Hathaway Ranch Museum

The Hathaway Ranch and Oil Museum was completely deserted when Brandon D. and I showed up. We were greeted by half a dozen cats and the occasional wandering gang of roosters walking the property.
It was eerie, really, with no one around. We were walking by the houses, which were locked up or had «Private Residence» signs and no one was in the office. Roosters kept crowing, and for the longest time we only encountered either napping cats or flocks of chickens strutting through the weeds.
Not sure where to go we started ambling about the grounds, looking at all of the rusted over tractors, trucks, steamrollers, threshers, and other oil drilling and farm implements back there.
Eventually, while looking at a pen of goats near the open restrooms, we were met with a kind African-​American woman who said she saw us walking around and hoped we enjoyed «looking at all of [their] rusted things.» She directed us to Dick, an older gentleman in a cowboy hat with sparkling eyes, who had just finished leading a small tour group.
He took led us into a small room in a garage with a noisy ceiling fan and the walls lined with photos of oil derricks. We were joined by a man in overalls he kept going on about how Dick was «going to give you the business,» regarding the history of the area, but who then left after putting down $ 10 for a couple jars of jelly saying he if he stayed he knew Dick «would ramble on for 6 months.»
Truth be told, Dick very informative about the Hathaways, their sons, their work ethic, how they kept employing people during the Depression, how they raised cattle, how they helped other dig oil wells, how they never threw anything away, how they were self-​educated… seriously, the man really knows A LOT about Jesse and Lola Hathaway and Santa Fe Springs, and he’s not afraid to tell you all about them.
The best part of the tour was seeing the machine shop. All of the machines are powered by a gas engine (used to be steam) that brings to life a system of belts and wheels the whir on the ceiling. Dick flipped a switch that made the whole room become animated. Really cool for the engineering geeks out there.
As the tour winded down, Dick told us about how a film crew came through last week to use the machine shop to double as Alexander Graham Bell’s workshop. He described the production as using a lot of profanity, and this launched into discussing HBO’s «Deadwood» and his own family’s settler history. He got a bit teary-​eyed near the end.
Again, I recommend visiting this place (which seems to only be open Mondays, Tuesday, and Thursdays from 11 – 4), even just to talk to Dick and get him to take you though the machine shop. Amazing.