Inside the Wealthy California Enclave So Secretive People Barely Know It Exists

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Real Estate | Luxury Homes
Inside the Wealthy California Enclave So Secretive People Barely Know It Exists
With no lawns or mailboxes, Smoke Tree Ranch has long drawn some of America’s richest families to its Wild West feel and inconspicuous, ranch-style homes

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Former Marvel Enterprises CEO Eric Ellenbogen purchased a home at Smoke Tree Ranch in Palm Springs, Calif., in 2021 for $3.95 million.

By Katherine Clarke | Photographs by Yuri Hasegawa for WSJ
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Feb. 6, 2025 9:00 pm ET

In front of Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World, a bronze sculpture depicts the park’s creator, Walt Disney, hand-in-hand with Mickey Mouse, his iconic creation. What most visitors don’t notice, however, is a tiny insignia on Disney’s tie incorporating the letters S, T and R.

The letters are a subtle nod to Disney’s longtime membership in a community that is the closest thing in the real-estate world to a secret society. For years, Disney and his wife, Lillian Disney, were among the self-described “colonists” who spent the winter at Palm Springs’ Smoke Tree Ranch, one of the most exclusive private real-estate communities in the country.

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