Scheideck, California is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Ventura County

Ventura County, California

Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It is located on California's Pacific coast. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country...

 in Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 within the Cuyama Valley

Cuyama Valley

The Cuyama Valley is a valley along the Cuyama River in central California, in northern Santa Barbara, southern San Luis Obispo, southwestern Kern, and northwestern Ventura counties. It is a sparsely inhabited area containing two significant towns – Cuyama and New Cuyama – and is largely used for...

 about 37 miles (59.5 km) due north of Ojai

Ojai, California

Ojai is a city in Ventura County, California, USA. It is situated in the Ojai Valley , surrounded by hills and mountains. The population was 7,461 at the 2010 census, down from 7,862 at the 2000 census.-History:Chumash Indians were the early inhabitants of the valley...

and 30 miles (48.3 km) from Frazier Park

Frazier Park, California

Frazier Park is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Kern County, California. Frazier Park is west of Lebec, at an elevation of 4,639 feet . It is one of the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass...

  in Kern County

Kern County, California

Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...

.

It is situated on Reyes Creek within the Los Padres National Forest

Los Padres National Forest

Los Padres National Forest is a forest located in southern and central California, which includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Monterey, extending inland...

 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from a county road leading from Lake of the Woods

Lake of the Woods, California

Lake of the Woods is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Kern County, California. The population was 917 at the 2010 census, up from 833 at the 2000 census. The community is contained in Cuddy Canyon along the Ventura and Kern County line inside the Los Padres National Forest. It...

 to California State Route 33

California State Route 33

State Route 33 is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California. SR 33 replaced part of U.S. Route 399 in 1964 during the "great renumbering" of routes. In the unincorporated sections of Kern County it is known as the West Side Highway...

. It is 3780 feet (1,152.1 m) above sea level.

Founding and growth

The settlement was founded in 1888 by Eugene Scheideck, a German immigrant, on 160 acre (0.6474976 km²). A two-story wooden building was erected around 1900 to establish the Ozena station of the U.S. Post Office. As time passed, Sheideck built a lodge and tiny cabins along the Ozena Creek. By 1975 there were 54 of the little houses, which were owned individually but were built on both sides of Reyes Creek on 11 acres (44,515.5 m²) of land leased from the property owners.

In 1975 there were only two couples living year around in the settlement, one of which was Barbara and Harold Brake, who owned the gas station

Filling station

A filling station, also known as a fueling station, garage, gasbar , gas station , petrol bunk , petrol pump , petrol garage, petrol kiosk , petrol station "'servo"' in Australia or service station, is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants...

, bar, store and dance hall

Dance hall

Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...

. By 1992 the permanent population had grown to nine residents, Bugs and Frances Lackey, Uncle Vane Fort. J.R. and Rose Putzier, Betsy Paine. John (The Painter) Hilton, Frances Hawkins. and Stephanie Rogers, according to a Los Angeles Times reporter, who called the settlement "a self-contained mountain colony" with no telephone service and only two mobile phones for communication outside the Ozena Valley.

Ownership

The property was owned by the Scheideck family for nine decades. Eugene Scheideck's nephew, also named Eugene, was 81 years old when he had it in 1975. In 1978, however, Jim Cory, an Oxnard

Oxnard, California

Oxnard is the 113th largest city in the United States, 19th largest city in California and largest city in Ventura County, California, by way of population. It is located at the western edge of the fertile Oxnard Plain, and is an important agricultural center, with its distinction as the...

 auto dealer

Car dealership

A car dealership or vehicle local distribution is a business that sells new or used cars at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. It employs automobile salespeople to do the selling...

, and four others bought the land from Jim Scheideck of Taft

Taft, California

Taft is a city in the foothills at the extreme southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California. Taft is located west-southwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 955 feet . The population was 9,327 at the 2010 census...

, and in 1990 it was sold to Ozzie Osborn, a rancher and plumbing contractor.

Reputation

Published accounts of Camp Scheideck have stressed its unusual nature. In July 1979, for example, a golf tournament was held on a course scratched into the parched surface of the landscape, dodging "bushes, gullies and rattlesnake holes." Instead of greens, the course had "browns." Golf clubs were made from tree limbs of plastic pipe, or a croquet mallet. Tennis balls were used instead of golf balls; three-gallon containers replaced standard golf cups. Proceeds were turned over to a 4-H Club.

The place is so remote: 37 miles (59.5 km) due north of Ojai, up the tortuous California 33 beyond Matilija Canyon's cutoff and over much of the 6500 feet (1,981.2 m) Pine Mountain before descending to 4000 feet (1,219.2 m). Then two right turns take the car onto dirt and, in two crossings, through the winding Cuyama River

Cuyama River

The Cuyama River is a river in southern San Luis Obispo County, northern Santa Barbara County, and northern Ventura County, in the U.S. state of California. It joins the Sisquoc River forming the Santa Maria River...

 before climbing again, this time over a mesa into a mile-long gash in the Earth called Ozena Valley. A long way for a beer.

But people find it. Some, from seeing a small, ridiculous sign on the paved Lockwood Valley Road: "Scheideck's Lodge. Cocktails and dining. Turn here, go in 1.5 miles." But most simply hear about it from the people who call Scheideck's home, the people who live here in cabins only steps from the bar. . . .

Scheideck's Lodge, while a curiosity to the day-tripper

Day-tripper

A day-tripper is a person who visits a tourist destination or visitor attraction from his/her home and returns home on the same day.- Definition :In other words, this excursion does not involve a night away from home such as experienced on a holiday...

 and oasis for hikers at nearby Reyes Creek Campground, performs many functions beyond pulling tap beer

Draught beer

Draught beer is beer served from a cask or a pressurised keg.-History of draught:Until Joseph Bramah patented the beer engine in 1785, beer was served directly from the barrel and carried to the customer. The Old English word for carry was dragen which developed into a series of related words,...

 and keeping a jukebox current with Hank Williams Jr. and Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...

. The bar is a window into a self-contained mountain colony, a tavern-as-nexus where information is traded in a phoneless society.

Amenities

There are a myriad of old cabins, a mock cemetery called "Boot Hill," and a chapel where weddings have been performed. The place is a destination or a stopover for motorcycle riders.

In August 2011 the 120-year-old lodge was owned by Tony Virgilio.