Redwood Estates and Easy Living in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Gail Loyd, Hollywood movie star, helps advertise mountain cabins at Redwood Estates. [Cabilnand Magazine] Image: Modified from original provided by Richard Beal.
Gail Loyd, Hollywood movie star, helps advertise mountain cabins at Redwood Estates (Cabinland magazine). Image: Modified from original provided by Richard Beal
Driving to Santa Cruz from Los Gatos, you’ll pass signs for Redwood Estates just before the summit. The origins of this subdivision go back to the 1920s when it was pushed hard as an easy-to-get-to mountain retreat for San Franciscans who were just purchasing automobiles and wanted a country getaway. After a rather leisurely drive from the city, you could be among the redwoods, with clean mountain air and fresh free-flowing mountain spring water. Why, you might just feel like a kid again. At least that’s what the promoters hoped when they enlisted Gail Lloyd, a movie star of that time, to exclaim how desirable it would be to buy property there:

 

And this air! There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world! And the crystal-clear spring water, so cool and sparkling! And—just think!—it’s supplied, abundantly and freely, to every cabin! Why, just to be here makes a person feel like a happy, frisky child of ten! This is the place to come for vacation. This is the place to live!

Redwood Estates Then

This 1927 promotional video for Redwood Estates, put on YouTube by the California Pioneers of Santa Clara County, takes you back to that time:

Lots in the development ranged from $100 to $1,000, and the Redwood Estate company offered cabin plans for quick and easy building. There was a large community center with a pool, free water, ready electrical hook-up, and, if you owned a car, passable roads.

Apparently, many visitors stopped at the Dutch windmill, built strategically just in front of the sales office, and then become land owners in the Redwood estates development. Before the windmill was built in 1927, they used a large wooden bear to attract attention.

Redwood Estates entrance. The Dutch windmill was built to catch the attention of passing motorists and attract them to the sales office located immediately behind the windmill. [Bruce Kennedy Collection] Photo: Courtesy of Richard Beal.
Redwood Estates entrance. The Dutch windmill was built to catch the attention of passing motorists and attract them to the sales office located  behind the windmill. (Bruce Kennedy Collection) Photo: Courtesy of Richard Beal

Redwood Estates Now

Evidence of the original subdivision is subtle. Today, the housing is certainly no bargain and is primarily permanent, not vacation homes. Although the US Census Bureau classifies the area as part of Lexington Hills, the name of the local post office is still Redwood Estates. Given the power of the post to define and shape towns throughout US history, I am gonna bet that Redwood Estates will be the name that endures.

The Redwood Estates Post Office in 2006. Photo: David Jordon
The Redwood Estates post office in 2006. Photo: David Jordon

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the Highway 17 Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

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Go to Mobile Ranger Guides in the Apple App Store
Go to Mobile Ranger Guides in the Google Play Store
  1. Sources Used

    • Redwood Estates, California. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Accessed June 22, 2016.
    • Highway 17: The Road to Santa Cruz, by Richard A. Beal. The Pacific Group, 1991.



About The Author

I really enjoy field trips. I love being in a cool place and having someone tell me about it. The problem is, you can’t always find a professor or park ranger-type to tell you all they know about the local rocks, plants, and history. So I decided to combine my love of things natural with mobile technology.

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3 Comments

  1. Denise Palacin

    My family bought 2lots in 1928 and my grandfather built a cabin there. For our family it has always been a second home,probably the only house left not lived in year round. It has expanded into a four bedroom home. Still used as a weekend and summer home only. We love the place

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