I grew up in Eagle Mountain, 17 miles North West of Desert Center, from 1959 to 1981. I remember DC as a vibrant little place with the Desert Center Cafe and Greyhound Bus Stop. The little grocery store. Across from the Gas Station was a Burger Joint we all would drive down to and hang out at. The Ragsdale's turned Desert Center in their empire and what a great family they are! There was a Trailer Park across from the Elementary School. There was the old Airfield. Down the road from the airport was Margo's a bar and eatery and then there was the General Store near that. Travel further down Rice Road, and to the left in the desert is where Patton trained his Third Army before going to Africa. Patton;s personal Church was located there nut it was removed piece by piece and relocated to Chiraco Summit at the Patton Desert Museum there. Further down the access road next to I-10 there was another gas station. Up R2 the road into Eagle Mountain is Lake Tamarisk, yep it's a lake, man made, a golf course and better homes than we had in EM! Lake Tamarisk is still an active community to this day. We attended High School in Eagle Mountain from 7th through 12th grade. We had some GREAT Football teams including my senior year with the Fighting 17!! I went undefeated in wrestling my Senior year there. It is sad to see EM as iti s now a ghost town. When I go to see my house, the roof has fallen in. They sold off the garages. They stripped off anything outside the house they could to sell. The Ivy wallpaper my Mom chose to match the ivy outdoor carpet tile on the floor is still there fading away in the sunlight. It was a GREAT Place to grow up. We didn't fear anything or anyone. We didn't lock our doors at night or our windows. We didn't lock our vehicles. Neighbors helped neighbor and we watched over each others homes and each other. We were raised by the community and most of us had many homes we called "Home" and many parents we called our own who loved us and treated us like their own. The main drag in EM was a mile long. God knows we dragged it too night after night even though nothing ever changed! Many of us would leave, go to college or the military and end up back working in the Mine. I worked in Facility Maintenance where we kept the homes in good shape, we kept the water running, we kept the town clean and looking pristine!!! This was very cool Adam! Thanks for posting it!!
@18:26 there's an old Wiley's Well Rd. sign. The road went north toward the mountains and into one of the sand washes. There was an artesian well. It's pronounced wy- lee's well. This was central to the area where Patton trained the 3rd armor in desert warfare before shipping out to North Africa. The leftovers from the WWII training was moved to the Patton Museum, up the road a bit.
Wow. Now that's really interesting. Thanks for that. I have a huge interest in WW2 history and military history in general as well. But particularly WW1 and 2, the so called Civil War and the Vietnam Conflict.
I remember stopping there to eat in the early sixties. I was on a boating trip with friends heading for the Colorado River. That was long before the freeway. Sad to see those little towns drying up.
I love Desert Center! Last time I was there, Vogue was shooting models in front of the old cafe. There must of been fifty production people there. So weird.
Man, you find some cool places. Gas hit 36¢ a gallon in 1970. So it it's been about 45 years since those pumps pumped any gas. The dry desert air does preserve stuff well.
"Desert Steve" Ragsdale[edit]The town was founded in 1921 by Stephen A. Ragsdale, also known as "Desert Steve", and his wife, Lydia. Ragsdale was an itinerant preacher and cotton farmer, originally from Arkansas. In 1915, he left his farm in the Palo Verde Valley along the Colorado River to attend to some business in Los Angeles. The road between Phoenix 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 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 that served as a repair garage. A Model T truck was modified to serve as a tow car. 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 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 (8.0 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. Across the road, a series of wooden structures were built, including a market (which at one time was the largest Coleman camping equipment dealer in the country), and a post office. He also built several cabins for travelers, and a large "plunge" (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 Desert Magazine reflected his personality: "U Need Us - We Need U", "Our Main Street is 100-miles long!",[3] "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 schoolhouse, 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 schoolhouse 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" (across I-10 from Desert Center) 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; Marshall South, the hermit of Ghost Mountain; desert painter John Hilton; noted biologist Edmund C. Jaeger; and Harry Oliver, 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.Within a few years, Ragsdale operated a number of satellite businesses in locations such as Cactus City, Hell, Skyway, Box Canyon, and Shaver's Well. Around 1950, he 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. 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,[4] even though he had dug his own grave near Desert Center prior to his 1950 departure and had even placed a memorial plaque near it. The empty grave and marker still exist.[5]
+MrShobar I enjoy these videos of abandon places. However their is always a history and a story that go along with it. Sometimes knowing that is the best part!
