Desert Center, California, Now A Ghost Town

Back in the summer of 1983, I took a solo road trip to the Four Corners area of the Southwest. I left home in Hawthorne, California in the evening and took Interstate 10 out of California. 

The places I visited during that trip included Grand Canyon National Park, Four Corners Monument, Durango's Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and Zion National Park.

Desert Center is 19 miles east of the General Patton Memorial Museum in Chiriaco Summit.

Above, a statue of General George S. Patton and his dog Willie at the Gen.
 Patton Memorial Museum in Chiriaco Summit. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I was driving my 1980 Toyota Pick-up that had a camper shell. I either camped out in it or stayed in motels.

My first stop that night was in Desert Center, California. I stopped at the Desert Center Cafe for some coffee and a snack.

An article has been posted by RV Life telling of a visit to Desert Center. The cafe is now closed and it is now essentially a ghost town.

The article begins with:

If you have been following my adventures through the years you know my wife and I like to visit little known forgotten places like ghost towns, stage stops, military outposts, mining camps, and other places slowly being lost to time and the elements. One such place is Desert Center, California just off Interstate 10 in the Mojave Desert. 

Desert Center had its beginnings in 1921 when founder Stephen Ragsdale built a service station and café along the route of what would eventually become Interstate 10. 

At the time the café was the only place to obtain a meal for 50 miles in any direction. The café was open for business 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with Ragsdale stating, “We lost our keys – we can’t close!” The café finally did close in 2012 with a note left on the door stating it was closed temporarily for maintenance.

With the article are some photographs, one of which is of the Desert Center Cafe. The cafe was as I remembered it from 1983.

To read more, go here.