| Location |
| 1075 Olive Drive |
| Office Hours |
| Please call for an appointment |
| Contact |
| (530) 758-2718 |
| Website |
| http://www.slatterscourt.com/ |
| Features |
| Cottage Rentals & RV Spaces |
Slatter's Court is an affordable housing option and one of the few mobile home parks in Davis. Slatter's Court was originally owned and operated by the Slatter family. It was a roadside gas station on the Lincoln Highway which developed into a campsite, and then a tourist court. The Olive Drive gas station became a barber shop. While Slatter's Court is technically in South Davis due to being just barely South of Amtrak, it's basically a quick 1-2 block walk to downtown unless they put up the Olive Drive Railroad Fence. Slatter's Court also walking distance to the east border of the UC Davis Campus.Slatter's Court has historically been a home for both financially challenged and quirky UC Davis students and residents.
According to some residents, it's a fun place to live and the rent is reasonable. The people are cool cuz they all have an affinity for disobedience.
The laundry room at Slatter's Court has hosted art shows in the past. In July and August of 2005 the Nelson Gallery hosted a show about Slatter's Court by Terry Berlier. Here is an article in the Sacramento News and Review about Terry Berlier's film and art project for Slatter's Court.
In July 2003, 47 year old David Lawrence Beale was arrested after decomposing and mummified human body parts were found near a dumpster at Slatter's Court, where he'd lived previously. Subsequent investigations uncovered an additional 157 pounds of body parts in an Olive Drive storage locker and in a shed behind his home on Erma Lane in the Royal Oak mobile home park. Beale, a self-taught autopsy tech, admitted to collecting the parts for study over a fifteen year period.
He was arrested on felony charges of suspicion of removing human remains with the intent to sell or dissect, possession of stolen weapons and possession of methamphetamine. Two severed human heads were found in his refrigerator by a police officer.
As of April 2011, land monthly rental fees are $390 - $462 depending on trailer size with a Security Deposit of $560.00.
2007-04-30 18:47:04 I have been looking at renting from Slatters court for a while. I finally got a double wide with my best friend, the rent is so cheap-$900 a month for a three bedroom!!! i Can't wait to move it. Studios for $420, $480, and $520, the people seem nice and some a bit quirky. I will let you know more about the place once i have lived their for a while. —Desiree'
2007-10-14 22:06:32 I've known many people who lived at Slatter's Court in the past twenty-five years, and there are a number of positive aspects to the area and the community. I've known people who rented "the Big House" (#71), who lived in cabins, and who lived in trailers. Please be aware that some people are driven RAVING CRAZY by the process of dealing with the office and landlord. A prospective renter really should find a way to hear some stories & see whether they could be happy with that kind of attitude towards maintenance and repairs. Because the cabins are old now, and they weren't exactly build to last... Still, some people are able to adjust their expectations, appreciate the Olive Drive vibe, and feel that "it's a fun place to live and the rent is reasonable." —DougWalter
2008-06-25 17:16:19 I don't think it works like other parks where you bring you own trailer or mobile home. It seems like they own the trailers as well and people just rent from them. Although you might ask them. —Innisfree
2009-01-22 22:57:06 In about '71, when I was 12, I became friends with Francis Wilkins whose family ran Slatters Court at the time. They lived in #71 which even then was called The Big House. There were six kids; Stephen, Mary, Francis, Joe, Maritn, and Martha. I think you can still see the repair that had to be done to the garage next to the house when Mrs Wilkins tried to pull the Travelall into the garage with the boat still on top. There was a store at the entrance directly across the from the Barber Shop that we called The Little Store and it was run by Mr and Mrs Chase who lived with their son, Jay, in one of the two trailers that were on the east side of #71. Francis was a hard working kid who would do work around the place outside of regular kid chores for $1.65 an hour which was the minimum wage at the time. I thought it was unusual that Francis would spend his own money for a haircut from Frank The Barber until I saw the haircuts his mom gave. She did a modified bowl cut that looked like she cocked the bowl over to the side before cutting around the rim. Now, in the mid 80s that would have been a hip and stylish asymmetrical bob but at the time it just looked strange. My theory was that she figured by having the hair longer on one side it would always look like it was combed to the side. Maybe I give her too much credit. The smallest bungalow in the place was right next to the back gate to the SP tracks-#47 or maybe 49-where Mr Ord lived. It was maybe 8 by 10 feet. I don't think it even had a toilet. There were some buildings with showers and toilets and sinks spaced around Slatters Court for the bungalows and people with little travel trailers back in the campsite days that didn't have showers. Mr Ord mowed lawns. His arms hung oddly in front of him permanently in lawnmower-gripping position. Each day his brother would pick him up from in front the big cork oak by Guiseppie's Restaurant. There was a worn circle at the base of the tree with a little path coming off of it that went out to the edge of the pavement. Mr Ord wore that spot out waiting for his brother under the tree occasionally walking out to the street to look down Olive Drive for his brother's truck. He seldom spoke (maybe he never spoke) and sort of gave me the creeps which I felt