Desert Center, California
Encyclopedia
"Desert Steve" Ragsdale
The town was founded in 1921 by Stephen A. Ragsdale, also known as “Desert Steve”, and his wife, Lydia. Ragsdale was an itinerantItinerant
An itinerant is a person who travels from place to place with no fixed home. The term comes from the late 16th century: from late Latin itinerant , from the verb itinerari, from Latin iter, itiner ....
preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
and cotton farmer, originally from Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. In 1915, he left his farm in the Palo Verde Valley along the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
to attend to some business in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. The road between Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
and Los Angeles was mostly sand, and Ragsdale's vehicle broke down near a place called Gruendyke's Well. This featured a hand-dug well and was inhabited by a prospector
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
named Bill Gruendyke. Gruendyke rescued Ragsdale and gave him food, shelter, and water until his vehicle was repaired and he could resume his journey to Los Angeles.
Upon his return, Ragsdale bought out Gruendyke and moved his family to the remote spot, where they constructed a small shack with a lean-to
Lean-to
A lean-to is a term used to describe a roof with a single slope. The term also applies to a variety of structures that are built using a lean-to roof....
that served as the repair garage. A Model T truck
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...
was modified to serve as a tow car
Tow truck
A tow truck is a vehicle used to transport motor vehicles to another location , or to recover vehicles which are no longer on a drivable surface.Towing services are generally provided by an emergency road service operator...
. Gasoline was pumped by hand from a 55 gallon drum. Lydia served food and refreshments to thirsty and weary travelers. In spite of the remote location 50 miles (80.5 km) in any direction from anything, the Ragsdales prospered. Ragsdale named his outpost 'Desert Center'. In 1921, it was announced that the sand road running through Desert Center would be relocated about 5 miles (8 km) north, straightened, paved, and named U.S. Route 60, a modern "high-speed" highway. Ragsdale abandoned "old Desert Center" and built a poured-concrete café in the adobe style with an attached gasoline station and a huge service garage
Automobile repair shop
An automobile repair shop is a place where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and electricians.- Types :The automotive garage can be divided in so many category....
. Across the road, a series of wooden structures were built, including a market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
(which at one time was the largest Coleman
Coleman Company
Coleman Company, Inc., is an American company that specializes in outdoor recreation products. Historically, Coleman is known for camping gear....
camping equipment dealer in the country), and a post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
. He also built several cabins for travelers, and a large "plunge" (swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
) next to the café where travelers could escape the desert heat.
Ragsdale was a desert eccentric of the first order, and his advertising for Desert Center in publications such as 'The Desert' magazine reflected his personality: "U Need Us - We Need U", "Our Main Street is 100-miles long!", "We lost our keys... we can't close!" (a reference to the fact that the café' has been open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year since it opened in 1921), "Free Room and Board Every Day The Sun Doesn't Shine In Desert Center", "If You Don't Believe Me, You Can Go To Hell, or Visit Me in Desert Center in August! Nuf sed, Steve".
Ragsdale was a teetotaler and once hung a sign on the door of the café which read, "No Drunks. No Dogs. We prefer dogs." He was known to take a stick to travelers who were drunk in his café.
When Ragsdale needed a teacher for his own children and the few others in the town, the county declined to send one; there weren't enough students to warrant the expense. Ragsdale hastily built a basic structure of stick framing with paper board walls to use as a school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
house, and placed an ad in Los Angeles newspapers asking for an auto mechanic with a large family, which he got, and a teacher was indeed provided by the county.
One morning, the town awoke to find that goats had gotten loose and had eaten the paper board walls of the school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
house as high as they could stand on their hind legs. The Ragsdales still have a photo of the goat-eaten schoolhouse.
Ragsdale frequently retreated to his writing shack near the north tip of the rock formation called "The Alligator
Alligator
An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....
" (across I-10 from DC) where he composed bad poetry - the stanzas are referred to as "Spasm #1", etc. - to be distributed in booklet form to travelers. Ragsdale was a close friend of many classic "desert people" such as Randall Henderson, founder of Desert Magazine
Desert Magazine
Desert Magazine was a monthly regional publication based in the Colorado Desert, in the Coachella Valley town of Palm Desert near Palm Springs, United States.-Editors:...
; Marshall South, the hermit
Hermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
of Ghost Mountain
Ghost Mountain
Ghost Mountain is the name given by US Army servicemen in 1942 to a mountain in the Owen Stanley Range in the South East of Papua New Guinea, also known locally as 'Suwemalla' or more officially as 'Mt. Obree'. Ghost Mountain rises to ....