+Adamthewoo I use to live in Desert Center we left in 2007. I that school had been abandoned for centuries! We went to school in Eagle Mountain. If you followed kaiser road it would had taken you to that community where the new school was. When I went to school there it had 21 kids k-8. My gandmother was the lunch ladie, art teacher and teacher aid. My mother worked at the café 6pm-6am I use to go to work with her and sleep in one of the booths. The café had three phone booths in it they didn't work work though, but I thought it was the coolest thing. My mothe at one time worked at the little store a across the street from the café. My grandmother would get mail in her p.o. box and the gas station was up and running still. The first place you went with the ice machine use to sell snow cones when I lived there.if you went down rice road there was a pizza shop and an other little store. There was an other community called Lake Tamarisk aswell where the pool, church, Recreational Center, lake, volunteer fire station and library was. It brings me to tears to see it vandalize and drugs laying around that's not how I lift my home.
Kasandra Linderman I went to the grade school in eagle mountain and I lived across from the high school in the mid 70s were you there when they evacuated the town because of a break in a gas line up at the mine and another time there was a flash flood
It's very difficult to believe that this was functional community on some level just six years ago by that calendar, and 15 years ago by that check. The desert, with some hooligan assistance, is reclaiming this town quickly.
The Kaiser Steel sign explains a lot. I remember when Kaiser's Fontana operations ended. The Desert Center mine operation must have closed at that time as well. The Fontana steel plant remained as valuable real estate and became the California Speedway; however, the remote Desert Center location had no such value and became abandoned.
I lived in Desert Center in the mid 70's to the early 80's. I was a waitress at the cafe before I moved away. It was actually a truck stop at the time. Drivers from LA and Phoenix would meet there to switch trailers. They also had a lot of traffic in the summer, people traveling to Lake Havasu.
Over the years Desert Center has always been one of my favorite stops. The cafe was awesome. When the town died I still have to stop by every time I go by. I really miss the cafe.
At 9:14 that GMC forward cab likely has a W-series big block in it, and maybe even the legendary 409. Assuming it is still there that engine is actually worth something. Going to have to check it out on my next drive through.
Hey Adam! Before you leave California...are you possibly gonna do a video showing Terminator 2 filming locations. i only wonder this because some scenes were shot in Desert Center and it would be cool to see where exactly in Desert Center they shot it
An explanation for the palm trees from wikipedia - "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 been left unattended and many have died."
I pass this place every few weeks going back and forth to AZ still as many weekenders do. I remember when everything used to be opened not long ago. The first little building with the brick pillars and ice cooler sold ice cream and snacks. Stopped at the Texaco many times for gas too.
my family always for what ever reason back in the 60`s and 70`s broke down in that sewer on our way to arizona or to ca , we had to deal with the road warrior tow truck driver`s who asked how much you had in your wallet when they came to help you we had to sleep in a ghost barn over night with snake`s etc , I will never go near that town nor arizona again
That place in front of the truck stop, the square on the ground? Part of a semi truck scale. Drivers check their weight before hitting highway weigh stations.
the last building you were at was a Texaco gas and service station that I used to stop and use the bathroom in the early 1990's. I think it was the last thing that was inhabited in Desert Center. I was 16 driving from Phoenix to L.A. I can't believe that I remember the bathrooms that you showed. great vlog...memories buddy.
Desert Center was a town that was near the Kaiser Steel mine in Eagle Mtn.When Kaiser closed up the mine in the 80's(?) I assumed the down really dried up.I am a Rail fan was quite disappointed when they closed down operations.The caboose and the old tracks are whats left.
Cool video Adam sad old towns, there are so many out there in the dessert, I just did a road trip and saw many I would have loved to explore Adam the Woo style but sadly didn't have the time - this town was not abandoned that long ago and look at how fast it deteriorates into nothing.
Watching with my headphones on. Listen at the 17:21 mark, and in the second bathroom with door half boarded, and it sounds like someone laughing inside. Listened to it over and over again. Kinda freaky.
If you look, desert center is located on Ca 177 and Kaiser road. If you follow Kaiser road you find an fairly modern abandoned town that supported the Kaiser mine. This is a complete city with homes, stores, schools, dorms for the miners, etc. When the mine closed everyone left. I believe Kaiser has now posted a guard and fenced the city off. But I did see a large solar power complex so maybe some of the facilities are being used. When I was in high school my little high school located in the imperial valley would play the Kaiser high school sports.
