California City

Lamont Odett Vista Point in Palmdale as seen on the way to California City from Los Angeles. Canon AE-1 + Ektar 100 — Lamont Odett Vista Point in Palmdale as seen on the way to California City from Los Angeles.
*Canon AE-1 + Ektar 100*

It would be incredibly difficult to capture the full story of California City in one web post. Even if I did go to the distance to write it all out, I doubt I could tell the tale as well as journalist Emily Geurin already has. It was her podcast series from LAist Studios and Southern California Public Radio that drew me in week after week. And it was also that series that inspired me to snag a rental car and make the 1.5 hour drive from Los Angeles.

I can’t recommend the podcast enough, but I also realize that for the sake of this post, some context is needed. So, without giving too much away (because the entire series is truly well worth a detailed listen), here’s a quick synopsis:

What’s known today as California City has its roots in the continent’s colonial past. Originally a camp for Franciscan missions, the area became an industrial waypoint as the Twenty Mule Team passed through with loads of borax on their way to the railroad in nearby Mojave, CA. By the mid-20th century, an entrepreneur by the name of Nathan “Nat” K. Mendelsohn sought to develop the area into a planned community that might one day rival Los Angeles. Mendelsohn purchased thousands of acres and constructed amenities such as a grand central park, multiple golf courses, and lavish public buildings designed by famed architects. His vision was fueled and financed by land speculation. Essentially: numerous plots of land were sold to speculators who were given property that could (or, rather, were advertised as “would”) one day be worth a great deal as the town grew. Over time, though, the dream of California City was barely realized. Even after Mendelsohn was out of the picture, the “land banking” scheme continued under various organizations with plots being sold via infomercials and arranged trips of potential investors to the town. Aggressive sales tactics and allegations of fraud marked the project and its various promoters from the beginning. Famed consumer advocate Ralph Nader and “Nader’s Raiders” even once tried to stop the California City land sale programs. However, various schemes would continue to toe the legal lines well up and into the 21st Century. The story of those personal, legal, and financial ramifications is still playing out today (as expertly reported on in the aforementioned podcast). What’s left are various structures of the city’s once grand vision such as a central park with a dried up waterfall and weed choked pathways.

When I arrived, I was surprised to find the city wasn’t as desolate or remote as I had imagined when listening to the audio stories. The nearby town of Mojave with its interstate and railroad connections isn’t too far away and California City itself features the usual American trappings of fast food and strip malls. While much of the surrounding desert is a hotbed for motorsports, these long stretches of barren landscape are also where the area’s history sets in. This is where one finds the roads to nowhere, denoted by modern street sights and laid out like an atypical community, but completely void of homes and people. Still, if one were to pass through unaware of the area’s sordid past and history of financial swindling, the town might seem like any other aging exurban community. That’s where the podcast comes in and brilliantly shines a light on the full scope of the area’s story.

So, after listening and finding myself in Los Angeles, I made the drive and made the following photographs.