The Historic Brookdale Lodge, Santa Cruz Mountains

Our family had such a great time here. We found this lil gem because we wanted to get away from downtown Santa Cruz and expand our search to find this beautiful wooded area. We love the location! It is such a beautiful and peaceful place to enjoy a few days. The lodge was pretty cool, and the rooms were definitely spacious and clean. Love the bathroom, hot water, nice lighted led mirror upgrade. It was nice to have the fridge/ freezer combo. **Now for the unexpected part... we were unaware that the Brookdale lodge was known for being haunted until the day before we were set to arrive. We were a little nervous but decided we would be ok as long as we didn't go looking for anything or inviting anything in with us. However, our first night, we were up a little late watching movies and heard some pretty loud thumping noises & footsteps coming from above us. We were in room 107 and heard this above us in 207. Honestly, we didn't think anything of it and just figured obviously there were people upstairs moving around and up just like us. The second night, around 2am, we were woken up by even louder footsteps and noises. We could hear someone literally running back and forth, then almost like someone was jumping up and down. We sat there for a little bit and thought maybe we should say something to the front desk in the morning. It eventually stopped, and we went back to bed. Later that morning, we were watching TV and getting ready to leave when we heard the loud thumps again overhead. We all looked at each other and started laughing, not knowing what kind of party was going on upstairs again. Shortly, we headed out the door to go to the boardwalk when we ran into Fabi. She was cleaning the rooms next door, so we asked if she knew if there were a lot of people staying in the room above us, and she said no. She told us her friend works upstairs and she had rooms to clean but not any that were around us......

The coffee pot didn't work very well and wished it was stocked with a lil more coffee and tea. I wished the diner was open every morning for coffee & tea, but it is closed on Mondays & Tuesdays.

Great location to enjoy a quiet 4th of July. Updated clean & large room with a balcony. Bathroom was clean & updated. Comfortable bed & furniture. Good job on the renovation. Friendly hardworking staff. Very peaceful environment among the redwoods. Onsite store & diner was a plus!

I had requested a ground floor room when I made the reservation & was disappointed the front desk employee told me there were none available. I had also informed on my reservation I had a 14lb dog & the front desk employee had to change me to the building where only pets stay. I guess the Brookdale Lodge can't guarantee requests. So it was a hassle walking my dog @ night trying to navigate the steep flight of stairs, me being a 67 year old senior traveling with my senior wife & senior canine. But we managed!

The property is in the mist of a remodel/renovation but I absolutely loved everything about it. I’d never heard of it or new it’s history before I arrived but I instantly fell in love with it. The location is perfect being surrounded by redwoods and only a couple minutes from Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek. The room was spacious and very comfortable, especially the bed. It’s nice having a porch and being able to almost black out the room while sleeping was great. All the staff was nice and accommodating. And their market has most anything you might need if you don’t feel like driving the 2 mins to town. I plan to be back often and can’t wait to see it when renovations are complete. Especially the Ballroom with the river running through it. This spot was a great find!

The only thing I didn’t like is that I didn’t find this place sooner

Oh we had an experience at this lodge. We were there when the storm came this year and our worker/brother was snowed in there. No one could get off the mountain and my partner and I were up in Humboldt snowed in on an entirely different mountain. The people at the this lodge went above and beyond to make sure our guy that was stuck there was ok until we could get to him and off the mountain. They also have a nice restaurant and a store attached to the property that you can get supplies and eat at. It was nice. WE have stayed there again since and they offer live music on the weekends, it's beautiful up there.

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Room big, back patio, microwave and fridge with freezer, big bed, nice bathroom with small window. Bar tender Jimmy very nice. Great breakfast and very nice staff there at restaurant. Active for paranormal in room.

Bed a bit stiff, not too bad, but not soft. One female staff member was a bit cranky, parking very crowded, work trucks taking up more spaces, no extra toilet paper or Kleenex in room, ran out first day. Restaurants hours were not opened most time we were there. Mon & Tue Disappointed about Brook room being closed, but understandable with remodeling.

The place is clearly an older facility, but it has undergone some nice renovations. I have seen other renovations at facilities that were mere band-aids to cover problems. These updates were well done, using quality materials, and you can tell that the staff is working hard to maintain the facility and keep it comfortable while not losing the charm of decades past. The little cafe below is excellent. The food was great and the service quite good.

This facility is on a very busy road. If you are bothered by heavy traffic and road noise, this will drive you nuts.

Excellent stay and very nice and accommodating staff. Comfort in these ca spacious rooms was very nice.

I wish I could have toured the old dinner area where the water ran through the dining area. It looked beautiful in its days and it will be nice to see it open in the future. You could have a dinner and story telling regarding the history. I believe it would be a weekend event that will book up.

For some reason I'm being prompted to submit another review. So, other things that I liked about the property were the onsite market, friendly front desk employees, and friendly housekeeping staff. I loved the isolation of the location and rooms, it was a great place to journal, soul search, and rest. I was also grateful, the front desk provided me a microwave upon request, very helpful.

Again, nothing could have been better.

Loved the location in the beautiful trees. The room was clean and comfortable, looks to be recently renovated (possibly). There was a live band playing when we arrived. People were dancing and enjoying themselves. We enjoyed from our balcony that had a table and chairs. There’s a diner next door which was clean and had decent breakfast.

The outside of the building is a bit run down, and the stairs to the room felt a bit rickety. I didn’t see an elevator option , but I didn’t need one. There’s a 10pm noise curfew but people were outside our room talking until 2am. I luckily wear earplugs so I was able to sleep. There was a bit of highway noise also.

The location is amazing, situated amoungst the trees with a creek on the property. The creek actually flows through a part of the hotel that used to be a restaruant but it look liked it has been closed for repairs for quite some time, and didn't look to be opening again any time soon. There is another restaurant on site with great food plus an awesome bar with amazing bartenders! They have live music very often, looks to be mostly every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday if not more. One night the band played on the patio which was a great setting for music and fun. Rooms and large and clean and the beds are really comfortable too!

If the resturant with the creek running through it was open that would have made the place a 10 out of 10. I understand the hotel is historic and things require repair however, so it wasn't that big of a deal. They do have another restaurant that is open which looks to be a 50s diner but their food is 5 star and they will bring it to the bar area so that works well!