SeeCalifornia.com

Rancho Los Cerritos in Long Beach hosts the annual Mud Mania on July 7, 2018 — activities include adobe brick-making.

Many of California’s missions offer history days for the public to see adobe brick demonstrations and other skills that helped turn California into a gleaming, high-rise civilization.

While mud holds a special interest for kids who love to get dirty at places such as Adventure Playground in Huntington Beach and Berkeley, there’s another interesting facet to its application as seen in those old adobe buildings.

If the walls could talk!

• In Santa Barbara County the decaying Hollister Adobe (also known as Rancho Las Cruces) is believed to have once housed a post office, general store, hotel, court, and brothel! Steamy stories abound in Santa Barbara, a great place to explore historic structures and attractions such as the Red Tile Walking Tour.
• In Ventura County locals know all too well about talking walls. Historian Richard Senate for many years has provided adobe tours, often listed on the City of Ventura website. His tales about past inhabitants can be shocking — especially if you get tapped on the shoulder by one of them unexpectedly. Yes, some have seen or felt ghosts that may dwell within these structures!
• Monterey could be the epi-center of adobe brick, especially during Christmas in the Adobes, a cool event open to the public.
• Cities, historical societies, National Park Service and California State Parks all do their best to maintain hundreds of historic adobe structures throughout the state. Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park contains the largest domestic adobe building remaining in the United States, constructed from 1836- 1846.