Welcome to Drawbridge: The Bay Area's Last Ghost Town | Bay Curious 

As a teenager, I went out with a friend to check the place out, on our motorcycles, somewhere around 1967. I guess it was Charlie who pointed us back out the way we came. Hahaha

"bay areas last ghost town" *breathes heavily in google office development

That line from Charlie about not being able to say exactly why he never left really resonated with me. I live in Alviso and I never get tired of walking out to the bird refuge or the marina even though I've been looking at the same waterways and marsh flats my entire life, it's just so peaceful listening to the wind move through the rushes and all the different bird calls.

"fewer than 5 residents"...so, there were 4 residents then? Or fewer? Don't tell me they couldn't be counted.

This is the only place in the Bay Area where you can buy a home under a million.

Have seen the remains of that little towns many times from the Amtrak Coast Starlight, without ever knowing that it was once indeed a town.

I enjoyed learning about this little unknown town .

Even though the remains of this village aren't really accessible by foot, if you want to walk around the area, it is located at Alviso Marina County Park in San Jose, which has a bunch of trails that cut through the marshlands and the bay.

and you can buy a run down shack in Draw Bridge for a mere 800K!

Never heard of this place before.

sewage, sulfuric acid, and flooding - that's why people left

Thank you for posting this. I grew up in Fremont. When I was about 10, a friend of mine and his father took me to Draw Bridge. I’m 65 now. It was a great experience. It’s great to know it is still there.

Source of the Milpitas smell

Great video! Thank you for making this available to us.

That is fantastic reporting of our bay. Thanks for taking us through the history.

I lived in Fremont, California in the 70,s I used to go to the salt flats at the south end of the San Fransisco Bay Area to hunt for old bottles that ended up there. I found lots of old beautiful bottles there.

My dad used to hike with me when I was very young around 1961 or so in that area.

I've walked the tracks into Drawbridge to take photos before. It was fun, but all I can say is if you decide to do the same, be extremely careful. I almost died.

Thank you for doing this.

I was lucky to have visited Drawbridge in the early 2000s when the wildlife refuge gave tours. Unfortunately they not longer do so but it was really interesting. I remember when the train came by and whizzed right by us!

Great show...thanks...

What a great little story thank you.

Ive been to Drawbridge. Walked the train trestle to get out there, had to time it. I remember a pretty nice old piano in one cabin. There was still stuff in some houses.

Great story Jessica! Cool info

Thank you for the history lesson. Way cool🤙🏽

Damn been away from the Bay Ten Years now (Raised in Hayward 93-2010). Never knew this place existed.

Two corrections to this story: 1. Lye is Sodium Hydroxide. Adding it to water creates a strong alkali solution, not Sulphuric acid. I'm not saying it was ok to pollute, just correcting the chemistry. 2. This and other sources say the last resident (Charlie Luce?) left in 1979. I went to Drawbridge in 1975 and explored it completely. There was nobody there and none of the structures were habitable. They had already sunk several feet into the mud and most had little or no roofing left. So whenever it was that the last resident left had to be before then.

Great story about a piece of the Bay area that I didn't know about. Thank you.

I've been there!! Cool to see a video on it

Thanks for sharing

Sad history. Fascinating

I live in Bay area for last 21 years and always wondered about these broken ghost houses whenever I pass by. Thanks google to recommend this video. I learned something new. And thanks to the makers of this video.

I'm from the Bay Area...never heard of this place. Thanks for the video.

Love this narrator's voice. What a smooth charming alternative to the usual nasal Brit or strident male Yank.

Worked at FG Wool packing cannery off Senter rd in early 70’s as a teen. Great memories Cheers

I live in Fremont and had never heard of this until this video was in my recommended. Interesting history

Born in the early 60’s, I grew up in Newark and I knew Drawbridge was close by, but I never knew any details. It’s nice to get this history. Thanks.

Cool i always wondered what those little houses were

Those shacks could be rented to people probably for $1,000 a month...

First heard about this place on KFJC on Robert Emmet's Cool Secret Places segment of his show.

I hike out to this place all the time!! It’s crazy to see what it used to look like in its prime!

Really interesting!

Man I always wondered about this ! I have Lived in Sonoma County my hole life I heard about the abandoned city but never looked into it!

Wow thank you so much for making this video I have years of passing draw bridge never knowing the history

If you walk along the tracks you can still get out there. Be ready to dive out of the way of trains into a nasty swamp so don't wear nice shoes. Walking around the buildings is also very wet and swampy and you will sink if not careful.

