In your trip along the west coast of the United States, in the route between Los Angeles y Las Vegas, two hours from Los Angeles, you have the opportunity to visit a place that emulates the historical western towns.
Located at the gates of Mojave desert, It is Calico, a historical miner town.
Nowadays this place has become a ghost town specially prepared as a tourist attraction.
All the information in detail
Curiosities of the history of Calico
The original town of Calico has a similar story to others California ghost townsas Rhyolite, since it was founded in 1881 after the appearance of some silver mines.
It gathered up to 1.200 inhabitants, had 22 rooms and even its own neighborhood. Chinatown.
But starting in 1907 mining activity moved towards the Death Valley and, furthermore, the price of silver fell so much that it made the excavations economically unfeasible.
Finally, in 1929 the Calico town he was abandoned.
Ghost town as a tourist attraction
But in 1951 an ex-miner, Walter Knott, bought the then abandoned town, rebuilt it and turned it into what it is today, a ghost town prepared for the tourist visit.
In fact, in 1966 it was transferred to San Bernardino County and came to be considered as a regional park.
You should know that only a third of the 30 wooden buildings that it has Calico they are original.
The rest have been rebuilt, although several of them only show you their façade, as happens in the sets of towns built in Almería for western films, now also the object of tourist visits.
Of course, there are examples of the most typical buildings of the western towns, such as a salon, blacksmith shop, feed store, school or stable.
In the upper part of the town there are miners' houses next to the tunnels of the original mine, one of which can be visited.
Here you have all the Useful information for visiting the town of Calico, as your main attractions, activities that are developed, the shops and the restaurants.
Schedule and ticket prices to visit Calico
El schedule to visit Calico It is every day of the year, except Christmas, from 9 a.m. to 17 p.m.
The ticket prices to visit Calico, in California, are: adults, $8; children 4 to 11 years old, $5; children under 4 years old, free; bus tour, $5 per person.
Map: how to get to Calico
Calico It is located near the town of BarstowEdit, 200 kilometers inland from Los Angeles, near the route that leads to Las Vegas.
In 1980 I was lucky enough to travel from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and while going down the road we found the sign for the town of Cálico and it caught our attention and we entered, we were amazed by how beautiful it was and how well cared for, the setting was great I recommend this wonderful town, you will not regret having a restaurant, enjoy it, you will leave with a beautiful memory.
We went from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, when we arrived in Calicó. Spectacular. And they sell delicious hamburgers.
On March 1 I had the opportunity to visit this place and in short it is wonderful, my daughters loved it, the prices are very affordable and although it is very alone, there is a lot to see, I will definitely return. My favorite part was entering the inverted house, a real adventure, and going into the mine was also exciting. And my daughters had a lot of fun looking for gold. Together we all collected a lot and they sold you a little bottle so you could take it home.
Approximately 6 years ago I was going from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and I went to Calico, the truth is that it is worth it, it is like going back in time. Highly recommended.
Greetings.
Could someone tell me where I can see the rates for visiting the “ghost town” Calico. Urgent!!
Saludos y gracias
On April 27, 2012, I had the opportunity to visit Calico.
It is a very beautiful experience, it is as if time had stopped in this place.
There is a little train that takes you through what were once mines, you have the opportunity to extract gold from a place like the gold seekers did in the rivers, with a kind of sieve they looked for nuggets in the sand or whatever. the bottom.
There is also a house where everything is inverted, the water runs inverted, you can see the old prisons, and there are some like caves in which if you are not afraid you can see through a window, this is a place where you can appreciate what the pharmacies were like, canteens, schools, and of course you can appreciate the mineralized earth in its surroundings! Take a few photographs, to have a nice memory of this place! It is a good option for tourists visiting California and not very expensive!
Thanks for your interesting contribution, Carol 🙂