[2] It is located in the San Lorenzo Valley between Boulder Creek and Ben Lomond on Highway 9.

The area was previously known as Clear Creek and then Brookville, and was the site of the Grover Lumber Mill by 1870.

James Harvey Logan, a Santa Cruz judge and creator of the loganberry, purchased the mill in 1900, created a creekside resort with cabins and camping, and established the Brookdale post office in 1902.

It was famous for decades, known especially for the stream running through its primary restaurant, the Brook Room (closed for renovation as of 2019).

[4] Started by Judge Logan, by 1922 it was owned by Dr. F. K. Camp, a Seventh-day Adventist physician, who envisioned a dining room spanning the creek and hired Horace Cotton of San Francisco to design it.

Famous persons passing through Brookdale Lodge included: Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Tyrone Power, Joan Crawford, Rita Hayworth, Hedy Lamarr, and President Herbert Hoover.

And during the San Francisco conference establishing the United Nations, world leaders and diplomats came to the lodge to relax.

The lodge was also famous for its first rate entertainment, attracting the best big band and swing groups of the era.

[9] According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 3.8 square miles (10.0 km2), all of it land.

This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F.