what to write about California City? by area, it is the third largest city in the state, covering 203.63² miles. however, its population is 1/287 the size of Los Angeles. California City is the aftermath of a failed real estate scheme and misguided quest to ‘masterplan’ in the desert. it was originally owned, developed, and marketed as a future metropolis by Columbia University professor Nathan Mendelsohn, sold as a product by his California City Development Company in informercials and advertisements. but no one bought the land. though a small population lives there today, the vast majority of the “city” is a network of named, empty streets, winding undriven and unwalked through the Mojave (see image).

 

in the mid 20th century, politicians, business representatives, and urban planners were seduced by the possibility of ‘master planning’ cities, believing that our understanding of urban areas had progressed such that there could be a single captain (and owner) at the helm of the entire city. but California City, a product of that time, challenges the idea that places are possessable or controllable. its place-power exceeded the power of Mendelsohn and his political allies, and the result is a ghost city—not abandoned, but never populated.