6 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY AUGUST 22-28, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com 831 Given the high price of coastal real estate in Big Sur, it may be hard to believe that in 1979, four siblings, ages 11-16, bought the entire town of Gorda. And at least in part, it was from profits selling horse shit. But it’s true, and the kids’ entrepreneurial success made national news, and was even made into a Hollywood film, Kidco, which was released straight to cable in 1984. In it, the kids face a legal challenge for not paying taxes on their manure sales. The four siblings—Dickie, Nene and Bette Cessna, and their half-sister June Cole, started Kidco Limited Ventures in 1977. Based in Ramona, northeast of San Diego, the kids made money selling horse manure they collected from their dad’s—and June’s stepdad’s—horse barn as fertilizer. (Richard Cessna Sr. traded in horses. He was also reportedly a distant cousin of the Cessna aircraft family.) The kids also reportedly made money trapping gophers, and patented and sold gopher traps. According to an April 1979 story in the Monterey Peninsula Herald, the kids “once said they made $3,000 a month selling fertilizer. Now they’re a little wary about discussing their earnings.” The headline of that story reads, “Kids Need Tax Shelter, Pick Gorda.” Numerous articles about Kidco contain contradictory assertions, including how much they paid for 20-some acres of Gorda, including its gas station, grocery store, restaurant and cabins— People magazine reported $580,000, while the Herald reported $750,000. And in reviewing historical articles about Kidco’s purchase of Gorda, they raise just as many questions as they answer. Did the kids really make that much money selling manure? Was the whole thing a front for Richard Sr., general manager of Kidco, who filed for bankruptcy at the same time his kids bought the town? In an Aug. 6, 1979 feature about Kidco’s purchase of Gorda in People, journalist Sue Ellen Jares reported Richard Sr. told her, “The bankruptcy has nothing whatever to do with Kidco,” and that his assets only amounted to $5,000. This despite, Jares wrote, him driving a 1979 Cadillac Coupe De Ville leased by Kidco, and that he transferred his interest in a horse-and-barn stable to the company. The family, meanwhile, lived in a “plush” four-bedroom house in Ramona also owned by Kidco. “Several of Cessna’s creditors believe he sank his assets into Kidco to avoid debts accumulated over the past seven years,” Jares wrote. One attorney told her his finances were “muddled up in corporate shells and funny business.” A June 5, 1979 article in the Herald covered the Kidco kids unfurling Gorda’s first-ever flag the previous day, the first day the kids had ever visited the town. Meanwhile, as everyone who worked in the town was now working for Kidco, “there were reports that checks sent to some of the new employees of Kidco have bounced.” Within three weeks Kidco missed mortgage payments, and the former owners, Larry and Ruby Anderson of North Hollywood, filed a foreclosure lawsuit against Kidco, and ultimately prevailed in 1983. The Andersons again became owners of Gorda, and the town was put back on the market with an asking price of $950,000. In a 1984 Herald story, Richard Sr. attributed Kidco’s financial struggles to a slide on Highway 1 in 1982-83 that closed the road for 15 months. He said Kidco paid to fix up the houses, and his wife Joan added that attempts to install outdoor telephones were thwarted by vandals who would rip them out before the work was finished. Joan told the Herald, “The people who live there don’t want anyone else there.” That story notes that “Kidco still exists, but the youths are five years older now and busy with individual pursuits. They are now focusing their business ventures on financial investments, but not as a group.” Also quoted in that story is Jenny Oberholtzer, who managed the store and gas station. “We appreciate living here and hope we get a new owner that does too…People live here because they like to be by themselves. We got real spoiled when the road closed.” The more things change in Big Sur, the more they stay the same. Youngs Town A look back at the wild story of when four kids bought a town in Big Sur. It didn’t go well. By David Schmalz The apparent entrepreneurial success of four kids in Southern California made national news, inspired a Hollywood film and allowed them to briefly own Gorda. “The people who live there don’t want anyone else there.” TALES FROM THE AREA CODE DANIEL DREIFUSS Join us for lunch as an impressive panel of federal, state and local elected officials cover topics such as: new projects taking place in their jurisdictions, new business coming to the region and important issues that have impacts on the future viability of our economy. PRESENTED BY THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2024 PORTOLA HOTEL & SPA • 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM $75 MEMBERS • $90 PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS INCLUDES LUNCH REGISTER NOW AT MONTEREYCHAMBER.COM EVENT SPONSORS
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