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Sitting on the fringes of urban sprawl in Chino sit the remains of this once prosperous dairy farm. Here lie the remains of 3 nice ranch style homes on it, a milking parlor, and various garages + sheds, it has decayed and been vandalized into dire straits. Its hard for me to believe the homes here were occupied as recently as May 2018 according to google maps and street view. The dairy seems to have been last functional around 2009. Seems like the residents moved out pretty quickly and left quite a bit of stuff save some personal artifacts like most clothes, photos and records. Fridge and freezer was left full. Pretty sad considering this entire place in its heyday was clearly a token of pride and hard work.
I divided this into two trips because I ran out of daylight on the first. I parked in a nearby subdivision and biked to the location, I actually lost my car key on the road on the first trip and had to search for it for an hour in the dark. That was actual fun.
Images:
I will post images but here are links to each section of the property:
Main house:
https://drive.goog...a_-tVo?usp=sharing
Milking parlor:
https://drive.goog...6Bxip5?usp=sharing
"House 2":
https://drive.goog...M8nquMsql5exjHsoXJ
"House 3":
https://drive.goog...Rs1D4_?usp=sharing
This image details the entire property. You have the main house on the far left, moving to the right you have a pole barn & garage, and then the milking parlor, to the right is another pole barn and houses 2 & 3, where workers once lived.
Here is the main house I'll start with that one:
You come in and are met with a entry with a marble floor and a planter with a carpeted living room to the left with the drapes still hanging:
To the right of the entry way is the kitchen. Youll see this neat banquette where I can imagine some hearty meals were ate before a long early morning of dairying:
Here's the other side of the kitchen:
"Do not open" but open I did...didn't smell too great:
Going through the kitchen you'll go past a walk-in pantry and come into this funky room that used to have a sliding glass door on one end I think was a breeze way at one point:
In the breeze way is a inlaid slate "R" denoting the original dairying family who built this property, the Rodrigues' they moved out long ago and a different set of owners began working the property:
Off the breezeway room is what local vandals have deemed "the sex room" for the oversize mattress found in it:
Off the same breezeway room is this family room area. Vandals have had fires in the fireplace. There is a case of almost new water bottles in there too. I think that built in TV console is REALLY groovy:
 File_189
I found a christmas tree out on the covered patio's remains out back and had to get it into the christmas spirit! (I also hung some lights from the front of the house before leaving):
This post is getting reeeeaally long so ima end it and try to continue on with more photos in a separate post. But here is some history of the area that I have done some research on.
This region was once home to many dairy farms such as this one. The history of the Inland Empire as a dairy production center dates back to the 1930's - but really took off in 1967 when San Bernardino County designated 14,000 acres of land as an agricultural preserve. The dairies, most of which have been operated by Dutch, Portuguese and Basque families, were already operating dairy farms in nearby Artesia, Cypress, La Palma area until the post WWII era. At which time the land the dairies sat on became valuable and began fleeing the growing sprawl of Los Angeles to the Chino, Ontario, Eastvale, area.
The area offered a flat, sandy-loamy soils where the dairies could be close together for economic reasons, to continue their cultural traditions whilst supplying an adequate amount of milk to a growing population of Los Angeles. This also allowed the dairymen a chance to enlarge and upgrade their dairying operations from what they held in the Artesia area. By 1980, the area had more cows per acre and a higher milk yield than anywhere else in the world.
Now history is sadly repeating itself evidently as many of the dairies which gave this community its unique rural character – are razed. And those which don’t close up shop completely move far away to places like Idaho, Central California, Oregon and Colorado. In their place spring up the houses, shopping centers, and warehouses. The land which these dairies sit is simply too valuable and neighbors (who often object to dairying associated smells and flies) move closer.
Looking around google maps it is easy to see how this once pastoral landscape is quickly being transformed into a sprawling metropolis. One can easily differentiate the few remaining open areas where dairies are still located from the areas that are becoming densely built-up. You can see the city pushing in like a tide of buildings and roads. That in fact, is how I found this location.