I am totally shocked. We some trucking friends and myself use to stay there after we drop our loads in RiverSide California. that resturant had the best breakfast. and the building next door had an old train engine inside. the post office was across the street and at the corner was real good Icecream. Last time I was there was 2010 around Jan. was hoping to stop back some day. Well thanks for the video keep up the good work.
California has been replacing road signs for a while, they've definitely replaced the highway signs, or else I wouldn't know where Desert Center was! Great video as always, thanks!
The low building at about the 9:30 mark, is that water inside of it? Weird, to me it looks like water in there, but that makes no sense since it is desert.
Surprised nobody came to talk to you about being there. Last time I stopped through, and didn't even go in, a few of the locals weren't to excited. It's too hard not to check out that awesome piece of history
Awesome Adam,, This video had a little of everything , even some petunias on the piano. The black goo in the school once held up a chalk board. I work maintenance for a school, I have taken down old chalk boards and that goo is hard to get off the wall. Thanks for the adventure!
I remember going to Desert Center as a kid. I had family with property not too far from there. I saw Haley's Comet from Desert Center. The cafe was pretty good. They had good coffee and excellent burgers. They had nostalgic stuff on the walls. When Kaiser Steel left the town dried up. There was supposed to be a waste management facility, or at least some type of landfill, out there. I guess it never got built. Desert Center was the only place to get gas from the Palm Springs area to Blythe/ Ehrenberg. The assumption was that Palm Springs would grow east and make Desert Center less desolate. I'm glad I saw this. It's "Wiley", like "Wile E. Coyote" (While-ee), not Willy as in William. Wiley's Well Road is right down the freeway next to Ford Dry Lake and a prison.
I used to drive by desert center going back and forth from Riverside California and San Antonio Texas. I was stationed at March AFB from 1975 - june 1979. When l was discharged, that same day my van broke down while getting gas going home to Texas. My wife and I were stuck there for 3 days. the only thing opened was the restraunt then. Desert Center was located 51 miles going both directions from the next gas station.
I grew up in Eagle Mountain. 12 miles from Desert Center. There was not a school at Desert Center. Not sure what building you found here. I worked at the gas station there pumping gas. And picked grapes a few miles away.
oh adam... the ladder went to the furnace so they can change filters and maintain the unit. the black stuff on the wall is called mastic and is used to fasten glass and mirrors to the wall.
You should explore one of the abandoned AC casinos (Id reccomend the trump plaza or showboat because neather have construction going on), or if your to afraid you could explore one of the abandoned casino lots
The weird gooey stains are adhesive to glue tiles to the wall. I suspect they were sound dampening tiles (perhaps for a music classroom). The same technique has been used for ceiling tiles in buildings built around the 50s.
loved the video brotherman..!!so the ladder is actually a frame of sort to fasten light cables or telephone wires to.theblack spots are glue spots most likely from the back splash being glued to the wall..just answering lil things for you..lol
I just explored this whole place yesterday. The calendar on the wall from 2010 had to have been planted there recently. There's no way that anyone lived in that house as recently as 2010. It looks abandoned for over 20 years.
Hi there Adam, You were wondering what the black Goo was on the wall in the School?.... Its construction adhesive that once held on the Slate Chalkboard. Slate board are rare, thus its gone. The ladder lead to a landing that was once there, that you stepped onto from the ladder to access storage and the roof hatch. Keep up the GREAT Videos my friend... I envy you
Isn't Eagle Mountain guarded now or otherwise off-limits? I tried to go there in 2007 and I got the impression that I was approaching a guard station at the end of the road leading up there and that visitors wouldn't be welcome, so I turned and headed back to I-10.
After looking up some info regarding this town, it apparently did/still does have an active population (as of the 2010 census) but was there any signs of people still living there on your visit? And are there any plans to document the nearby town of Eagle Mountain?
That town was a community to support a Kaiser mine. Kaiser decided to provide health care to the employees. The mining died. The health care is still going strong elsewhere.
Deserts are sure good at preserving buildings. Here in Washington state with all our rain. This place would be long gone or very very dangerous to walk in. Great video!
I was here on June 15th 2015. Note on cafe window said, "Sorry closed temporarily, for refurbishing". Tables inside had tablecloths, salt and pepper shakers and napkins. Returned on May 17th 2016. Cafe still the same. Weird. Everything still in place.
