Hulaville Forest

Hula Ville
(Hulaville Forest,
Mahan's Half Acre)
Location Hesperia,
San Bernardino County,
California
Built beginning in 1955
Demolished September 1997
Official name: Hula Ville (Site of)
Type Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments
Reference no. 939[1]

Hula Ville, also known as Hulaville Forest and Mahan's Half Acre, was a 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) folk art environment of outdoor sculptures, and a roadside attraction of the Victor Valley area, in the Mojave Desert. It was formerly near the town of Hesperia in San Bernardino County, Southern California.[2][3]

It was located on U.S. Route 66 2 miles (3.2 km) west of present-day Interstate 15 off Phelan Road, 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of central Hesperia, and south of Victorville on the approach to Cajon Pass.[2][4]

History

Miles Mahan (1896-1997) began building Hula Ville in 1955, after retiring as a 'carny,' or carnival worker at the Venice Pier and Santa Monica Pier.[3][5] Over the years, he created folk art sculptures and signs painted with poems and sayings for the folk art environment.[2]

The outdoor artworks included hanging wine- and beer-bottle tree sculptures on Joshua trees and wooden posts, painted poems and prose on desert sandblasted wood signs, and other folk art elements adorned with dolls, award statues, and other found objects.[3][6] It included his residence, a pickup truck camper without truck, and a homemade miniature golf course bordered with half buried bottles.[3] It was free of charge, with donations accepted from visitors.

It also included a large dancing hula girl sign at the entrance, a business discard rescued and erected by Mahan.[3][4][6] The crude hand-lettered sign beneath her read: "People travel through the state, how little will they know her fate, for traveler who'll ever be the wiser, her life was saved by the Supervisors."[3]

Miles Mahan moved to a convalescent home in 1995, and died on April 15, 1997. Hula Ville was demolished in September 1997.[2][3]

Present day

The site of Hula Ville is a California Historical Landmark, listed under the Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments category.[2]

The California Route 66 Museum in Victorville became the new home of the Hula Girl sign, other Mahan folk art items such as the bowlegged "Howdy" cowboy sign, and exhibits a scale miniature version of Hula Ville−Mahan's Half Acre.[3][7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "San Bernardino". California Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 California Office of Historic Preservation: California Historical Landmark in San Bernardino County . accessed 16 August 2016
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Roadside America.com: "Miles Mahan's Half Acre Hulaville (site), Hesperia, California"
  4. 1 2 Roadsidephotos.org: Signs on U.S. Route 66 in California, with photo of "Hula Girl" sign.
  5. ↑ SpacesArchives.org: Miles Mahan biography
  6. 1 2 BlueInk Review.com: Hula Ville and Other Short Stories, by Mark Evan, AuthorHouse (publisher), 2013, ISBN 9781481733854.
  7. ↑ SPACES.org: Miles Mahan and Hula Ville
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