactly governed by the City of Glendale in the same way that other neighborhoods are. Even the property lines of Mountain Oaks are unclear.
The community has managed to halt development of this pristine area—including a proposal to build a high school and condos—but its status as "private open space" makes the legality of such plans a bit murky. By keeping the status quo, they're not really protected by Los Angeles or Glendale or an organization like the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. [Update 2026: see update below]
It feels like they're holding onto the past, onto the resort's former glory, onto a past that never quite was. After all, once the Depression hit, all of the plans for the resort never came to fruition, and the Kadletz family merely held on by renting the place out for company picnics, until eventually losing interest and abandoning it, leaving it to those who'd purchased their own tiny lots.
It's a ghost town in its own way, in an eternal state of arrested development, not allowed to grow, but too precious to leave behind...
Banded together in a Homeowner's Association, they're not exactly living off the grid—not exactly living in a state of lawlessness—but they're not exactly governed by the City of Glendale in the same way that other neighborhoods are. Even the property lines of Mountain Oaks are unclear.
The community has managed to halt development of this pristine area—including a proposal to build a high school and condos—but its status as "private open space" makes the legality of such plans a bit murky. By keeping the status quo, they're not really protected by Los Angeles or Glendale or an organization like the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. [Update 2026: see update below]
It feels like they're holding onto the past, onto the resort's former glory, onto a past that never quite was. After all, once the Depression hit, all of the plans for the resort never came to fruition, and the Kadletz family merely held on by renting the place out for company picnics, until eventually losing interest and abandoning it, leaving it to those who'd purchased their own tiny lots.
It's a ghost town in its own way, in an eternal state of arrested development, not allowed to grow, but too precious to leave behind...
[Update 2026] In April 2025, the City of Glendale announced that the Mountains Recreational & Conservation Authority (MRCA) acquired a large portion of Mountain Oaks for preservation as open space. The $6.1 million purchase does not impact the private residences that currently occupy the property.]
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