Great video once again Adam! Parts of Terminator 2 were filmed in Desert Center and at the old mine. So was War Of The Worlds and Tough Guys...You could have done a filming location episode while you were there
I believe an episode of the TV show Airwolf called "Sweet Britches"was filmed in Desert Center. you can see what is left of the buildings that where used in this video.
I would love to explore some of this stuff, time doesnt allow it though.. And when i do travel, the wife isnt too keen on it! Az has alot of stuff to explore for sure.
We used to stop there when we would go from Palm Springs, CA to Lake Havasu, AZ. The restaurant was open not that long ago...bathrooms were gross....lol.
there is some kind of abandoned gas station coming from Vegas into saint George Utah that I've always wanted to stop at but my friends always chicken out and drive past. I think it's called sunshine and it says closed on its sign. if you find it, please film it. :)
I went to that school. We lived in a trailer park right outside of town. My father drove a tow truck and worked in the repair shop. I caught a bat that was hanging above one of the doorways at the school. I put it in a jar but was caught by a teacher trying to bring it on the school bus. He made me let it go. I think the teachers name was Dr. Tinkham (Not sure I spelled his name right). Anyway your video brings back a lot of memories. Thank you!
That road grader is really nice, someone should give it a home, what a resto project.was this place like Centralia PA that was condemned because it became toxic or something?
I grew up in Eagle Mountain, 17 miles North West of Desert Center, from 1959 to 1981. I remember DC as a vibrant little place with the Desert Center Cafe and Greyhound Bus Stop. The little grocery store. Across from the Gas Station was a Burger Joint we all would drive down to and hang out at. The Ragsdale's turned Desert Center in their empire and what a great family they are! There was a Trailer Park across from the Elementary School. There was the old Airfield. Down the road from the airport was Margo's a bar and eatery and then there was the General Store near that. Travel further down Rice Road, and to the left in the desert is where Patton trained his Third Army before going to Africa. Patton;s personal Church was located there nut it was removed piece by piece and relocated to Chiraco Summit at the Patton Desert Museum there. Further down the access road next to I-10 there was another gas station. Up R2 the road into Eagle Mountain is Lake Tamarisk, yep it's a lake, man made, a golf course and better homes than we had in EM! Lake Tamarisk is still an active community to this day. We attended High School in Eagle Mountain from 7th through 12th grade. We had some GREAT Football teams including my senior year with the Fighting 17!! I went undefeated in wrestling my Senior year there. It is sad to see EM as iti s now a ghost town. When I go to see my house, the roof has fallen in. They sold off the garages. They stripped off anything outside the house they could to sell. The Ivy wallpaper my Mom chose to match the ivy outdoor carpet tile on the floor is still there fading away in the sunlight. It was a GREAT Place to grow up. We didn't fear anything or anyone. We didn't lock our doors at night or our windows. We didn't lock our vehicles. Neighbors helped neighbor and we watched over each others homes and each other. We were raised by the community and most of us had many homes we called "Home" and many parents we called our own who loved us and treated us like their own. The main drag in EM was a mile long. God knows we dragged it too night after night even though nothing ever changed! Many of us would leave, go to college or the military and end up back working in the Mine. I worked in Facility Maintenance where we kept the homes in good shape, we kept the water running, we kept the town clean and looking pristine!!!
This was very cool Adam! Thanks for posting it!!
I remember you Mark.
@18:26 there's an old Wiley's Well Rd. sign. The road went north toward the mountains and into one of the sand washes. There was an artesian well. It's pronounced wy- lee's well. This was central to the area where Patton trained the 3rd armor in desert warfare before shipping out to North Africa. The leftovers from the WWII training was moved to the Patton Museum, up the road a bit.
Wow. Now that's really interesting. Thanks for that. I have a huge interest in WW2 history and military history in general as well. But particularly WW1 and 2, the so called Civil War and the Vietnam Conflict.
I remember stopping there to eat in the early sixties. I was on a boating trip with friends heading for the Colorado River. That was long before the freeway. Sad to see those little towns drying up.
I love Desert Center! Last time I was there, Vogue was shooting models in front of the old cafe. There must of been fifty production people there. So weird.
You find the craziest stuff Dan
+This is Dan Bell. that is weird.
So uh... Did you see where they buried them?
