The Weird Story of California City

[mheaton76]

This never realized LA suburb-in-the-making presents a strong case against too much sprawl.

"In the desert 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles is a suburb abandoned in advance of itself—the unfinished extension of a place called California City. Visible from above now are a series of badly paved streets carved into the dust and gravel, like some peculiarly American response to the Nazca Lines (or even the labyrinth at Chartres cathedral). The uninhabited street plan has become an abstract geoglyph—unintentional land art visible from airplanes—not a thriving community at all."

The rest is here: BLDGBLOG: California City

[kevinpate]

The comments to the article were quite interesting. Thanks for pointing the way

[Curt]

What a waste of land and rescources...a shame.

[jdcf]

When my father retired, he became a realtor and was associated with California City development. That as in the 1970's I believe, perhaps 1980's.

(I need to find out if he ever bought any property there.)

The drawing card was that LA would eventually build a new airport near California City.