Highlighting this is when one browses the satellite images on google maps, you’ll find areas that were once clearly agricultural but now have overlays of road names, and when you select street view - you are met with images of a boring subdivision or a distribution warehouse. In some cases, I see roads gone or rerouted. The pace of development in this area has moved so fast that it is exceeding the rate at which google maps can update. Street view has demonstrated itself as a useful tool in preserving images of the dairies in this area.
I hope you enjoyed seeing the images I captured on this gloomy December day and hopefully reading the brief history lesson about the area.
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The other side of that family room had a cool mini bar. Out back is a pool (now filled in with dirt) With both those I can only imagine the awesome parties thrown here back in the day:
More of that TV console:
Other side of the family room looking into the breezeway room, immediatley outside the door of this family room area is the "Second" hallway:
This hallway flanks the side of the breezway room and has some cabinetry, a sink, a sliding door going out to the driveway and a passthrough looking into the breezeway room. This house has a choppy layout:
The hallway continues down, and you can make a left to go out to the patio:
This is the part of the patio room/ patio cover that still is standing:
Or you can go to the little bedroom that is down there, the laundry room or garage. This is the laundry off the "second" hallway:
Little bedroom next to laundry room, right off the garage:
Off the patio room is the den room, the den connects to a hallway that leads to the master bedroom, a bathroom, and another 2 smaller bedrooms. Here is the den room:
Hall leading to the bedrooms and bathroom:
The bathroom off that hall:
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Very well done! I remember when Mira Loma/Eastvale was making that transition. I grew up in Rubidoux/Glen Avon so it was down the way and that area was always known as the dairy lands. My mother was raised on a dairy in Mira Loma/Eastvale. The first picture of the house you showed had instantly reminded me of my mother's families dairy the very last time I saw it. Just happen to be cruising around out there and that's how it looked. Next day demo began I believe so I was last to see it. Really sad.
But once again, great job! Enjoyed it very much. Thank you for sharing
Flickr: http://www.flickr....61765601@N04/sets/ | |
Posted by Joel
Very well done! I remember when Mira Loma/Eastvale was making that transition. I grew up in Rubidoux/Glen Avon so it was down the way and that area was always known as the dairy lands. My mother was raised on a dairy in Mira Loma/Eastvale. The first picture of the house you showed had instantly reminded me of my mother's families dairy the very last time I saw it. Just happen to be cruising around out there and that's how it looked. Next day demo began I believe so I was last to see it. Really sad.
But once again, great job! Enjoyed it very much. Thank you for sharing
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Thank you Joel! It's neat to me hearing from someone who grew up in the inland empire and even has a familial connection to the local dairies here. I can only try to imagine the mixture of emotions seeing the dairy farm that your mother grew up on in such a state at the time of its imminent razing. Likely a mixture of astonishment and dejection for you. I've wondered if the former residents ever drive by this place here and feel similarly. I don't think this place has long since subdivisions are being built only about a block away - this is the last set of the ranch style houses along this stretch of road. I hope that more of the existing dairies are able to stick around to continue on their businesses and heritage they have brought to this area.
I know I already posted links to the gallery for this place but i'd like to continue the "tour" of this former dairy, so here goes:
Bedroom that is right off the den off the hallway leading from the den:
Master bedroom at the end of the hallway that leads from the den. Cool mid-century wood paneling highlighting how this was an expensive house in the day:
There is also another smaller bedroom at the end of this hall I couldn't find photos in my album.
Inside the big garage attached to the homes rear, at the end of the "second" hall:
The back of the home you can kinda see the filled in pool with the blue tarps over it. Notice the tile roof, they spared no expense in building this home.:
Play set out back. This property was once a family oriented place but now finds itself forlornly idle:
The detached garage, back of the house, end of driveway.:
Inside that garage:
Side of house:
I'll sometimes go up into the attics of abandonments even. I like looking around at the ducts and wiring. But this place made me feel like I needed to be able to leave at moments notice. I didn't want to be stuck up in there if someone showed up.
