I have been intrigued by California City for years. Today, we took the detour to visit the Land of the Sun for ourselves.
When I researched it, several articles, with less than flattering titles, appeared: The Unbuilt Suburb; The Largest City Never Build; The Broken Promise of California City... the list is long. I had to see it for myself.With LA and the Bay Area having a housing crisis, Nat Mendelsohn, a sociologist who studied the structure of towns and villages, and a Columbia University professor—was eager to get in on the postwar development boom. In 1958, he bought 82,000 acres of land—about 125 square miles—in the Mojave Desert and dreamed of transforming it into a thriving city composed of neighborhoods for medicine, commerce, industry, and academia.
And it was meant to be a place where families could thrive: A three-bedroom house, purchased on spec, started at $8,700 and Mendelsohn built amenities to sweeten the deal, like a golf course, a 20-acre lake, a swimming pool, and recreation fields. He also carved out a street grid and installed water and power infrastructure, readying the land for buildings that never came.A system of suburban style, curved streets and cul-de-sacs was plotted, encompassing over 200 square miles and 81,000 lots.
Despite all of the city planning and marketing of California City, the population did not increase at the rates hoped for by the investors. The marketing of California City was aimed at people in the greater Los Angeles area who wanted to escape the smog and congestion of the urban city and live in a completely planned and organized city. With gold, silver, and borax mines, as well as a military base, jobs were available.
It was and still is the 3rd largest city, by area, in the state and the 11th largest, by area, in the nation. There are lots of opportunities in the desert. Here's to dreams being fulfilled... wherever they may be.
posted under |
0 comments:
Post a Comment