Bankhead Springs - California Ghost Town

Bankhead Springs is a drive through ghost town, like so many towns along Highway 80 that were by-passed by Interstate 8. Bankhead Springs was named after Senator John H. Bankhead, who championed the development of Highway 80. Bankhead was also famous for being the grandfather of Tallula Bankhead, the silent film actress and bon vivant. The town itself came to exist because of the fabulous success of Jacumba and the Jacumba Hotel, based around the naturally occurring hot springs, four and a half miles south and east of Bankhead Springs. From the 1920s through the 1930s, Jacumba was a destination spot for Hollywood luminaries and the idle rich, so much so that the population swelled to 5000 residents, and people who wanted to soak in the hot sulfuric waters but didn't want to deal with the glamour had no place to stay.

Enter Bankhead Springs. A fine rock hotel painted bright red and white gave top-notch accommodations without the glitz. Cabins, also painted red and white, were made available and became popular seasonal rentals. Local legend has Tallula involved in the development in the town's success, but there is no evidence of it. In any case, you would stay at Bankhead Springs, enjoy the silence and beauty of the high desert, then drive to the hot springs and soak, then drive out again.

When Jacumba faded, so did Bankhead Springs. Even so, in the 1960's, the cabins and hotel were still meticulously maintained. My family lived in Boulevard, west of Bankhead Springs, and when we went to church in Jacumba, we would pass through Bankhead Springs, and there would be cars parked all through the property around the many structures. My mother could say nothing nice about the place, and would tell me years later that she had heard rumors that prostitutes out of Bankhead Springs were pandering to the armies of lonely construction workers building Interstate 8 up through the In-Ko-Pah pass, the prim little cabins reduced to cribs. With the completion of I-8, Jacumba, Bankhead Springs, and all the little towns along Senator Bankhead's highway were doomed to ghost town status.

For many years the cabins were lived in, roughly maintained. The hotel closed, and it stayed closed for a decade. I once was told that the lady that owned it one day disappeared and simply was never heard from again. The investigating police found the room doors open, the beds made, the kitchen and dining area clean and set for the next meal. They found no sign of robbery or violence. Because there was a bank fund to pay the property tax, the hotel doors were locked and not disturbed, no legal or financial issues bothered its slumber. Meanwhile, the cabins fell to disrepair and vandals. Finally, the fund that paid the property tax ran out, the county seized the property for back taxes, and the hotel, as a coffee and curio shop, has been repainted gray and opened. The old cabins, while fascinating, and the masonry work durable, are far past reclamation. The property is privately owned and you should get permission to walk around. David Taylor

Cabin
Courtesy David Taylor