Hey Mr. Bell
Man, you find some cool places. Gas hit 36¢ a gallon in 1970. So it it's been about 45 years since those pumps pumped any gas. The dry desert air does preserve stuff well.
"Desert Steve" Ragsdale[edit]The town was founded in 1921 by Stephen A. Ragsdale, also known as "Desert Steve", and his wife, Lydia. Ragsdale was an itinerant preacher and cotton farmer, originally from Arkansas. In 1915, he left his farm in the Palo Verde Valley along the Colorado River to attend to some business in Los Angeles. The road between Phoenix 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 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 that served as a repair garage. A Model T truck was modified to serve as a tow car. 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 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 (8.0 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. Across the road, a series of wooden structures were built, including a market (which at one time was the largest Coleman camping equipment dealer in the country), and a post office. He also built several cabins for travelers, and a large "plunge" (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 Desert Magazine reflected his personality: "U Need Us - We Need U", "Our Main Street is 100-miles long!",[3] "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 schoolhouse, 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 schoolhouse 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" (across I-10 from Desert Center) 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; Marshall South, the hermit of Ghost Mountain; desert painter John Hilton; noted biologist Edmund C. Jaeger; and Harry Oliver, 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.Within a few years, Ragsdale operated a number of satellite businesses in locations such as Cactus City, Hell, Skyway, Box Canyon, and Shaver's Well. Around 1950, he 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. 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,[4] even though he had dug his own grave near Desert Center prior to his 1950 departure and had even placed a memorial plaque near it. The empty grave and marker still exist.[5]
+Chris614 Excellent historical account. Many thanks. You've singlehandedly raised the level of discourse on youtube (which admittedly, is quite low).
+MrShobar I enjoy these videos of abandon places. However their is always a history and a story that go along with it. Sometimes knowing that is the best part!
Adam the Woo the black stains on the wall is the adhesive that held the black boards up
+Exploring With Larry
Are you sure they're not shriveled human face skins?
+Beef Chavez you might be right
+Exploring With Larry lol
+Dirk Diggler you never know
+Exploring With Larry I was thinking the same thing!
+Adamthewoo I use to live in Desert Center we left in 2007. I that school had been abandoned for centuries! We went to school in Eagle Mountain. If you followed kaiser road it would had taken you to that community where the new school was. When I went to school there it had 21 kids k-8. My gandmother was the lunch ladie, art teacher and teacher aid. My mother worked at the café 6pm-6am I use to go to work with her and sleep in one of the booths. The café had three phone booths in it they didn't work work though, but I thought it was the coolest thing. My mothe at one time worked at the little store a across the street from the café. My grandmother would get mail in her p.o. box and the gas station was up and running still. The first place you went with the ice machine use to sell snow cones when I lived there.if you went down rice road there was a pizza shop and an other little store. There was an other community called Lake Tamarisk aswell where the pool, church, Recreational Center, lake, volunteer fire station and library was. It brings me to tears to see it vandalize and drugs laying around that's not how I lift my home.
Thanks for the story. 👧
interesting story
so what was Willy's well?
Kasandra Linderman I went to the grade school in eagle mountain and I lived across from the high school in the mid 70s were you there when they evacuated the town because of a break in a gas line up at the mine and another time there was a flash flood
Kasandra Linderman I went to that Scholl in 1979. They opened it up for continuation class, for those of us from Eagle Mountain that screwed up a lot.
Those "stains" are dobs of adhesive used to glue on plastic or stone panels to the wall.
It's very difficult to believe that this was functional community on some level just six years ago by that calendar, and 15 years ago by that check. The desert, with some hooligan assistance, is reclaiming this town quickly.
I always get excited when I get notified for your videos! I have something to look forward to watching when I arrive home!
If they ever did a reboot of the old cable access TV show California Gold, you should be the host.
i thought the same thing!
The Kaiser Steel sign explains a lot. I remember when Kaiser's Fontana operations ended. The Desert Center mine operation must have closed at that time as well. The Fontana steel plant remained as valuable real estate and became the California Speedway; however, the remote Desert Center location had no such value and became abandoned.
I lived in Desert Center in the mid 70's to the early 80's. I was a waitress at the cafe before I moved away. It was actually a truck stop at the time. Drivers from LA and Phoenix would meet there to switch trailers. They also had a lot of traffic in the summer, people traveling to Lake Havasu.
