Sacramento Urban Exploration Team

05/01/2020

Ok.... So this isn't REALLY Urban Exploration but it is an interesting part of our past in Sacramento.
If you pay attention when you are driving through the Foothills you will see these random stone walls. Seemingly going nowhere. Not following any property boundaries. Starting and stopping randomly. Typically only a few feet tall. There are a ton of stories about these walls and ALL of the stories are interesting. The most predominate story is that they were built by Chinese laborers during the Gold Rush. Employers didn't want the Chinese sitting idle so they had them grab random rocks in the area and build walls.
Whatever the real story is, these walls are an interesting sight!!!

09/22/2019

We DO NOT, nor have we EVER, encouraged trespassing on any private property. In fact, on our page, in our posts, in our videos, and in our conversations, we repeatedly tell followers to GET PERMISSION to explore any properties. In addition we follow the "take only pictures, leave only footprints" motto.

09/20/2019

Horath Garage in Ophir, CA. We could not find any information about this garage that apparently was at one time a restaurant as well. There seems to be some Horath family in Auburn but it looks like it's time to head to the Placer County Archives.

05/08/2019

This hotel was built in 1914. It was the premier hotel for Roseville Railroad VIP's. The property and the adjacent properties are currently for sale.

04/22/2019

The Tower Theater is located in downtown Marysville and opened January 17, 1941. Located in a historic commercial district of an old gold rush town. Many beautiful brick buildings around it.

It was abandoned since at least the 1970’s. It was an adult theater, then, for a while, it was a Mexican hall, then some type of storefront church, and then a restaurant. The auditorium was converted into office space, and in late-2011, plans were to convert the foyer into a museum. Nothing has happened since then!!! Sad that no one has taken the initiative to do something with this building.

04/18/2019

It's sad that the one thing we come across the most is abandoned farmhouses. Some of them a very cool and have amazing architecture. This one is pretty plane-jane but still a cool Urban Exploration outing. 1950's

03/03/2019

Beale Air Force Base was once home to the 851st Strategic Missile Squadron, and had three missile silo complexes, 851-A in Lincoln, 851-B in Sutter Buttes and 851-C in Chico, from Feb. 1, 1961-March 25, 1965.

Construction on the complexes began Jan. 22, 1960. More than 600,000 cubic yards of earth was excavated. In order to complete each facility, 32,000 cubic yards of concrete, 300 tons of piping, 90 miles of cables and 1,800 separate supply items were needed per complex.

All three complexes combined cost the U.S. more than $40 million to build.
The silos housed the HGM-25A Titan 1, the United States, first multistage Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

The 851st SMS was activated on April 1, 1961. The first missile was moved to complex 4A in Lincoln on Feb. 28, 1962, and the last was placed in Chico complex 4C on April 20, 1962.

On May 24, 1962 an explosion destroyed a Titan 1 and damaged the silo at complex 4C Chico. After investigation the Air Force concluded that the explosion was caused by a blocked vent and blocked valve.

In September 1962, the 851st SMS became the last Titan 1 Squadron to achieve alert status, and the Chico complex became operational on March 9, 1963, after damages from the blast were repaired.

Two months after the 851st SMS became fully operational it was the first Titan 1 unit to pass an Operational Readiness Inspection.

On May 16, 1964, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara directed the accelerated phase-out of the Titan 1.

The first Titan 1 was taken off alert status at Beale on Jan. 4, 1965, and within three months the 851st SMS would be deactivated.

Complexes 4B and 4C are currently privately owned and 4A is owned by Placer County.

These pictures are of the 4A complex in Lincoln.....Titan Missiles right in our own backyard!!!! There is a ton of information about these complexes online and I have included some artistic renderings of the complexes and if you compare them to the aerial view, you can get a good idea of just how much of these complexes is underground.

01/31/2019

This mansion was built in 1921 by a wealthy investor who had purchased the town of Capitola. The investor, Henry Rispin, built the mansion as a show palace for those he hoped would invest in his new town, Capitola-By-The-Sea. Rispin went bankrupt and the mansion became a convent, a hippie commune, and a local oddity. It has been vacant since 1957 and the City of Capitola now owns the property. 7,000 square feet next to the Soquel River. The insides are a shell and much of the property has diminished, but it is definitely a cool Urban Exploration visit. Henry Rispin ended up dying broke and was buried in an unmarked "paupers" grave in San Francisco.

12/21/2018