I remember being on the train that goes through this ghost town and always wondered what it was

I used to ride my bike there back in the 80's!

Cool video, thanks. A much younger friend went there a while ago, but I understand it’s hard to get to and one risks arrest if they are caught there.

I need to add this to my research now too

Thanks for the pictures of John 🤪

Who else is watching this video from Drawbridge in 2020

good little excerpt

I went there 40 years ago. It was a great night time visit. Spooky

I got to see this for the first time just last month when I was riding the train

With the amount of people fleeing the bay area, there's soon to be more ghost towns

We used to hike out there in the 1970s. I was a interesting place. I had a feeling that there was some residence still there.

I have been here, it was really hard to get to but it was worth it. It really looks like a scene out of a scary movie.

I've always heard about it, but never knew exactly where it was at.

There are plenty of ghost towns still around in the Bay Area. Holy City next to Lexington Hills in Santa Clara county, Purissima in San Mateo County, and I would argue that China Camp in Marin County also qualifies as a ghost town. There's also Port Chicago in Contra Costa county

Hey there, any chance we can get some music credits? That would be swell!

I commented on a previous video about same subject more than ten years ago. I visited this so-called ghost town in 1968 as a field study project for a cultural geography course I was taking at Cal State Hayward. I may still have the report, then of course written on an electric typewriter.

Morton and Leslie Salt were there I believe.Near Decoto ,Dumbarton Bridge.San Mateo bridge was a good place for sturgeon fishing.Turk Island was one landfill for Fremont and then Russell City and Hayward.Growing up in that area there were millions of redwinged blackbirds before all of the houses. Cornfields and crops everywhere.Fruit trees in abundance.Little farms on 2 acre plots.A paradise after ww2 and before.Jobs aplenty if one wanted work.

Taking the Amtrak from Fremont to Levi's stadium it's an awesome site.

Is this near Hetro Staights or Ohmo Gae?

Anyone have an idea on the name of the song in the background from 2:28-3:49? Thanks!

Nice piece of property

The Duck hunters use to trade Their kills for services at the Local Brothel there! it was 2 Ducks for a Fuck!

beautiful birds!

Can you do a background story of Tubbs Island in the north bay?

0 dislikes. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine why someone would seek out and then dislike a video like this.

There used to be millions of duck actually.

i remember going there last year with my friend after school to take pictures

Wonderful-looking barn wood on the houses. Used by artists, sign makers, "country" sayings, etc.

Is this the milpitas ghost town or is it different im told of a ghost town run down ruins with not electricity end of alviso milpitas area, i saw a newpaper saying Fremont's so is this the same place or a different place?

Nice to hear this place is still standing l, because I heard this in place have been demolished.

I went duck hunting and salmon fishing out there back in the 1980's. We took a row boat from East Palo Alto or Alviso. The Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek spills into that area. With the heavy rains last winter I expect salmon runs are above normal...???

What about the sheep man legend I have been hearing about. Was that real or was it made up to scare kids from going to visit the ghost town

Search for "California's Gold with Huell Howser- Drawbridge" and or "Drawbridge: The Forsaken City" to watch better videos about the town of Drawbridge California.

What about skaggs island in vallejo

Interesting.

Hiked there and almost got arrested by state fish and game...

I always wondered why there was random buildings in that area...

I thought this had to be Wingo. Another ghost town, in Sonoma County. Similarly in the marshes.

Kinda reminds me of Cribb Island which is now part of the Brisbane Airport

5 people used to live here.....now it’s a ghost town

Nice use of kaki king

I had a chance to see this place once thanks to some railway work I was involved in.

I see this but I often wonder about it 🧐

2:49, oh nice Khaki King. Now I have to go listen to her again

Lived here in Fremont my entire life and no one knows about this place at all. A few mates and I explored it back in high school pretty fucking sick

Decks???? Ohhhh..DUCKS!

What state is this ghost town in ?

I went there today

How have I lived my entire life in Bay Area and never heard of this place??!!!

There used to be a New York, past Concord, Pittsburgh & Antioch, in the 1800s.

the movie.. spirted away

One of the most haunted places in California. Abandoned Camarillo State Mental Hospital, California ( aka Hotel California).The Children's Ward. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-i1lBFUesXjk.html Links to my other videos of Camarillo State Mental Hospital are at the bottom of this video description. Please enjoy and subscribe for more haunted places, abandoned buildings and Manson Family location.

where does that train go? looks pretty

Good to know it had a happy ending... sort of.

its in Fremont damn