A couple of decades ago when I lived in College Station, Texas, I had an antique restoration company called "Yesterday's Treasures." I like old things—old, historic buildings; antiques; old cars; old books; history, etc.

Yesterday I was up in Poway, California, perceived to be a rather upscale and affluent community, yet current readers of my blogs know that I found a "tumbleweed infestation" smack dab in the middle of downtown Poway (see http://activerain.com/blogsview/697121/Look-It-s-a, which will open in a new window for you so you don't lose your place here).

Here's some more about the same property.

Figure 1

This is the view "over the fence
and through the trees" (sung to the
tune "Jingle Bells") from the back
yard of the house I was inspecting.
If we continue on with "Jingle Bells,"
this just might have been "to grand-
mother's house we go."

As I looked right and left, all the
houses had fenced back yards, all
obviously trying to hide this house
from their back yard view. 

 

Figure 2

After walking around the neighborhood,
I found a path that led me to this wide
open field with just this house sitting in
the middle of it.

Vacant?
Foreclosure?
Severe deferred maintenance?
Haunted?
Grandmother's house?

Figure 3

Off to the left of Figure 2 was this field
of tumbleweeds discussed in my
previous blog post, which will open
in a new window for you so you don't
lose your place here.

Figure 4

As much as I wanted to be a little
kid again and go exploring that
haunted house, I've learned how
to read in my old age.

Figure 5

Although this is the view from the
open field, this is actually the rear
and left side of the house.

Figure 6

The rear and right side of the house.

Figure 7

This is the right side of the house,
although you can now see the
front porch there at the left in
the picture.

Figure 8

This view shows the front porch/main
entrance and the right side.

Figure 9

This was the scene about 100 feet to
the left of the front porch in Figure 8.

Anyone care to guess what year model
the trailer home, car, and tractor are?
I'll give you a hint. The subdivision here
was built from 1961-1963. They don't
take that long to build subdivisions in
today's world. LOL

Figure 10

This is a fire road that is chained off to
prevent unauthorized vehicles from
entering. I found this road after driving
around for about 20 minutes looking
for a way in to the property by road.
I parked the car and walked down the
road since "no trespassing" signs were
not posted anywhere.

The property in question is way
down there where the arrow is.

Here's what apparently happened to create this "landlocked" inaccessible property.

I went back to the street where I had been inspecting a house and tried to find someone who
was home. I figured that just about anyone in the neighborhood would know the story behind
this haunted house.

Sure enough, at the first house I chose, a little old lady answered the door. I introduced myself and asked her if she could tell me anything about the vacant property in the field. "Oh, sure!"
she exclaimed, "Come in. Would you like something to drink?" I think I made her day. I recorded
our conversation and quote some of it here (my words are in green and hers are in blue).

"How long have you lived here?"

Oh, my husband and I—Herbert died in 1994, you know, in a car accident.
We bought our home here back in 1962. It hadn't even been built yet.
Oh, it was so close to downtown yet still very country. We were number 21
in here, we were. I've lived here since Herbert and I married. This was
our only house, our wedding present to ourselves.

"Wow. People don't seem to live in their houses that long anymore."

Oh, no, they don't. My son and daughter[in-law] have been in their house
for almost 20 years now. They live just a few miles away.

"So what's the story about the vacant house in the field behind you."

Oh, originally this whole area was a lot of orange groves, I think. Some sort
of fruit. When they started building, they had to buy the land, of course.
John there—I think his name was John—wouldn't sell his small lot. Oh, they tried and tried, but he was determined to stay put. So the builders bought everything around him, redid the streets so that there was no way to get
to his land, and shut him off from everyone.

He moved while they were still building around him but he left everything behind. No one thought that he would keep his land, move out, and just
leave it sitting there to turn into an eyesore like that. Oh, it is a terrible eyesore, you know.

I think he's still alive, but he's still not willing to sell to anyone. I think some people sometimes get together and make him an offer, but it's always no.

Once everyone realized that he left, the kids starting breaking into the
house and tearing it up. Then one weekend, some people put up a fence,
but it wasn't John. I guess he hired someone to do the fence.

"Why doesn't the city do something? It's definitely ["a fire hazard" I was going
to finish before she interrupted me].

On, no, the city's tried. They can't do anything. It's not their land, and as
long as he pays his taxes. I guess he does pay taxes. Oh, I don't know.

I called the City of Poway earlier today to see if anyone there could talk to me about the property. Everyone knew about it, but no one was willing to talk about it "on the record." I wanted to ask
them about eminent domain, but after reading up more on that subject, I am of the opinion that
eminent domain wouldn't work here because there's no way to develop the property for the
common good.

So here we have a person who didn't want to sell and apparently upset the subdivision developers
who thought they would be smart and landlock him so that if he couldn't use his property and would have to sell to them. He got the last laugh, though, it seems. I suspect that John keeps track of all
the people who bought in the neighborhood and he, or his heirs, won't sell until all the original
owners are dead or moved out themselves.

Imagine how much time and energy John, and possibly his family, have wasted in being so vindictive and negative to people who had no relationship with the developer other than the fact that they
bought a piece of property that he developed. Such a shame. I prefer to be more positive.

By the way, I'm not sure, but I suspect the vehicles in Figure 9 are from ca. 1965. When John left everything behind, he left everything behind.

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