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California City, California

Everything California City is known for

1 song mention this city

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Music in California City

Songs About California City

tehachapi
margo cliker
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Artists From California City

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Rivers & Roads in Song near California City

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near California City.

U.S. Route 66 19 songs

History of California City

California City, CA RoadyGoat

California City is a place where the vast Mojave Desert landscape meets the aspirations of urban planning. At an elevation of 2,421 feet, the views stretch for miles, offering a palpable sense of hopeful solitude. While Nat Mendelsohn envisioned a major metropolis when he named it California City in 1958, the reality has been somewhat different, with government and civil service jobs now forming a major part of the local economy. The nearby Edwards Air Force Base, a site of historic flight tests, hums with activity, a constant reminder of ambition and progress. Even though California City hasn’t become the sprawling urban center originally planned, it has produced its own noteworthy figures.

6.7 mi away

California City, CA RoadyGoat

California City sits high in the Mojave Desert, a grid of streets sprawling across the landscape in a way that suggests something grander was once planned. Nat Mendelsohn, a real estate developer, imagined a metropolis here in 1958, fueled by the post-war California boom. The idea was simple: buy up vast tracts of cheap desert land, lay out a city plan, and sell the dream of affordable living with access to the California lifestyle. Proximity to Edwards Air Force Base, with its steady stream of government and civil service jobs, seemed like a solid foundation. The elevation, at nearly 2,500 feet, offers sweeping views, and the promise of escape is ever-present. But California City never quite became the Los Angeles it aspired to be. The 2008 financial crisis hit the area hard, stalling development and leaving empty lots where houses were meant to stand. Yet, there's still a draw. That palpable sense of hopeful solitude, the vast open spaces, appeals to some. Others come for the affordability, for the quiet life within reasonable driving distance of Los Angeles and the Lakers. Locals, though, will tell you the real reason people stay is a mix of resilience and acceptance. The California City Branch of the Kern County Library stands as a testament to the community's enduring spirit.

6.7 mi away

Why This Pit Ends Up in Your Oven RoadyGoat

Ordinary glass cracks when it heats and cools fast, because the heat makes it swell unevenly. Add boron to the mix, in the form of boron oxide, and something useful happens: the glass barely expands when its temperature changes. That property is called low thermal expansion, and it lets the glass go straight from a hot oven into cold water without shattering. The result is borosilicate glass, the material behind Pyrex baking dishes and laboratory beakers. The boron that makes it possible begins right here, in the open pit at Boron. From this desert hole it travels to glassworks far away, including the famous furnaces of Corning, New York. The very same boron-glass chemistry shows up in surprising places, all the way up to the enormous mirror blanks cast for giant astronomical telescopes, which must hold their shape across wide swings in temperature.

12.9 mi away

Everything Near California City

9 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • California City, CA · 6.7 mi

    California City is a place where the vast Mojave Desert landscape meets the aspirations of urban planning. At an elevation of 2,421 feet, the views stretch for miles, offering a palpable sense of hopeful solitude. While…

  • Why This Pit Ends Up in Your Oven · 12.9 mi

    Ordinary glass cracks when it heats and cools fast, because the heat makes it swell unevenly. Add boron to the mix, in the form of boron oxide, and something useful happens: the glass barely expands when its temperature…

  • The Desert Mineral That Stops a Reactor · 12.9 mi

    Boron hides a quiet superpower inside the atom. One of its isotopes, boron-ten, is astonishingly hungry for slow-moving neutrons, capturing them more readily than almost any other material on Earth. Because a nuclear…

  • Boron, CA · 15.3 mi

    Boron, California, sits high in the Mojave Desert, a stark landscape that stretches in all directions from its 2,464-foot elevation. It’s easy to imagine why this specific spot became a town at all: borax. Founded in…

  • Twenty Mules and Not One Broken Wagon · 15.8 mi

    From 1883 to about 1898, borax was hauled out of Death Valley by the legendary twenty-mule teams. The name was almost right: each team was really eighteen mules plus two horses up front. The rigs were enormous. Each one…

  • The Town Named After an Element · 15.8 mi

    Boron, California, is one of the rare towns named straight off the periodic table. Its post office opened as "Boron" in 1938, taking the name of element number five. The town sits atop the Kramer borate deposit, a…

  • The Chemistry Hiding in Slime · 15.9 mi

    The classic gooey "slime" that kids love owes its stretch to borax, the mineral pulled from this desert. White glue contains long, tangled molecules called polymers, specifically a chain known as polyvinyl alcohol. On…

  • The Patient Pest Killer · 15.9 mi

    Boric acid, made from the borax mined here, has a long history as a slow-acting insect control. Unlike a fast knockdown spray, it works quietly over days. The fine powder clings to ants and roaches as they cross it.…

  • Mojave, CA · 18.5 mi

    Mojave, California, a tranquil desert outpost under an endless sky, owes much to its strategic location. Established in 1876 thanks to the Southern Pacific Railroad, it became a crucial transportation hub, connecting…

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