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The
History of Holy City, California
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Built
in the beautiful
Santa Cruz
Mountains along the Old Santa Cruz Highway, Holy City
was
founded by religious sect leader
William C. Riker and his band of followers in 1919.
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Father Riker |
Holy City Gas Station
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During
his 45-year reign, Father Riker and Holy City added much local
color to the Bay Area's history, with its much-touted 18-toilet-seat
Public Comfort Station, |
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a
pseudo-religious radio station (KFQU), the famous Holy
City Zoo, inhabited with native animals, and the town
planetarium, where
visitors could buy acreage on the moon--
deeded by Riker himself.
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Holy
City Radio Station |
| Riker's
"antics" included a collection of five Cadillacs,
personal correspondence with Adolph Hitler, and lifelong charges
of larceny, sedition and murder. He ran for Governor of California
three times on his own white supremacy ticket, actually receiving
10,000 votes in 1950. On August 31, 1959, Holy City burned to
the ground (arson was most likely what happend). Riker died
in Agnew State Mental Hospital in 1969 at the age of 96. |
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| Today,
Holy City's current and sole occupant for the past 25 years
is master glass artist Tom Stanton. |
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