One of the most interesting places we visited in
California was the Forestiere Underground Gardens.
Baldassare Forestiere, a man from Italy, bought 80 acres of land and attempted to plant a citrus orchard. Unfortunately, his 80 acres had 5 or more feet of hardpan (a type of soil as hard as rock) on top of it. There would be no orchard there! However, Baldassare would not give up on his dream. He took a pick, a shovel, and a wheelbarrow and began to dig. First he dug a hole and discovered that it was much cooler in the hole than on the surface. He continue to dig and eventually dug out a place to live.
To have air and light he had to dig large holes, open to the sky. In those areas he planted his garden -- trees and other plants. They flourished. He continued to dig -- more rooms connected by tunnels, and more air/light shafts.

One tree he planted was grafted until it bore 7 different kinds of citrus fruit. That original tree no longer lives but in its place is a tree that bears three different kinds of fruit. (Baldassare was Catholic and used the number 3 (for the Trinity) and the number 7 (the days of creation) in many places in his garden.)
For 40 years, Baldassare worked above ground during the day and underground at night. He never married -- the gardens became his life. He shared his fruit with neighbors. He planned a large retreat center -- underground. There was a 800 foot long drive that allowed people to drive underground to his rooms. They were cool, and being a novelty, people loved to visit. But when the novelty wore off, the retreat closed and Baldassare was alone again, still digging.

The tree below bears 3 different types of fruit.

During cold weather he would place sheets of glass over some of the openings of the air/light shafts. They would keep out the cold and/or rain. Some shafts he left open, trapping the water for his garden and for his personal use.

He carved out a home -- his kitchen is shown in the picture above -- a stove, ice box, and a table.

He had two bedrooms -- one is shown on the right. Sometimes he would plaster the walls and paint designs on them.

He had an underground bath tub, also.

Baldassare was so obsessed with his underground garden that he continued to dig for 40 years. After his death some of the land was sold by his heirs. Where a hotel is now built, underground rooms had to be filled before the foundation was laid. When a freeway was put through, more rooms were found.

Today there are about 10 acres left, and many rooms. Some are open to the public and some are closed for repair.