Road-trip index
Ghost Towns near Los Angeles
The survey records 820 vanished or historical sites within 100 miles of Los Angeles, CA. Here's what's closest — and which places have full records worth planning a day around.
Charted towns within range
Vanished Place
A socialist utopia in the Mojave — its stone ruins still argue with Los Angeles.
Near-Abandoned
A 'living ghost town' with a working soda fountain from 1904.
Historic Townsite
A Mojave silver boomtown rebuilt by the founder of Knott's Berry Farm.
Historic Townsite
California's first Black-founded town — betrayed by water, preserved by will.
Historic Townsite
A radio evangelist's mineral-springs resort, named to be the last word in the dictionary.
Near-Abandoned
Roy's Motel and Cafe and its rocket-age sign, marooned on old Route 66.
Closest surveyed sites — records pending
Every one of these is on the national atlas map — zoom into the Los Angeles area to see them in place.