The founders of Mentone envisioned a community like its namesake, a ritzy tourist resort on the French Riviera.
And, for a little while, Mentone made a big name for itself as the Southland’s health spa capital. A grand hotel welcomed visitors from the East and from Los Angeles.
An item in an 1887 issue of The Citrograph, an early Redlands newspaper, proclaimed Mentone as among the most favored spots in San Bernardino County. It was a community “destined to blossom … into a veritable Garden of Eden.”
Santa Fe Railway made it the farthest point east on its new kite-shaped track in 1892, with eight trains every day bringing tourists from Los Angeles to Mentone and to other, less prestigious Inland Empire communities like Redlands and Riverside. Soon, Southern Pacific built its tracks into Mentone, running 14 trains a day.
Citrus, boysenberries, apricots, pomegranates, figs, walnuts and almonds grew abundantly a century ago. Back then, Mentone raisins and olives were shipped nationwide.
Mentone’s first building – its first business in 1887 – was a sandstone quarry. Mentone rock was prized for its color and uniform composition. It was used in streets and buildings in Los Angeles, San Diego and Alhambra and it built the breakwater in San Pedro.
Mentone’s fortunes began to change near the close of the 1800s, in part because the Redlands Light and Power Co. siphoned off the community’s water source. The drought that followed threatened to turn the community into a ghost town.
Community members eventually plumbed deeper water sources, but by then Redlands’ fame had eclipsed Mentone’s.
Today, Mentone is home to professional golfer Dave Stockton Sr., former San Bernardino County District Attorney Dennis Kottmeier and yacht captain Peter Van Horn.
Most of Mentone’s residents, though, are more ordinary folk – farmers, nurses and blue-collar workers. And now there’s a mix of professional people moving into several new housing tracts. Streets still bear the fancy names given by the land speculators more than 100 years ago: Anzio, Salerno, Capri, Naples, and Nice.
“It’s closer to the mountains. We don’t have the traffic. It’s very quiet up here.” Mentone Elementary School has a staff that seems like they care. It is more like a little country-type school.”
The unincorporated village of about 6,000 residents lies along the mostly dry and rocky Mill Creek and Santa Ana river beds.
The location is a source of pride. Residents have breathtaking views of the San Bernardino Mountains. They can take walks in the Crafton Hills or enjoy the historic Zanja irrigation canal as it trickles through the hand-hewn rock channels. And every spring brings a spectacular show of orange and yellow African daisies.
Highway 38 – called Mentone Boulevard through town -brings a steady stream of out-of-towners going “the back way” to Big Bear Lake mountain resort.
Mentone Market Report
Homes for sale in the city of Mentone
This is the most recent inventory of homes for sale in Mentone as of Thu, April 25, 2024
Homes for Sale in Mentone from $200,000 to $300,000
Homes for Sale in Mentone from $300,000 to $400,000
Homes for Sale in Mentone from $400,000 to $500,000
Homes for Sale in Mentone from $500,000 to $600,000
Homes for Sale in Mentone from $600,000 to $700,000
Homes for Sale in Mentone from $700,000 to $800,000
Homes for Sale in Mentone from $800,000 to $900,000
Homes for Sale in Mentone from $900,000 to $1,000,000
Homes for Sale in Mentone from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000