Riker preached celibacy, temperance and white supremacy. To draw travelers on the old road between San Jose and Santa Cruz he built a service station, restaurant, observatory and soda stand, with signs that local historians describe as racist and sexist. A radio station went on the air there in 1924.
When Highway 17 opened in the 1940s the town was no longer on the main route. It was disincorporated in 1959, several buildings burned, and Riker died in 1969.