Drawbridge, CA: The Bay Area's Last Ghost Town
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"Drawbridge is an abandoned town on the outskirts of San Jose and is slowly sinking into the sloughs of San Francisco Bay. It was created on Station Island in 1876 and consisted of a single dwelling to house the operator of two drawbridges owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad that crossed the Mud Creek Slough and Coyote Creek Slough to connect Newark with Alviso and San Jose.It eventually grew into a small town consisting mainly of hunting cabins, hotels, and gun clubs. During Prohibition, taking advantage of its location in no man's land between Santa Clara and Alameda counties, it housed numerous speakeasies and brothels. In addition, the police were reluctant to enter as nearly everyone in Drawbridge was armed." -ghosttown.info
The sun was beating down on us when we arrived in Alviso at close to two in the afternoon. Our mission was to find Drawbridge, CA, explore and hopefully not get hit by a train while we used its track as a trail.
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13 comment(s) / Post a Comment
One photo refers to Coastal Mountains in the background - Looks like the East Bay Mountains to me, not the Santa Cruz Mountain Range?
cdm
Great composition on all of these photographs. The colors and overall textures are stunning.
Posted On: Monday, Sep. 28 2009 @ 9:25PMWow what a beautiful place!
RT
www.total-privacy.net.tc
Fantastic color on these photos. One of my favorite past-times is driving down the country roads, looking at abandoned buildings and imagining the lives the lived there at one point...
Posted On: Monday, Sep. 28 2009 @ 11:25PMAbout 20 years ago, Drawbridge was open to the public, ONCE a year, on Halloween! I love ghost towns, so we went out there, on a Halloween day. It was quite eery to see what was once a happy village getting reclaimed by nature. My daughter was very little then, so my husband and daughter waited by the car while I traipsed gingerly through the grasses, not even knowing if my foot would set down on an ancient wooden sidewalk. It was fun! Your photos show the irony of time--how a fast modern train zooms right by what's left of Drawbridge in the blink of an eye. I wish Drawbridge were open to the public again!
Posted On: Wednesday, Sep. 30 2009 @ 12:33AMSan Francisco already had a newspaper run this exact article in 2007. I wonder if these photos are recent. Last I heard, these structures have sank so much into the marsh that only the roof remains above on most of them and people are not permitted to go there due to safety issues. Besides, there are ghost towns allllllll over California from the gold rush.
Posted On: Wednesday, Sep. 30 2009 @ 1:07PM"Last I heard, these structures have sank so much into the marsh that only the roof remains above on most of them and people are not permitted to go there due to safety issues"
These are recent photos. There's still several buildings there.
As to whether or not people are "permitted" there, yeah, it's not allowed. On paper. But there's nobody and nothing stopping you from going. I've visited several times and taken photos. The lack of permission is really just the city covering its ass in case some doofus gets hit by a train going to and from there or otherwise injured.
Posted On: Thursday, Oct. 1 2009 @ 7:17PMI went out to Drawbridge last month. It is an amazing place, and it's too bad that it is closed off to the public. It's such a great piece of history that is just sitting in the bay wasting away. It's great that articles like this keep the interest alive.
For more pictures, check out my article on Drawbridge.
http://euphonywho.com/photography/drawbridge-ca/
I visited Drawbridge several times in 1970, walking along the tracks the first time, and riding motorcycles the others.
I still have my B&W negatives from one of those trips, never did print them because of a darkroom blunder (negs touched while developing), but the contact prints still show plenty.
It was always a nice peaceful time exploring, and two houses were still occupied.
And those trains rip through there quite fast, and can be difficult to hear until quite close, so caution is advised if visiting.
Posted On: Thursday, Oct. 29 2009 @ 7:08AMActually, that posting should have said "Jim Drawbridge wants to know if they need a mayor"
Posted On: Tuesday, Feb. 9 2010 @ 7:36AM
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