California City, CA

02/10/2010

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Nat Mendelsohn had a very, very large dream that was never realized. He purchased 80,000 acres in the Mojave Desert in 1958 and called it California City. He called it many things, apparently, as all the streets have been named.

But look at this google map and you’ll find there is no there there.

Much more than a ghost town, this is a full-scale ghost city — a city that was never built. In celebration of Obscura Day on March 20th, there will be a photographic tour of this “unintentional land art” hosted by the author of BLDGBLOG (one of my favorite minimalist blogs). Though I will be unable to join this road trip expedition, I do wish Google Street View would make it out there.

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Geoff Manaugh 02/17/2010 at 7:19 pm

Thanks for the shout-out! It should be a good trip – at the very least, it’ll be unique for that fact that its destination is a place that never really happened…

I’ll be posting photos and what not from the exhibition after we get back. Too bad you can’t make it!

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thistinyhouse 02/18/2010 at 9:02 pm

Hope you have a good turnout… I look forward to the photos!

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