I was born and raised in Castro Valley, and growing up here, I’ve heard some fun stories about our town. One myth I found particularly entertaining: There is a nudist colony at the end of Cull Canyon Road. Now that I work at the local history museum, I get to find out if myths like this are true. The surprising answer: true! Saaay whaaat?!
What I had heard was a nudist colony is actually the Sequoian Clothes Free Club, a family-friendly clothes free nudist park (that’s straight from their website), located on Cull Canyon Road. The club was started in 1946, so it’s even historic!
Lately I’ve been hearing a different myth working its way around town: Castro Valley was lost in a card game. I hate to ruin part of CV’s cool factor, but sadly that myth is not quite true. was granted land from the Mexican government in 1841 and 1843, and called it the San Lorenzo Rancho. The Rancho was a whopping 27,000 acres in size. After some bad business decisions brought on a lot of debt (Castro saved money to buy a large herd of cattle and lost it all gambling), Castro began mortgaging his ranch in 1856. By 1864 he had sold his land and moved to Chile. So while it is true that Castro had a gambling problem, he never put up his land as stakes in a card game.
Find out what's happening in Castro Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
And now I leave you with a few fun myths that my fellow archivist Diane Curry and I can’t prove or disprove.
A few stories that may or may not be true:
Find out what's happening in Castro Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
- With so many in the valley, on quiet nights soft music could be heard floating across the valley. The music allegedly helped the chickens lay more eggs.
- In the 1930s there was a man in town who trained high-diving circus horses. People came from throughout the area to watch the horses jump from a high platform into a tank of water.
- Castro Valley had its own house of ill repute (a.k.a. brothel). The story is that a Ms. Maude Pizer operated it from a home on Norbridge Avenue.
What other myths have you heard about Castro Valley? I’d like to find out what other cool things are true (or not) about our town!