@ 4:10..I think that was the glue that held the chalkboard to the wall.
you can even see the old chalkboard on the floor kind of bent over something
Over the years Desert Center has always been one of my favorite stops. The cafe was awesome. When the town died I still have to stop by every time I go by. I really miss the cafe.
Also check out my 2nd channel , Daily Vlog Channel
RUclips.com/TheDailyWoo
"It's the daily woo"
+Christian Roche but you got to sing it. 😁🎶
+adamthewoo You live in Ca ?
+Blake Thompson but not for long in 2 months he is on the road ...vlogging :)
+adamthewoo why this is abandoned?
At 9:14 that GMC forward cab likely has a W-series big block in it, and maybe even the legendary 409. Assuming it is still there that engine is actually worth something. Going to have to check it out on my next drive through.
Hey Adam! Before you leave California...are you possibly gonna do a video showing Terminator 2 filming locations. i only wonder this because some scenes were shot in Desert Center and it would be cool to see where exactly in Desert Center they shot it
Great one, Adam! I am really looking forward to all of the awesome videos you'll be posting on your travels east.
An explanation for the palm trees from wikipedia -
"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 been left unattended and many have died."
I just drove past Desert Center! I didn't get to go thru the buildings, we just pulled in to get a look at em. Thank you for this!
i was there in 2012 for labor day weekend and the cafe was still open
I pass this place every few weeks going back and forth to AZ still as many weekenders do. I remember when everything used to be opened not long ago. The first little building with the brick pillars and ice cooler sold ice cream and snacks. Stopped at the Texaco many times for gas too.
my family always for what ever reason back in the 60`s and 70`s broke down in that sewer on our way to arizona or to ca , we had to deal with the road warrior tow truck driver`s who asked how much you had in your wallet when they came to help you we had to sleep in a ghost barn over night with snake`s etc , I will never go near that town nor arizona again
That place in front of the truck stop, the square on the ground? Part of a semi truck scale. Drivers check their weight before hitting highway weigh stations.
the last building you were at was a Texaco gas and service station that I used to stop and use the bathroom in the early 1990's. I think it was the last thing that was inhabited in Desert Center. I was 16 driving from Phoenix to L.A. I can't believe that I remember the bathrooms that you showed. great vlog...memories buddy.
I drove through Desert center in 1992-93 ate in a coffee shop there the school was still active.
Desert Center was a town that was near the Kaiser Steel mine in Eagle Mtn.When Kaiser closed up the mine in the 80's(?) I assumed the down really dried up.I am a Rail fan was quite disappointed when they closed down operations.The caboose and the old tracks are whats left.
Cool video Adam sad old towns, there are so many out there in the dessert, I just did a road trip and saw many I would have loved to explore Adam the Woo style but sadly didn't have the time - this town was not abandoned that long ago and look at how fast it deteriorates into nothing.
Adam you should do a collab with Exploring With Josh & Dan Bell. Great video as always and thank you for sharing!
+Lets Make It Leet ill happen
he should go with the proper people
So glad to see you doing the abandoned places videos again!
4:08 Blobs of tar/mastic that used to hold up a corkboard or blackboard perhaps?
Watching with my headphones on. Listen at the 17:21 mark, and in the second bathroom with door half boarded, and it sounds like someone laughing inside. Listened to it over and over again. Kinda freaky.
Whoa! I heard it also,that's creepy.
Sorry dude. But it sounds like a bird chirping to me.
I heard what you heard!
If you look, desert center is located on Ca 177 and Kaiser road. If you follow Kaiser road you find an fairly modern abandoned town that supported the Kaiser mine. This is a complete city with homes, stores, schools, dorms for the miners, etc. When the mine closed everyone left. I believe Kaiser has now posted a guard and fenced the city off. But I did see a large solar power complex so maybe some of the facilities are being used. When I was in high school my little high school located in the imperial valley would play the Kaiser high school sports.
I am totally shocked. We some trucking friends and myself use to stay there after we drop our loads in RiverSide California. that resturant had the best breakfast. and the building next door had an old train engine inside. the post office was across the street and at the corner was real good Icecream. Last time I was there was 2010 around Jan. was hoping to stop back some day. Well thanks for the video keep up the good work.
Awesome video Adam!!! I would love to see more of the big gasstation with the caffee sign.
The black goo is/was a butle type adhesive that probably held blackboards onto the wall.
California has been replacing road signs for a while, they've definitely replaced the highway signs, or else I wouldn't know where Desert Center was! Great video as always, thanks!
