For Christmas I received a great book,
Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets by Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman. Immediately I flipped through it to find anything about San Diego, and soon came across the legend of Midgetville.
Midgetville refers to the legend of a town consisting of scaled-down houses built for little people. Midgetville is said to exist in various places throughout America. As Moran and Sceurman note, the most credible rumor locates such a town in
Jefferson Township, New Jersey, on the former estate of circus mogul Alfred T. Ringling. There really is a collection of small-sized houses there that could conceivably have once been home to a colony of midgets. However, another
very persistent legend locates a Midgetville in San Diego.
Moran and Sceurman don't go into much detail about the San Diego Midgetville, but I realized that I had heard this legend before (my wife had also heard it). This is how it goes: back in the 1930s a group of little people who had made a lot of money in Hollywood appearing in movies such as
The Wizard of Oz supposedly came down to San Diego and built a collection of miniature houses on Mt. Soledad where they could live in comfort together. But of course, nobody seems to know exactly where on Mt. Soledad this group of small houses was or is, though everybody has heard of a "friend of a friend" who once accidentally found the houses (though this FOAF can never remember how to get back there).
Determined to find the houses, I did a google search and came across
an article from 2003 written by Kenneth Smith for the
Daily Aztec detailing his own efforts to track down San Diego's fabled 'Munchkin Houses'. After many false starts, he finally discovered that they were most probably "a group of four cottages on Hillside Drive in La Jolla... built by
famed architect Cliff May." Although no midgets or little people were ever known to live in these houses, Smith says that, "The houses do indeed have smallish features, accentuated by an optical illusion. The steep road that passes them makes them seem even smaller than they actually are." Unfortunately only one of the four cottages remains standing, but Smith provides directions to find it: "take Hillside Drive from Torrey Pines Road. The house will be on your left-hand side. Look for the crazy midget handwriting." He also mentions that if you peek through the window (the house is unoccupied) you'll see "cobblestone-like tiled floors and a little round fireplace."
Of course, I had to see this for myself, even if no colony of Wizard-of-Oz midgets had ever lived there. So on New Year's Day I convinced my wife to accompany me on a search for the Munchkin House. The results were mixed. It was no problem finding Hillside Drive, but as it turns out Hillside Drive is fairly long. We were driving up and down it (as a line of cars formed behind us) wondering 'exactly which house on the left did he mean.' None of the houses leaps out at you and screams 'Munchkin House.' But finally we settled on one house that we figured must be it: Seventy-Four Seventy-Seven Hillside Drive. It had
small windows and a small door. Plus, the address written beside the door looked a bit like
'crazy midget handwriting' (though I think Smith was joking about this). Ignoring the
'No Trespassing' sign (even though part of the legend of Midgetville is that the midgets who live there fiercely defend their land from the Bigs), I peeked through the window and saw the
cobblestone-like tiled floors and a little round fireplace. So I think I found the Munchkin House, though I'm not 100% sure. It's certainly not anything that would catch your attention if you weren't specifically looking for it since it's really not that small, which made the trip a bit disappointing. But the weird thing is, I've already forgotten how to get back there.
Comments
Besides, I have spoken to numerous friends that have gone to that place (all three places that I've heard of) and not a single one of them could verify the existence of a true midget row of houses. There are actual midgetvilles or whatever name you want to give them, but I STILL have no verification of a real one in Long Beach.
IF you have proof of such a place, post a photobucket or some other online photo album & I'll be the FIRST to apologize to you & make the trek on out to that location. Hell, I'll even buy you a beer at the nearest tiny pub in the area. PLEASE prove it, I WANT to be wrong on this one.
I have pics that I took & old pics of the one in Riverside. It did exist, but it's been gone for about 6 or 7 years now.
Like I said here is the address and you will go to the dead end and to your left is a gate that lets traffic going in and out...
4600 Virginia Road
Long Beach, California 90807
I grew up in Long Beach. In the late 1960s, my friend and I were driving around Bixby Knolls (she's one of these people who is a wealth of information) and she asked me if I wanted to see where the midgets lived. One minute later were were driving past these little houses on a curving road. I don't remember a gate. We weren't looking for the occupants; I was just fascinated by the houses. I hadn't thought about this in years but will definitely have to look for the neighborhood the next time I'm in Long Beach.
I went through Periwinkle Lane today, and I didn't see any little houses. I saw 2 tall people and like 6 big houses. I was a little confused as I looked at the details and they seemed to be regular sized houses. I took San Ysidro Exit, went down to E Valley Rd and took a left on Hodges and then on to Periwinkle Lane. As that is where I understood it was. I just went in the little circle, as it looked like the street ended at the house in the back. Please let me know exactly where it is, and if I had the correct spot, but just didn't go far enough back.
Thanks
Dont go by yourself!
Periwinkle Lane is not off of Olive Mill, it is just off the intersection of San Ysidro Road and East Valley Road. It is East of San Ysidro Road and North of East Valley Road. Although it is not a private road, it is narrow and most of us help protect the privacy of those who live there by staying away unless we are invited. Ironically, one of the owners of a home on Periwinkle was Billy Barty's sister, and he was a little person.
much. They were kinda creepy I guess.
Driving down this road, I came to the gate, and now brand new signs with a newly stated "hefty fine" in big red letters. I pulled up and made a u-turn and went down an adjacent street and did the same. As I was driving back towards the ominious gate, and all of a sudden an all black, non-descript ford explorer pulls up, as if he was going to punch a number in that keypad. He then throws it in reverse as I drive past him, much like I did seconds before. It was not yet night, and then man pulls behind me, lights blaring. For the next few blocks it was easy to tell he was just trying to get us away from there. There is a walking trail right next to the land, so I'm not done searching yet, but one thing is for sure, there's something back there, they don't want locals knowing about.
I wonder if what you saw was the super-duper private guard patrol for the Bass Family compound. They may have bought that property to go with the huge compound next to it. I was riding a bike near the fence a few years back and these tough guards appeared out of no-where. That can be disconcerting...Hahaha! Then again perhaps the new socialists Federal SS under the current regime is preparing some evil suppression/containment for the common citizen-serfs. When our US money ends up only good for toilet paper we might become unruly.
Sure would like to wander around and see those buildings though. Wonder if they have it where it cannnot be approached.
If you are sucessful in getting in there, take good notes and advise!
And for those of you in Pennsylvania, Steve here, has in fact...validated the myth of the midgetville, there.
Great job Steve. You have done better than any of us in confirming these persistant, continental rumors. Congrats gentleman, one down.
Take it easy, little fella. Just as you would look at a village of armless people or something, people are going to look at you. I
I don't find midgets funny, nor do I find midgetville laughable. But only oddities in my own home town.
Shit, oddities of this country of mine. Sacrificing a glimpse into yesteryear.
It
I just re-read my posting. I hope you don't think that I was getting on you (it sounded a little that way). I was just typing my thoughts. Those two DVD's that I listed are really good. I totally recommend them to both the midgets AND the tallll folks!
Oh, and one more clarification, my ex-wife
Have you noticed that Steve in PA just tip toed back to the hobitville. Oops, I'm sorry, I meant back home.
Ciao,
JIMI
I'm just about to e-mail you the directions, some maps & pics. Not that I want you to "prove his ass wrong", I just feel that the both of you will get a kick out of it.
If you go there, just watch out for Steve in PA. He may gather up his little buddies and try to chase all you "tallll folk's" away from there.
Ciao,
JIMI
The Mysteries of Midgetville is a documentary about the Midgetville that used to be here in La Sierra (Riverside), CA. I have the DVD. They sold it on a website that no longer exist. I