I'll try to post picture of the milking parlor and other two homes a little bit later.
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Milking Parlor. I explored this on my second trip to this location. It had a raised area where the cow were queued for milking, with a sunken "trough" where the dairymen walked. Adjacent to this is a room with pasteurization equipment, next to it is an office (with bathroom) plus a room I forgot to look in. Behind the milking parlor are some sheds that housed vacuum pumps and random whatever. Also behind the milking parlor is a feed silo and tank where the milk was stored. It has a large roundabout driveway where the milk tankers would come to pick up the milk each day.
This is the entire milking parlor, cows were brought in on the left to washdown their udders and what not, then there is the main big area where they were milked (while being fed), then an area where I believe they were held to be washed down again. To the left is a garage where tractors and what not were stored I suppose.
Entirety:
I believe this dairy last saw cows being milked around 2009. Streetview last shows cows out in the dry lot around that period of time, then the place sort of became a truck yard with a lot of extra "stuff" like boats, campers, and what I would call junk sitting around. The only animals there in the post dairy period seem to have been a couple donkeys.
This is the far right area where cows went after milking:
Heading inside:
The interior plus some books vandals dragged in here from the houses:
This area down the middle led to the pasteurization room and office:
The hall leading to pasteurization room on your immediate left, at the end is the office:
Pasteurization room, it had a large square tank that had steam pipes running through it, electrical apparatus, a boiler, and a stack to let the steam out:
Going into that office at end of the hall:
Office + bathroom - mostly empty and as thrashed as the rest of this property:
Other end of the hall, looking towards "house 2" darn! there was another room I didn't notice I meant to look into.:
Behind the milking parlor:
The sheds and garages were pretty unremarkable inside:
Inside the milking parlor garage looking out on to the expanse of dry lot acreage. A developers wet dream (and my bike which was a great tool in accessing this place):
One of my concerns when visiting this place was the seemingly active farm and residence far off in the field behind this property. I did not venture too far out into that field to see that barn for fear of being spotted:
This concludes this part of the tour. It was an important (main) part of this dairy. I found an environmental impact report online dating back to when this dairy was active. It was a useful piece of info in deciphering its history. Next I'll post the two workers houses.
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The last part of my "tour" of this former Dairy farm in Chino will conclude with the two houses that presumably housed the families of some of the workers which I'll call "House 2" & "House 3". Similar to the main house, they were vandalized heavily and evidence of scrappers was definitely there, but still had some things you might not expect to be in place like drapes hanging and a couple unsmashed windows. I guess when your vandalizing a house and stealing copper you don't want anyone to see you so they probably used the drapes to their advantage I'd imagine. It's hard to see them like this and believe they were occupied as recently as 2018 (although they seemed to be in degrading condition then). In "house 3" I found some family photos of children which was surprising. I also found lots of rat crap. It was great. It was getting dark so I did a brief explore of these. However, the low lighting added an extra eeriness to being at these places alone.
"House 2":
I entered through the backyard where a decrepit bayliner sits:
I passed the garage:
Entering through the backdoor of "House 2":
A bedroom was straight ahead off the backdoor and the kitchen was to the right:
Sry about the crap quality
Living room had an attached dining area off the kitchen and a fireplace:
Off the living room was a small hall with two bedrooms, here's the master:
And the smaller back bedroom:
Off that bedroom was a small hall connecting it to the kitchen with a bathroom:
Other than the little trashed bedroom off the backdoor and maybe a 1/2 bath I think that's about it for "house 2".
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Similar to "House 2" next door, "house 3" was similar. The biggest difference for house 3 is the lack of the added on smaller bedroom, an inverted layout derived from its different kitchen setup. Both homes had the presumably original cedar shake roofs on them common for this period of home in southern California.