; desert painter John Hilton (painter); noted biologist Edmund C. Jaeger; and Harry Oliver
Harry Oliver
Harold "Pee-Wee" Oliver was a Canadian ice hockey forward who played for the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League and the Boston Bruins and New York Americans of the National Hockey League . He was a member of the Tigers' 1924 WCHL championship and won the Stanley Cup with the...
, with whom Steve co-founded the annual Pegleg Smith Liar's Contest in Anza-Borrego. Oliver often printed items about Desert Steve in his 'newspaper,' the Desert Rat Scrap Book
Desert Rat Scrap Book
The Desert Rat Scrap Book was a quarterly, southwestern humor publication based in Thousand Palms, California. DRSB was published in editions of 10,000 to 20,000 copies, whenever its creator, Harry Oliver had sufficient material, and money enough to pay the printer...
.
Within a few years, Ragsdale operated a number of satellite businesses in locations such as Cactus City, Hell
Hell, California
Hell is a locale in Riverside County, California, United States, approximately west of Blythe on Interstate 10.-History:Hell was founded by Charles Carr in 1954. As of 1958 Carr, his wife, and their ten-year-old son Terry were the only inhabitants...
, Skyway
Skyway
In an urban setting, a skyway, catwalk, sky bridge, or skywalk is a type of pedway consisting of an enclosed or covered bridge between two buildings. This protects pedestrians from the weather. These skyways are usually owned by businesses, and are therefore not public spaces...
, Box Canyon, and (Shaver's Well).
Around 1950, Steve was accused of dallying with an office worker in his employ and left Desert Center in disgrace, living the rest of his days in self-imposed exile at his log cabin retreat near the summit of Santa Rosa Mountain
Santa Rosa Mountains (California)
The Santa Rosa Mountains are a short mountain range in the Peninsular Ranges system, located east of the Los Angeles Basin and northeast of the San Diego metropolitan area of southern California, in the Southwestern United States.-Geography:...
. His sons, Stanley, Thurman, and Herbert, took over operations of Desert Center, and Stanley eventually purchased the town from his father. Stanley ran it for decades, adding a hamburger stand and the Stanco gasoline station.
"Desert Steve" Ragsdale died in 1971 and is buried in the Coachella Valley Public Cemetery.
Managed health care origin
In the early 1930s, Dr. Sidney R. GarfieldSidney R. Garfield
Sidney R. Garfield . A medical doctor who co-founded the Kaiser Permanente healthcare system with businessman Henry J...
, who had just graduated from USC, went to visit a former classmate with a practice in Indio
Indio
Indio may refer to:* Indio, California* Indio, person of indigenous peoples of the Americas* The Spanish Colonial racial term for the native Austronesian peoples of the Philippines between the 16th and 19th centuriesSpecific people:...
. The practice was thriving to capacity, while Garfield was nearly without business in Depression-era Los Angeles. Garfield's friend explained that he was the closest doctor (50 miles) to 5,000 men digging the Colorado River Aqueduct
Colorado River Aqueduct
The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California . The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu on the California-Arizona border west across the Mojave...
under direction of The Seven Companies, Inc. The project site's headquarters was just southeast of Desert Center. Garfield borrowed money from his father and constructed a 4-bed clinic
Clinic
A clinic is a health care facility that is primarily devoted to the care of outpatients...
near the construction site. The clinic was cooled by an ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
air-conditioning system and at the time was the only air-conditioned building between Riverside
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
and Phoenix. Garfield would treat the men, who would promise to pay on payday, but who would usually go to Blythe or Indio and drink their paychecks
Payroll
In a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Payroll plays a major role in a company for several reasons...
. Within a year, Garfield was broke and announced that he would pull up stakes.
Hearing this, Henry J. Kaiser
Henry J. Kaiser
Henry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente health care...
, whose division of the Six Companies, Inc. was building the stretch of the Colorado River Aqueduct
Colorado River Aqueduct
The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California . The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu on the California-Arizona border west across the Mojave...
through the Desert Center vicinity, paid a visit to Garfield at his clinic. His idea was to take a nickel a week out of each man's paycheck to prepay for that man's future medical treatments, should an injury occur while he was working. If the man wanted to be covered for the remainder of the day, after work hours, another nickel would be deducted. If the man had a wife and/or children he wanted to cover, this would cost another nickel. Within a short time, Garfield had a steady income stream and things improved for him immensely. When the aqueduct project was finished, Kaiser's next venture was the construction of the Grand Coulee dam
Grand Coulee Dam
Grand Coulee Dam is a gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation. It was constructed between 1933 and 1942, originally with two power plants. A third power station was completed in 1974 to increase its energy...
