Minkler | town

 town  Add category

 Upload a photo

California town goes up for sale on Ebay (2004)

2004 LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Potential bidders were flocking to an Internet auction house for the chance to buy a property -- an entire California town, in fact, that could be theirs for just 600,000 dollars.

The tiny town of Minkler, which boasts a population of 30 and lies in central California, about 360 kilometers (230 miles) north of Los Angeles, has been put on the block by its 83-year-old owner.

Sylvia Ashcraft put the entire town, four buildings including the general store that dates from 1920, up for sale on Internet auctioneer eBay after she decided to retire.

"She's 83 and had a health scare last year and we persuaded her that she can't work seven days a week in the general store anymore," her daughter Mary Novack, 48, told AFP.

The old lady is stunned by the interest in the town that she has reigned over since 1970 when she began running the general store which she bought, along with the rest of the town, from its founder's grandson in 1977.

The advertisement placed on eBay by her Hollywood-based grandson has drawn around 20,000 "hits" from potential bidders, Novack said, but no firm offers have yet been received for the quaint little town.

"She'll be very sad to leave the store because we know everyone here, they're like family," said Novack, who helps her mother run the store that boasts a vintage adding machine and cash register.

"But at the same time, she's looking forward to doing something else, like traveling" she said of her mother who originally moved to the area to farm turkeys.

Ashcraft's grandson posted the ad on January 9 to run 90 days, and Novack said her mother would accept the highest offer for Minkler, but said she would not settle for less than 600,000 dollars.

Charlie Minkler, 96-year-old grandson of the town's founder, still lives in Minkler which his ancestor built sometime between 1867 and 1892.

"It's a lovely little town and somebody will want to buy it. After all it costs less than most houses in a place like Hollywood," Novack said.

The town is believed to be the third to go on the block on eBay, which last year sold another northern California town called Bridgeville, the sale of which has not yet been finalized, and Tortilla Flat in Arizona.