guilty about because it seemed sort of sad living in that tiny place. Once the Wilkinses went on a trip so I took Francis's place cleaning the shower rooms and the bathroom in the building that was called the hall which had a long hallway with men's rooms off of it and at one end a communal (shared, anyway)kitchen and one or two bathrooms with showers. When Francis was showing me the ropes he showed me where Ray The Bum kept his razor; sort of behind a the hot water heater in one of the shower rooms. Ray The Bum lived it a pile of stuff with corrugated metal on top of it next to the tracks behind the group of houses situated on the other side of Slatters Court's eastern fence. I call it a pile of stuff because it was too short, in my opinion, to be a shack. It was maybe three and a half, four feet high in there. Francis showed me the inside once. There was a console TV-no electricity but there was a TV. In the winter when it was real cold or rainy they let Ray The Bum sleep in the lobby (if you want to call it that) of the Hotel Aggie. —JohnBaker
2009-08-22 09:17:42 I'm curious. I'm thinking of moving here. What is someone trying to say about this place. For example, it says above wehre the place has 'an affinity for disobedience', and then the news clipping about human body parts. Is this a joke, or is the place a dangerous place to live? Fill me in. I don't want to make a mistake moving here. I'm in poverty and need affordabe, peaceful housing. Is this a good place for this. —paige42
2009-10-02 13:14:31 To: paige42:
Slatter's is probably the cheapest and closest to downtown Davis you will find. I can say from experience that it is a safe and friendly place. I would recommend it. —jchammons
2009-10-27 12:37:44 I have lived here for five years. My assesment is that the Davis Trailer Park is a very quiet qnd safe place to live. There is nice mix of peiple that are friendly and watchful of their neighbors. For residents who like privacy, Ellen George the property mamager, stays clear of your ordinary doings but will intervene only when something is amiss. The property is well maintained and improved on as requierd for a high quality of living. —jrhudson
2010-02-17 03:12:31 I've been living here for a few years. It's been run down, but the owners have been putting some money back into it recently. They had to replace the roofs, and I suppose they decided if they'd already made the investment, they might as well get the place a little better to live in. Maintainence requests are now being handled promptly and with alarming efficiency. Make no mistake, it's OLD, and is showing it, but it's livable. A good place for someone determined to live without housemates.
The Beale case was a bit shocking, having happened about 100 feet from my front door. Nothing like coming home and finding a notice from the police: "Hmmm.. what have we here.. police.. suspicious activity.. call if.. wait.. *Human Body Parts*?!". I slept with a machete under my pillow until they caught him.
Upsides: Cheap rent, close to downtown, good sense of community and tolerant of oddballs. Downsides: Train tracks located immediately adjacent to the park (one section is even named 'Sleepless Hollow'), very small cabins, and the afore-mentioned oddball neighbors. —Flynn
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Hahaha I hope you're a very still sleeper... didn't lose any ears or fingers or anything with that machete under the pillow? —TomGarberson
2014-11-17 10:58:11 Consider this before renting from Ellen Contini of 1075 Olive Drive (Slatter's Court) and 1502 Olive Drive)
Local Davis Community Lives In Fear Of Old, Potentially Dangerous Trees November 16, 2014 10:17 PM Share on email 4 View Comments Related Tags: arborist, City of Davis, Davis, mobile home park, Trees Anjali Hemphill
DAVIS (CBS13) – Vivian Brecheisen says she’s complained for years and nothing has been done to remove the several trees near her Davis home she says could fall at any moment.
“We are stuck living under this pit and pending doom,” Brecheisen said.
Brecheisen claims large tree branches fall in her neighborhood and put people in danger.
“Right above our mailboxes over here is the most dangerous tree,” Brecheisen said. “If it comes down it could take out my house.”
Brecheisen lives at a mobile home park off Olive Drive where she says many of the trees are old and in bad condition.
“You see how it’s bored out,” Brecheisen said.
And she says over the years, branches have come crashing down onto people’s homes, cars or pathways near common areas.
“There was a storm and a tree limb fell on the back of my car, crushed the whole back side and took out the window and crushed the frame of the car,” said David Benson, another resident of the mobile home park.
Before Benson moved here, he lived on the owner’s other property just down the street where he says a large branch fell and destroyed his car.
“There’s been a trend around here of tree limbs falling and people getting their property damaged,” Benson said.
The property manager tells CBS13 they do have constant tree maintenance on both their properties and have removed several trees that were unsafe. They also say they use chains to reinforce some of the older trees.
But Brecheisen says that’s not enough, and fears the next looming storm could leave them at risk.
“It was cracking in the wind; you could hear it cracking,” Brecheisen said.
A former resident here says he is already in the middle of a lawsuit with his insurance company and the property owner regarding a tree that fell and damaged his trailer.
The City of Davis says they are not responsible for the trees because they are on private property. The city arborist recommends, if you’re in the same situation, to send a certified letter to your insurance company to settle the matter in civil court. —DavidBenson
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