, and he took Garfield with him to manage the workers' health care, but this time there were 50,000 men, not just 5000.
Garfield's operation evolved into Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
, the largest managed health care system
Managed care
...intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on...
in the world, but its origins are in Desert Center. Dr. Garfield's sister unveiled the plaque that is on a boulder next to the grocery honoring Desert Center as the birthplace of pre-paid health care
Managed care
...intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on...
. Stanley and Crystal Ragsdale named one of their sons Sidney in honour of Dr. Garfield. Unfortunately, Kaiser Permanente does not serve the area where it started (zip code 92239), even though it serves areas as close as Indio.
General Patton - Desert Training Center
By 1942, Desert Center had very few residents. It was then that the Army, under the direction of Maj. General George Patton, established the Desert Center Army Air Field to support operations in the California-Arizona Maneuver Area. The base covered 18000 square miles (46,619.8 km²). Its purpose was to train troops for combat in the deserts of North AfricaNorth Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
against the forces of German Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
. The enormous operation came to a close in 1944, when the Allies were victorious in the North African theatre. A museum honoring Patton and his training complex is located in Chiriaco Summit.
After the military’s departure, the town became quiet again, remaining relatively unchanged as the old U.S. Route 60/70 was replaced by Interstate 10.
Eagle Mountain Mine
The site of Kaiser SteelKaiser Steel
Kaiser Ventures is an American corporation, headquartered in Ontario, California. It was founded by Henry J. Kaiser to provide steel plate for the Pacific Coast shipbuilding industry, which expanded during World War II, then shrank, then expanded again during the Korean War...
Eagle Mountain
Eagle Mountain, California
Eagle Mountain, California is a modern day ghost town, in the Colorado Desert, in Riverside County founded in 1948 by noted industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. The town is located at the entrance of the now-defunct Eagle Mountain iron mine, once owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad, then Kaiser Steel,...
Mine, one of the largest open-pit
Open-pit mining
Open-pit mining or opencast mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow....
iron mining operations in the world, is located about 13 miles (20.9 km) north of Desert Center. The rich iron ore deposit was discovered by geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
s employed by Henry J. Kaiser
Henry J. Kaiser
Henry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente health care...
during construction of the Colorado River Aqueduct
Colorado River Aqueduct
The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California . The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu on the California-Arizona border west across the Mojave...
in the early 1930s. The Eagle Mountain Mine operated at capacity from World War II until it shut down in the late 1980s.
Movies have used the mine as a filming location
Filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...
, including scenes from the Terminator II (1990 film)
Terminator II (1990 film)
Terminator II is a 1990 Italian science fiction film written by Claudio Fragasso and directed by Bruno Mattei.-Background:...
- 3-D first Terminator movie.
A for-profit prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
was operated by Utah's Management and Training Corporation here in facilities leased from Kaiser Steel. Six weeks before it was closed on December 31, 2003, a race riot claimed the lives of two African-American prisoners.
Plans for a project to operate an enormous waste management
Waste management
Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal,managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics...
landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
at the mine site were stopped by environmentalists' legal actions taken to protect the surrounding Colorado Desert
Colorado Desert
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. The Colorado Desert region encompasses approximately , reaching from the Mexican border in the south to the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the north and from the Colorado River in...
ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
and the groundwater
Groundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...
aquifer
Aquifer
An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
.
Desert Center today
Today, though showing its age, the town still survives. In addition to supporting tourism by providing sparse amenities for travelers crossing the vast expanse of desert between the Colorado RiverColorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
and Indio
Indio
Indio may refer to:* Indio, California* Indio, person of indigenous peoples of the Americas* The Spanish Colonial racial term for the native Austronesian peoples of the Philippines between the 16th and 19th centuriesSpecific people:...
, it is home to agricultural farms, a couple of mobile home parks
Trailer park
A trailer park is a semi-permanent or permanent area for mobile homes or travel trailers. The main reasons for living in such trailer parks are the often lower cost compared to other housing, and the ability to move to a new area more quickly and easily, for example when changing jobs to another...
frequented by “snowbird
Snowbird
Snowbird may refer to:*"Snowbird" , recorded by Anne Murray in 1970*Snowbird , people from Canada and the northern United States who spend winter in warmer climates of the southern United States*Snowbird , a Marvel Comics character...
s,” and the Lake Tamarisk community founded by the Kaiser Steel Corporation
Kaiser Steel
Kaiser Ventures is an American corporation, headquartered in Ontario, California. It was founded by Henry J. Kaiser to provide steel plate for the Pacific Coast shipbuilding industry, which expanded during World War II, then shrank, then expanded again during the Korean War...