Ok, this one truly saddened me. This was such a lonely and forlorn place. All those memories of lives and loves, blowing away like dust. Such a shame.
God bless you Adam and never stop doing what you do.
36 cents a gallon! I remember it well, that would be in the early 60's!
The low building at about the 9:30 mark, is that water inside of it? Weird, to me it looks like water in there, but that makes no sense since it is desert.
Surprised nobody came to talk to you about being there. Last time I stopped through, and didn't even go in, a few of the locals weren't to excited. It's too hard not to check out that awesome piece of history
Adam that black goo at 4:08 is actually tar for glass tile, I have pulled a many out of old houses.
NO MATTER HOW LONG ITS BEEN I STILL KNOW THE INTRO SONG OFF BY HEART!!! THIS IS PURE NOSTALGIA FOR ME!! :DD
Awesome Adam,, This video had a little of everything , even some petunias on the piano. The black goo in the school once held up a chalk board. I work maintenance for a school, I have taken down old chalk boards and that goo is hard to get off the wall. Thanks for the adventure!
I remember going to Desert Center as a kid. I had family with property not too far from there. I saw Haley's Comet from Desert Center. The cafe was pretty good. They had good coffee and excellent burgers. They had nostalgic stuff on the walls. When Kaiser Steel left the town dried up. There was supposed to be a waste management facility, or at least some type of landfill, out there. I guess it never got built. Desert Center was the only place to get gas from the Palm Springs area to Blythe/ Ehrenberg. The assumption was that Palm Springs would grow east and make Desert Center less desolate. I'm glad I saw this.
It's "Wiley", like "Wile E. Coyote" (While-ee), not Willy as in William. Wiley's Well Road is right down the freeway next to Ford Dry Lake and a prison.
I used to drive by desert center going back and forth from Riverside California and San Antonio Texas. I was stationed at March AFB from 1975 - june 1979. When l was discharged, that same day my van broke down while getting gas going home to Texas. My wife and I were stuck there for 3 days. the only thing opened was the restraunt then. Desert Center was located 51 miles going both directions from the next gas station.
Seeing abandoned places makes me sad. They seem lonely, forgotten and, don't taken care of anymore. That's one school I 🏫 wouldn't want to go to now.
I grew up in Eagle Mountain. 12 miles from Desert Center. There was not a school at Desert Center. Not sure what building you found here. I worked at the gas station there pumping gas. And picked grapes a few miles away.
oh adam... the ladder went to the furnace so they can change filters and maintain the unit. the black stuff on the wall is called mastic and is used to fasten glass and mirrors to the wall.
Those weird stains were adhesives used to hold paneling or tile board to the wall. Pretty sure.
the sticky stuff is from the attachment of mirror tiles or one large mirror to that wall.
The ladder on the wall, is so you an get up and work on the air handler. Awesome as usual!!
You should explore one of the abandoned AC casinos (Id reccomend the trump plaza or showboat because neather have construction going on), or if your to afraid you could explore one of the abandoned casino lots
Love all your videos Adam but really enjoy your abandoned stuff especially since that's how I found your vids years ago!
+Joe Teavee thank you Joe
Same here. That's also how I came across him as well
Idk why the fascination with abandon places but I can't get enough
+Kyle Benzeno Same here
The weird gooey stains are adhesive to glue tiles to the wall. I suspect they were sound dampening tiles (perhaps for a music classroom). The same technique has been used for ceiling tiles in buildings built around the 50s.
4:05 that is construction adhesive used to hold chalkboard/tackboards..
Great vlog Adam owe lol the latter is for servicing wells looks like a swamp cooler!
loved the video brotherman..!!so the ladder is actually a frame of sort to fasten light cables or telephone wires to.theblack spots are glue spots most likely from the back splash being glued to the wall..just answering lil things for you..lol
Black gooey stains is how the chalkboards were stuck to the wall Dude.
The weird gooey stains is most likely adhesive that held the blackboard up.
I just explored this whole place yesterday. The calendar on the wall from 2010 had to have been planted there recently. There's no way that anyone lived in that house as recently as 2010. It looks abandoned for over 20 years.
Hi there Adam,
You were wondering what the black Goo was on the wall in the School?.... Its construction adhesive that once held on the Slate Chalkboard. Slate board are rare, thus its gone.
The ladder lead to a landing that was once there, that you stepped onto from the ladder to access storage and the roof hatch.