"House 3" front:
House 3 rear:
To the right is the garage which I did not enter since it was too dark for my crappy cellphone light. To the left houses a entry that lets into the kitchen and living room:
This is the kitchen of house 3 where a bird and I scared each other:
The kitchen curves around, goes past a bathroom which lets into a bedroom:
The master bedroom of house 3. Ceiling caved in. Stripped of copper. Trashed. Lets out to a small hall connecting it to a bathroom and another smaller bedroom:
el cuarto de baño dos - and finally a windows vandals left alone:
the smaller bedroom off by the master/off the living room:
Scrappers had left the carcass of the central HVAC in the hall connecting to the family room, so I went back around into it:
There was supposed to be a pic of the front entry door and living room with fireplace but as I was eager to get out of the dark - I neglected to.
It was getting dark and I wanted to leave due to my limited lighting source. On the way out I took a look at the sideyard where trees and vines had formed this sort of hollow thicket that gave this property a concealed feeling:
Leaving. More of the rear acreage. - right after this I lost my car keys and searched for them for an hour on the road that leads from here to the subdivision:
Overall the two trips + a scouting expedition which I made to this former dairy were among my most favorite of urbex explorations thus far. The lack of no trespassing signs was welcome and a good excuse to look around. I enjoyed researching and making connections in person to this properties history. I enjoyed seeing some of the last remnants of this once rural area before it is overwritten by a typical boring California subdivision. A recently dated article I found says this area is slated for redevelopment in the near future. I'm glad I got to experience it and even hope to return. Thank you all.
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All boarded up!
Went by this old dairy again today...all the houses and milk parlor were boarded up. There were also roll-off dumpsters sitting next to the main house and the milking parlor. This suggest some sort of cleanup of the property is happening. I don't think they could fit an entire demolished house into one of these dumpsters and assume they'd use dump trucks instead to haul away the demo debris. The boarding up of these buildings and size of the 2 dumpsters does not make me suspect the buildings will be demolished imminently. Stripped of items and gutted first - possibly. That's how they seem to like to do demos nowadays.
Whoever did the boarding up also took the Christmas lights I had strung on the front of the main house down. Lol. I wonder if the Christmas tree is still up in the family room? Maybe the responsible party of this property, who I assume to be either Trumark home developers or the farm next door, saw the decorations I put up and assumed squatters were living in there? Who knows?.
It's hard to say if the buildings will be demolished soon. I mean why go to the time and expense of boarding them up if they're gonna raze it soon? Keep squatters (who they assume) from wanting to live there in the meantime - out, perhaps? Avoid legal liability of vandals entering? Its weird the boarding up happened right after I explored this place. But awesome I got to enter before it did.
I did see a white pickup parked right near the exit when I left the day I was taking pics so I'm wondering if that was a caretaker of this place. I didn't want to engage with them. Perhaps they saw me come out on my bike prompting them to take action to secure the buildings. Maybe the property owner saw this thread. Which would be cool. If so...Hi!! Please post some history on this place! lol Who knows really, its all a guess. I'm just glad I had some fun and got to access this place so easily.
Crummy pic I kno..but here is the big dumpster next to the main house. You can still get into the garage but I'm sure the back door is boarded up. Must have taken them hours to do all that boarding:
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For some reason this reminds me of the old NASA airstrip in the valley. (C.L)
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Great location, pics and story here.
Nice explore-by-bike as well, really highlights how useful a bike is for some explores.
www.yoeltaom.as | |
Posted by basegrinder
For some reason this reminds me of the old NASA airstrip in the valley. (C.L)
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I could see that, I think its the long straight road out front and the expanse of the surrounding agricultural acreage out back that reminds us of Crow's landing.
Posted by YoelT
Great location, pics and story here.
Nice explore-by-bike as well, really highlights how useful a bike is for some explores. |
Thank you, I've enjoyed doing the online research on this location and exploring this place by bike as well.
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