. Desert Center Airport (FAA designator: L64) has a 4200 feet (1,280.2 m) runway, but last operated as a public airport in 1992. It is now privately owned.
The 1980s saw a surge of growth in Desert Center as jojoba
Jojoba
Jojoba, pronounced , is a shrub native to the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of Arizona, California, and Mexico. It is the sole species of the family Simmondsiaceae, placed in the order Caryophyllales. It is also known as goat nut, deer nut, pignut, wild hazel, quinine nut, coffeeberry, and gray box...
gained popularity. The brackish water, sandy soil, and dry weather make the area ideal for cultivation of this hardy desert plant whose oil is used chiefly in cosmetic products.
In 2010 Desert Center became home to the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, a professional grade track that can be rented by clubs and individuals.
In the early 1990s, Stanley Ragsdale commissioned the planting of several hundred palm trees in strange patterns on the town’s frontage with Interstate 10. When asked why, he said he always wanted a “tree-ring circus.” Since his death in 1999, the trees have fallen into disrepair and many have died.
Despite many changes in the modern world, Desert Center is a true survivor – a town that not only refuses to die, it thrives and continues to provide a safe haven for travelers. It is a fitting monument to its founder, who once said, “Even the woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
owes his success to the fact that he uses his head.”
Services
The community is served by State Route 177 and Interstate 10. Most wirelinePlain old telephone service
Plain old telephone service is the voice-grade telephone service that remains the basic form of residential and small business service connection to the telephone network in many parts of the world....
phone numbers in Desert Center and Lake Tamarisk are served by Verizon from the (760)227-xxxx exchange. Additionally, Desert Center is served by Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) via the (760)205 and (760)437 exchanges (per the Telecordia Local Exchange Routing Guide). As of 2000, a Caltrans maintenance station existed at 29476 Ragsdale Rd.
Local school children are part of the Desert Center Unified School District
Desert Center Unified School District
Desert Center Unified School District is located in the eastern part of Riverside County in California. The district services the unincorporated areas of Eagle Mountain, Desert Center, Lake Tamarisk and Chiriaco Summit.-Closed schools:* Desert Center School...
. Elementary and middle school children attend Eagle Mountain School in Eagle Mountain, California
Eagle Mountain, California
Eagle Mountain, California is a modern day ghost town, in the Colorado Desert, in Riverside County founded in 1948 by noted industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. The town is located at the entrance of the now-defunct Eagle Mountain iron mine, once owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad, then Kaiser Steel,...
, while high school age children are bussed daily to Blythe, California
Blythe, California
Blythe is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the "Palo Verde Valley" of the Lower Colorado River Valley region, an agricultural area and part of the Colorado Desert along the Colorado River. Blythe was named after Thomas Blythe, a gold prospector who established primary...
.
Lake Tamarisk (community )
Lake Tamarisk is a community about one and three quarter miles north of Interstate 10 off Kaiser Road at 33°44′20"N 115°23′20"W, and on the Desert Center 7.5-minute quadrangle. The community has a golf courseGolf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
with low greens fees.
Both the Lake Tamarisk
Tamarix
The genus Tamarix is composed of about 50-60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa...
Library and Riverside County Fire Station 49 are located at 43880 Lake Tamarisk Drive in Lake Tamarisk.
Demographics
The 2010 United States Census reported that Desert Center had a population of 204. The population densityPopulation density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 6.7 people per square mile (2.6/km²). The racial makeup of Desert Center was 164 (80.4%) White, 1 (0.5%) African American, 3 (1.5%) Native American, 2 (1.0%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 25 (12.3%) from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 9 (4.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 38 persons (18.6%).
The Census reported that 203 people (99.5% of the population) lived in households, 1 (0.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.
There were 85 households, out of which 20 (23.5%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 37 (43.5%) were opposite-sex married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 10 (11.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1 (1.2%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 3 (3.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
POSSLQ
POSSLQ is an abbreviation for "Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters," a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of cohabitation in American households....
, and 0 (0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 33 households (38.8%) were made up of individuals and 15 (17.6%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39. There were 48 families
Family (U.S. Census)
A family or family household is defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes as "a householder and one or more other people related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. They do not include same-sex married couples even if the marriage was performed in a state...
