Hesperia, California: Miles Mahan's Half Acre Hulaville (Gone)

Folk artist Miles Mahan lived along the highway among a jumble of signs and bottle sculptures.

Roadside America Road Trip Archives: Video snippets of Miles Mahan from 1985, and a later visit in 1994.

Mahan's Half Acre, also known as Hulaville, was the folk art environment of Miles M. Mahan. He'd been squatting on his patch of high desert since the 1930s. Miles slept in a pickup truck camper without the pickup truck, and spent his days on a shaded open-air couch, surrounded by bottle trees and wooden signs, including a large dancing Hula Girl.

We met Miles several times, but in 1995, when he was 99, he was moved off of his half-acre and into a nursing home. Miles died there on April 15, 1997; by summer of that year Hulaville was gone, replaced by a self-storage facility.

Miles' Hula Girl and bowlegged "Howdy" cowboy sign were preserved, and are now in the California Route 66 Museum, along with a scale model of Mahan's Half Acre.

Do I need to describe Hulaville? It was one of the most beautiful places on earth. Miles was one of the greatest men I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. He was an amazing storyteller and an "old soul." He was one of the very few "true" artists I've EVER come across in my life. He was also a teacher and a genuine person with a heart truly made of gold. He taught me to build a mean bottle tree! I miss him and my trips to Hulaville every minute of every day.