Keep up the GREAT Videos my friend... I envy you
Down the road a piece is Eagle Mountain. Kaiser Steel Mine is out there. My Grandfather was a train mechanic there. I loved it out there.
Isn't Eagle Mountain guarded now or otherwise off-limits? I tried to go there in 2007 and I got the impression that I was approaching a guard station at the end of the road leading up there and that visitors wouldn't be welcome, so I turned and headed back to I-10.
After looking up some info regarding this town, it apparently did/still does have an active population (as of the 2010 census) but was there any signs of people still living there on your visit? And are there any plans to document the nearby town of Eagle Mountain?
Awesome video Adam! Cant wait to see your next adventure!
Their a abandoned town near there called Eaglerock...I remember when I passed by desert center when it was a town.
That town was a community to support a Kaiser mine. Kaiser decided to provide health care to the employees. The mining died. The health care is still going strong elsewhere.
Adam I love your videos!! keep em coming!......p.s. the sticky puddy on the wall is what they use to stick mirrors to the wall.
Amazing explore Adam :)
Deserts are sure good at preserving buildings. Here in Washington state with all our rain. This place would be long gone or very very dangerous to walk in. Great video!
I was here on June 15th 2015. Note on cafe window said, "Sorry closed temporarily, for refurbishing". Tables inside had tablecloths, salt and pepper shakers and napkins. Returned on May 17th 2016. Cafe still the same. Weird. Everything still in place.
I love these videos, and your the best at doing them! Thank you
a bit post apocalyptic ambiance, love that
14:14 - Exactly my feelings too. There is something poignant about these old abandoned buildings.
Do you have a manual exposure dial on your camera or something? Because that's really nifty.
Classic WOOdeo! nice feature on your camera that actually ADDS lighting to darkened rooms without actually using and external light.....!!
Great video once again Adam! Parts of Terminator 2 were filmed in Desert Center and at the old mine. So was War Of The Worlds and Tough Guys...You could have done a filming location episode while you were there
Your videos are intriguing. Keep up the good work.
Was this off Rice Road? I'll be in this area later this month and would like to visit this place...
Those "stains" you are talking about are some sort of mastic to hold tile or some sort of paneling to the wall.
Another awesome video Adam.
I believe an episode of the TV show Airwolf called "Sweet Britches"was filmed in Desert Center. you can see what is left of the buildings that where used in this video.
Before leaving CA how about a video of you cable climbing the Half Dome at Yosemite?
The stuff you find is amazing i look forward to your future adventure its goona be WOOTASTIC
I dig all your videos, I havent watched in awhile so i am catching up.. Anything new? Keep doing what you do man!
I would love to explore some of this stuff, time doesnt allow it though.. And when i do travel, the wife isnt too keen on it! Az has alot of stuff to explore for sure.
We used to stop there when we would go from Palm Springs, CA to Lake Havasu, AZ. The restaurant was open not that long ago...bathrooms were gross....lol.
Hey Adam, what camera do you have? Also what was the price, if you don't mind me asking.
Adam , can I ask you about your Forever Midnight t-shirt ? What does that refer to ? Is it a movie ? I like the shirt. Xxx
there is some kind of abandoned gas station coming from Vegas into saint George Utah that I've always wanted to stop at but my friends always chicken out and drive past. I think it's called sunshine and it says closed on its sign. if you find it, please film it. :)
I went to that school. We lived in a trailer park right outside of town. My father drove a tow truck and worked in the repair shop. I caught a bat that was hanging above one of the doorways at the school. I put it in a jar but was caught by a teacher trying to bring it on the school bus. He made me let it go. I think the teachers name was Dr. Tinkham (Not sure I spelled his name right). Anyway your video brings back a lot of memories. Thank you!
Love seeing these old abandoned towns in the desert!
That road grader is really nice, someone should give it a home, what a resto project.was this place like Centralia PA that was condemned because it became toxic or something?
Tons of awesome machinery and vehicles... and the compressor side of a big turbo lol
The minute he said ROPERS, I thought Three's Company.
Love his silly ad-libs.
I was "throughly" surprised to see a calendar from 2010. Everything looked abandoned for decades.
Been threw DC a lot going to lake Havasu. Adam keep going on down Rice Road lots of abandoned places after DC going to parker AZ
All the old trucks and tractors out there are awesome
Black Gooey Stains = adhesive to hold the blackboard up. Atleast that is what it appeared to be to me...