Meet & Greet at the Brookdale Lodge in Brookdale

There are few establishments in California that have more folklore than the Brookdale Lodge. After being shut down and neglected for several years, it is open for business again and its astral residents are ready to receive. It’s been so long since Bay Area Ghost Hunters had much opportunity to socialize, it seems like this would be a good place to sit down and visit.

The story of Sarah, a little girl who drowned in the live creek running through its formal restaurant, the Brook Room, has been heavily documented, although the details have been controversial among researchers. She has been known to approach people in the lobby to ask if they have seen her mother, then disappearing.

The site of the Brookdale Lodge was originally established as the Grover Lumber Mill in 1870. No gold was ever known to be found in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the Brookdale Lodge is located, so when folks of European extraction began settling there, they found its most lucrative natural resource was in its trees. When the railroad came to the mountains in the 1870s, it also brought tourists yearning for outdoor adventure.

Judge J. H. Logan purchased the property in 1900, then developed it with cabins, campgrounds, and a small dining hall, which supplied lodging for men who came to the vicinity looking for employment in the local logging industry as well as more temporary accommodations for tourists.

A couple of decades later, the land was sold to Dr. F. K. Camp, a Seventh-Day Adventist physician, who had possession of it when the nearby river changed course, with a creek branching through the Brookdale Lodge's grounds. Inspired by the possibilities, Camp hired Architect and Landscaper Horace Cotton, who successfully designed a dining room to straddle the live creek. For 70 feet, it passes through the Brook Room, giving the Brookdale Lodge a feature few—if any—other restaurants have. This distinction was brought to the attention of newspaper readers everywhere when the dining room served as a subject in Ripley's Believe It or Not.

Camp sold the Brookdale Lodge in 1945 shortly before his death, and folklore has it that without the protection of its previous owner its custody fell to gangsters.

There were rumors of mobsters burying a body under the floor. I scoffed when I heard it was used as a brothel, but after meeting a local in its bar, he insisted it was true. His grandmother had worked as one of the prostitutes. Barney Morrow bought the Lodge in 1951 and had the job of rebuilding the Brook Room after a fire in 1956. In the 1960s, most of the cabins were demolished and replaced by a few motel-style structures. Only a couple of the cabins remain.

During the Lodge's heyday, it attracted many international celebrities, such as Mae West, Johnny Carson, Walter Matthau, and Marilyn Monroe. President Herbert Hoover also visited and he was allowed to fish in the Brook Room.

One story describes phenomena occurring in room 46 (now room 223). A live-in staff member stayed there for a while and claimed the paranormal activity was frequent. She saw objects and shapes fly across the room. Several apparitions materialized around her bed, including ballroom dancers, a boy of about 12, and couple of men—one with a dangling eyeball and the other with a knife slash across his face. At one point, she felt an unseen person sit on the bed and stroke her arm. I spent a weekend in that room without incident, but a young lady at the front desk said a previous guest staying in room 46 had demanded another. He had been resting in bed and was discombobulated when he felt someone lay down next to him. No other person was in the room at the time.

The Gilberts owned the complex during my overnight stay. The folks who bought it from them made an effort to refurbish it before it shut down for several years. Current owner Pravin Patel is taking its refurbishment at a slower pace to ensure it complies with permitting requirements. The last phase will be the famous Brook Room. The hospitality the Lodge currently offers is sleeping rooms, a convenience store, a bar with special events, and the Brookdale Café & Grill, which is covering the dinner hours until the Brook Room is operating again.

Whether BAGH members choose to join us for our visit at the Bigfoot Discovery Museum or not, all are welcome to have an early dinner at the Brookdale Café & Grill and explore the open areas of the complex and see its refurbishment progress.

Dinner is Dutch treat. Parking is free. BAGH hosts will be wearing their flashing ghost necklaces. We look forward to seeing everyone who comes. Our more psychically sensitive members may even encounter some of its astral guests. Buckle up, our 2008 visit there seemed simple enough, but turned into a real adventure.

Adrienne