Founding and development

Pine Mountain Club was developed in 1971 by Tenneco.^[3] The first announcement was made from Houston, Texas, in April of that year when the company said it would develop "more than 1.1 million acres of land in Arizona and Southern California."^[4][5] Tenneco was the Bakersfield-based western land-development arm of Tenneco, Inc., of Houston.^[6]

About half that acreage was to be in Kern County, where the projects would include the residential development of 6,500 acres surrounding the then-new California State College near Bakersfield and 3,200 acres in the Los Padres National Forest, also mostly for residences (Pine Mountain Club).^[4][5]

The forest project was to set aside a thousand acres for vacation home sites and 2,200 acres "for permanent preservation in their natural state." The program was to be directed by John E. Sommerhalder, president of Tenneco West.^[4][5][7] The land was part of a 3,200-acre tract of pine forest and meadowland, formerly a private preserve.^[8]

Tenneco West was a Bakersfield subsidiary that administered all the western holdings of Tenneco, "the parent, Houston-based, multi-industry company."^[9]

Adjacent to the clubhouse will be a nine-hole executive golf course[,] and other recreational facilities are a heated swimming pool, archery range, volleyball and basketball courts, a lake stocked with fish and a community barbecue area.^[9]

Tenneco West President Sommerhalder said the club was believed to be among the largest all-electric family recreational resorts in California. Three kinds of "vacation or weekend homesites" were to be offered: (1) One- to three-bedroom dwellings, (2) modular homes, and (3) space for mobile homes.^[9]

Hiking trails, bridle trails (16 miles marked for from one-hour to all-day rides), an equestrian center with 10-stall barn, tack room, riding ring and corrals for boarding horses also will be available. . . . Later this year, a general store and laundromat will be added.^[9]

The prices were estimated to begin from about $13,500 for a one-bedroom house and lot.^[7]

At the time of the announcement in 1971, "four deep wells" had already been sunk and an "extensive network of reservoirs and pipelines" laid, with a filtration plant near the commercial center.^[7]

Sommerhalder said the developer had the "assistance of Simon Eisner, nationally known environmental planner."^[9]

Eight months after the opening, seventy-nine percent of the 1,309 purchasers indicated in a survey that construction of a vacation home was the prime reason for buying a lot and 43% of that group said they intended to start building during 1972.^[10]

The development's sixth and final section, on a plateau some thousand feet higher than the clubhouse, went on sale in March 1973.^[11]

Mil Potrero Highway

Tenneco West improved a "winding, steep, one-lane dirt road" called Mil Potrero west from Pine Mountain Club to California State Highway 33 into a "comfortable, convenient and safe way . . . to view what is generally regarded as Southern California's most strikingly beautiful scene." The cost for the 6.5-mile segment was estimated at nearly a million dollars. John E. Sommerhalder, the company president, said the road opened up "a large segment of the [Los Padres National] forest that, until now, has been almost inaccessible."^[12]

The job was unusually difficult, partly because of the mountainous terrain and partly because of protective and restorative measures taken to reduce to a minimum the disturbance to the natural surroundings. . . . The project had to conform to the specifications and requirements of both Kern County and the U.S. Forest Service. In effect, it is already a public road, although Tenneco must maintain it for a year before the formal dedication as a public road can take place.^[12]

To keep damages to the forest at a minimum, contractors Yeager Construction of Riverside and Desert Construction of Victorville were required to do all the work from the existing right-of-way and forbidden to build a temporary construction road alongside. Fire-protection equipment had to be on hand at all times.^[13]

Fruition

By 1988, Pine Mountain Club had a small commercial district with about forty businesses, ranging from a Mobil gas station to a place called "Pheasants by Frank." According to the Newhall Signal, the district was "more or less shut down on Mondays and Tuesdays . . . because there are so many people with weekend homes that the stores choose to stay open Saturday and Sunday."^[14]

On July 31, 2021, the community celebrated its fiftieth birthday with a barbecue picnic on blankets spread beneath the trees next to the golf course. Also noted was the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Mil Potrero Mutual Water Company.^[15]

2010 census

The 2010 United States Census^[16] reported that Pine Mountain Club had a population of 2,315. The population density was 137.3 inhabitants per square mile (53.0/km²). The racial makeup was 2,079 (89.8%) white, 29 (1.3%) African American, 25 (1.1%) Native American, 45 (1.9%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 58 (2.5%) from other races, and 79 (3.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 231 persons (10.0%).

Pine Mountain Club and the Los Padres National Forest

There were 1,062 households, of which 226 (21.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 585 (55.1%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 62 (5.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, and 36 (3.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 49 (4.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 13 (1.2%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. Three hundred eighteen households (29.9%) were made up of individuals, and 111 (10.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18. There were 683 families (64.3% of all households); the average family size was 2.68 persons.

Four hundred eleven people (17.8%) were under the age of 18, 105 were (4.5%) aged 18 to 24, 355 (15.3%) aged 25 to 44, 929 (40.1%) aged 45 to 64, and 515 (22.2%) 65 years or older. The median age was 51.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.9 males. For every 100 women age 18 and over, there were 103.2 men.

There were 2,181 housing units at an average density of 129.4 per square mile (50.0/km²), of which 880 (82.9%) were owner-occupied, and 182 (17.1%) were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 6.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 17.8%. Exactly 1,884 people (81.4% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 431 (18.6%) in rentals.

2000 census

The 2000 census found that almost 91 percent of the sixteen hundred residents were white. There were nine blacks. There were 146 Hispanics or Latinos of any race. Other residents included 19 American Indians or Alaska natives and 12 Asians.^[17]

Residences of the area

It was a relatively aged population, the median age being 45 years compared with 35 years for the nation as a whole. PMC also had more veterans than its share — 263, or 21 percent, compared to 13 percent around the country. In contrast with the country at large, where 64 percent of the people were working, Pine Mountain Club had just 56 percent employed. Those who were working had to travel about an hour to their jobs, compared to 25 minutes for most Americans.

It was a high-income area — $62,750 median family income, compared to $50,046 in the nation at large. In per capita income, it stood at $25,465 — just between Diamond Bar and Mira Monte among other towns in California.

Yet there were still 55 families (or 15 percent) below the poverty level in Pine Mountain Club in 2000. That is greater than the 12 percent for the country as a whole.

Almost two-thirds of its 1,737 housing units (61.5 percent) were vacant when the census^[17] was taken in March 2000. Owners lived in about eight of every 10 occupied units (84 percent), renters in the other two (16 percent).