L.A.’s Hidden Past: Was Murphy Ranch Once a Fascist Retreat?

Were the water tanks, stairways, and building husks of Murphy Ranch part of an old Nazi colony? Records are scant, but several accounts point to a mystic, “Herr Schmidt,” who taught Nazi philosophy at the upper Rustic Canyon property after it was purchased in 1933. It included structures by Welton Becket, who designed the Capitol Records tower.