(56.5% of all households); the average family size was 3.19.
The population was spread out with 40 people (19.6%) under the age of 18, 12 people (5.9%) aged 18 to 24, 43 people (21.1%) aged 25 to 44, 64 people (31.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 45 people (22.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47.5 years. For every 100 females there were 106.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.5 males.
There were 140 housing units at an average density of 4.6 per square mile (1.8/km²), of which 61 (71.8%) were owner-occupied, and 24 (28.2%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 8.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 33.3%. 147 people (72.1% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 56 people (27.5%) lived in rental housing units.
Media
A memorable episode of the hit '80s TV show AirwolfAirwolf
Airwolf is an American television series that ran from 1984 until 1987. The program centers on a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, and its crew as they undertake various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme....
was filmed during July 1984 in Desert Center. The 2nd season premiere episode, entitled 'Sweet Britches', pitted the venerable jet helicopter against a corrupt sheriff who was providing prisoners (who were in jail for minor infractions) to a local hunt club-for the purpose of being hunted down and killed. The location made for some excellent photography and enhanced the episode with genuine desert earth tones.
A portion of the Eagle Mountain Railroad
Eagle Mountain Railroad
The Eagle Mountain Railroad was a private railroad in California, owned by the Kaiser Steel Corporation, and is owned today by Kaiser Steel's successor, Kaiser Ventures, Inc. of Ontario, California. The EMRR is long and is located in Riverside County, California...
south of Desert Center was used in the filming of the movie Tough Guys
Tough Guys
Tough Guys is a 1986 comedy starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Eli Wallach and Dana Carvey. It was directed by Jeff Kanew.Lancaster and Douglas made several films together, including I Walk Alone , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Devil's Disciple , and Seven Days in May , becoming something...
, which is a 1986 comedy starring Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
, Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, Eli Wallach
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
and Dana Carvey
Dana Carvey
Dana Thomas Carvey is an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for playing the role of Garth in the Wayne's World movies.-Early life:...
.Tough Guys
Tough Guys
Tough Guys is a 1986 comedy starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Eli Wallach and Dana Carvey. It was directed by Jeff Kanew.Lancaster and Douglas made several films together, including I Walk Alone , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Devil's Disciple , and Seven Days in May , becoming something...
was the final final collaboration for Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
and Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
. They played a couple of released cons who plan the last great train robbery. At the end, they hijack a train, pulled by famed locomotive Southern Pacific 4449
Southern Pacific 4449
Southern Pacific 4449 is the only surviving example of Southern Pacific Railroad's GS-4 class of steam locomotives. The GS-4 is a streamlined 4-8-4 type steam locomotive...
, and run it full throttle to the Mexican border. During the filming of the exterior shots of Southern Pacific 4449
Southern Pacific 4449
Southern Pacific 4449 is the only surviving example of Southern Pacific Railroad's GS-4 class of steam locomotives. The GS-4 is a streamlined 4-8-4 type steam locomotive...
the train was stored nightly at the Eagle Mountain
Eagle Mountain, California
Eagle Mountain, California is a modern day ghost town, in the Colorado Desert, in Riverside County founded in 1948 by noted industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. The town is located at the entrance of the now-defunct Eagle Mountain iron mine, once owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad, then Kaiser Steel,...
rail yards. The local school children from Eagle Mountain School took a field trip in early 1986 to see and tour the train on the location of the shoot along the Eagle Mountain Railroad
Eagle Mountain Railroad
The Eagle Mountain Railroad was a private railroad in California, owned by the Kaiser Steel Corporation, and is owned today by Kaiser Steel's successor, Kaiser Ventures, Inc. of Ontario, California. The EMRR is long and is located in Riverside County, California...
south of Interstate 10.
- Films using Desert Center locations
- Tough GuysTough GuysTough Guys is a 1986 comedy starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Eli Wallach and Dana Carvey. It was directed by Jeff Kanew.Lancaster and Douglas made several films together, including I Walk Alone , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Devil's Disciple , and Seven Days in May , becoming something...
(1986) - Terminator II (1990 film)Terminator II (1990 film)Terminator II is a 1990 Italian science fiction film written by Claudio Fragasso and directed by Bruno Mattei.-Background:...
- H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds (2005)
- Desert Road End (2006)
- Falling Objects (2006)
- Unknown (2006)
- Battle of Los Angeles Eagle Mountain Mine site (2011)
- Tough Guys