California City, California

USA / California / California City /
California City, incorporated in 1965, is a city located in the northern Antelope Valley in Kern County in the U.S. state of California. The population was 8,385 at the 2000 census. It grew to 14,120 in 2010.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 203.6 square miles (527.4 km²), of which, 203.6 square miles (527.2 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (0.04%) is water. Although one of California's smaller cities in terms of population, California City is the third largest city in California by land area (34th in the United States, and 21st when consolidated city-counties are excluded).

California City had its origins in 1958 when real estate developer and sociology professor Nat Mendelsohn purchased 80,000 acres (320 km²) of Mojave Desert land with the aim of master-planning California's next great city. He designed a model city, which he hoped would one day rival Los Angeles, around a Central Park with a 26 acre artificial lake. Growth did not happen quite as quickly as he expected. To this day a grid of crumbling paved roads, intended to lay out residential blocks, extends well beyond the developed area of the city. California City was incorporated in 1965.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_City,_California
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Coordinates:   35°8'41"N   117°52'56"W

Comments

  • The guy was a real genius...build california's next great city in the middle of the desert.
  • Plus, you gotta love all those empty, albeit named streets. This was probably the result of some sort of corporate scam.
This article was last modified 12 years ago