The Murphy Ranch is a ranch built in

Rustic Canyon, Los Angeles Rustic Canyon is a residential neighborhood and canyon in eastern Pacific Palisades, on the west side of Los Angeles, California. It is along Rustic Creek, in the Santa Monica Mountains. Geography The residential neighborhood is bordered ap ...

in the 1930s by Winona and Norman Stephens, who were sympathizers of the anti-semitic,

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

Silver Legion of America The Silver Legion of America, commonly known as the Silver Shirts, was an underground American fascist and Nazi sympathizer organization founded by William Dudley Pelley and headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina. History Pelley was a form ...

. The owner of record in 1933 was Jessie M. Murphy. Designed as a base for

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

activities in the U.S., it was intended to be capable of being self-sustaining for long periods. The compound had a water storage tank, a fuel tank, a bomb shelter, and various outbuildings and bunkers. The estate's main gate was designed by Paul Williams, a well-known African-American architect in the Southern California area. On Monday, December 8, 1941, the day after the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

, local police occupied the compound and detained members of the 50-strong caretaker force. As of 1990, it was abandoned and in a state of disrepair, and covered in graffiti. The site is currently owned by the

city of Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In early 2016, many of the ranch buildings were demolished, as they were deemed unsafe. A few buildings remain, including the power house, an all-concrete building that once contained the diesel generators. All entryways have been sealed.

In popular culture

The ruins of Murphy Ranch are featured in

Richard Kadrey Richard Kadrey (born August 27, 1957) is a San Francisco-based novelist, freelance writer, and photographer. Kadrey was born in New York City, New York. Fiction Kadrey has written fifteen novels, including ''The New York Times'' Best Seller ...

's "Sandman Slim"-series novel ''Killing Pretty''. The Murphy Ranch was the featured location of the radio play "Annexing the Palisades" written in 2020 by Alex Goldberg. The play is set in 1939 and is about the construction of the house and its Nazi ties.

Gallery

File:Murphy ranch area building 1.jpg, An abandoned building in the Murphy Ranch valley in 2018 File:Murphy ranch area building 2.jpg, Another angle of the building File:Murphyhouse.jpg, The Murphy Ranch house in 2006

References

External links

Guided historical hikes to Murphy Ranch

Photographic tour of the Murphy Ranch by Josh McNair

What Really Happened at Rustic Canyon's Rumored Nazi Ranch?

A description of the hiking route to Murphy Ranch and additional history by Casey Schreiner
* ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', September 25, 2017
"The Nazi Sites of Los Angeles"
by Dana Goodyear Fascism in the United States Unused buildings in California Ranches in California Westside (Los Angeles County) 1930s establishments in California Santa Monica Mountains {{California-struct-stub

In popular culture

Gallery

See also

References

External links