The Official Center of the World - Desert Oddity

There is no shortage of odd things in the desert and I've shown you many over the years. This desert oddity involves an entire "town" and a whole lot of money. Well, sort of a town anyway. I'll explain as we go.

You are probably wondering what I'm standing on. Or maybe you are really wondering why I have so much scar tissue on my legs.  

 If you were part of the first group, I'm standing on the "Official Center of the World."

The legal and "Official Center of the World" is in the town of Felicity, California. Downtown Felicity is the only part of Felicity there is. The population is exactly two. There is room for more though. Felicity has seven apartments, five of which are vacant (just in case you are interested). As you can see, Felicity (like most things I show you), is in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere in this case, is Imperial County, California,

That is a very nice lawn and tree for being in the middle of the desert. Hey,what the heck is that in lower left hand corner?

What the heck is this doing here? Didn't I do a post titled "Spiral Staircase to Nowhere" about this same thing in Pismo Beach? Actually, it isn't, because this one was once part of the original staircase in the Eiffel Tower. Still though, if you haven't seen it already, you will probably enjoy the other post. 

Have you asked yourself yet, "how in the heck did this thing get from Paris, France, to middle of nowhere desert California?"  If you want actual relevant information about this place, you will have to follow this link.

This is kind of a "you are here" diagram of Felicity. Where we are is just about exactly under the capital "G" in the word granite. 

If you've ever been to the Sistine Chapel, you've probably seen this painted on the ceiling. It is the "Arm of God." When I first saw it, I wasn't sure if it was intended to show us the "way," or direct us to the gift shop to pay our five dollar entrance fee. 

It was pointing to both of those things and more. The gift shop is on the left, "the way" is in the middle, and to the right is where we watched the obligatory five minute video.  

The pyramid contains the "Official Center of the World." As you can imagine, something that important must remain locked up at all times. It will even remain locked up while you are there. However, if you want to cough up a measly five dollar donation, the keeper of the keys will open the door, Then he will let you stand on the exact "Official Center of the World" and even snap a few photos. He will then tell you that there will be an official document waiting for you at the cash register on your way out. The certificate celebrates and documents, the brief moment when you stood on the "Official Center of the World."

Have I said the "Official Center of the World" enough yet?

I made the mistake of calling the "church" on the hill, a chapel. I was told that it is an actual church that holds no services, because nobody shows up. After standing on the "Official Center of the World," we are on our way to the "church." I'll explain all those triangular shaped things in a bit.

 This and the next few photos are just here because I liked them.

Okay, this is the coolest only cool thing about this place. These large triangular shaped things are covered with solid granite. As this end-piece says, the information etched onto these huge granite panels includes the entire History of Humanity.

 Here are a couple of examples. I wonder where the panel is that relates to trains?

I guess a person could read every panel, but it would take at least a couple of days to do so. I wonder if they'd charge you another five dollars to come back the next day?

I appreciate the dedication that it took to build this place. However, I mostly think it's just one man's extremely obsessive vision. It reminds me of Salvation Mountain and Burro Schmidt's Tunnel. You can follow these links if you so choose.


It just hit me, Where in the heck is my certificate for standing on the "OFFICIAL CENTER OF THE WORLD?"


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Salvation Mountain - Desert Folk Art or OCD?

Salvation Mountain

I recently made some posts relating to Slab City, dry land Sea Serpents, and assorted other desert oddities. Today's post, may just be the weirdest most impressive of the lot.  A guy named Leonard Knight started on this little bit of folk art in 1984. After more than 20 years of work obsession, and Mr. Knight in the "hospital" no longer on the premises, we are left with his life's work; Salvation Mountain. It's pretty clear that his theme was "God is Love."  Agree or disagree with that as you will. Everyone will have to admit that this guy was committed to what he was doing.

Talk about in the middle of nowhere. The closest civilization to what you are about to see is (drum roll please), none other than the modern day metropolis of (that's right folks!) Slab City!

Here's the main part of Salvation Mountain. It's made of hay bails, logs, paint, and anything else the guy could find. To add some scale to the place, please note the person standing between the "O" and "D: the right of the cross.

This structure is made up of cave like rooms and atrium like areas. 

Of all the things I saw there, I think I liked this tree the best.  I would have loved to been able to move the home made bench and shade from the photo.

One of the "atrium" like areas. This one must have been 30 feet high.

One of several old cars and trucks. Of course they all were adorned with the artists "theme." 

Considering that it was made of junk and old tree limbs, this was pretty cool looking.

This photo was taken from the top of the "mountain." In the background, is the road to Slab City. I guess this makes Salvation Mountain a suburb of Slab City.

That's a lot of work to show off your bowling trophies.

Just an alternate view of the same stuff.

A walkway or hall through the structure. Yes, that's an automobile door in the background. 

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This place was given a national award as one of the premier examples of folk art in the United States. I wonder how many awards it received for being maybe the biggest example EVER of  massive obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
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We've been at home for about three weeks and moss is starting to grow on us.  So, it's time to hit the road again. On Friday we are once again heading for the desert. Not this desert though. This time we'll be heading for the mighty Mojave Desert. We'll be staying (in our RV) near a town called Needles. Needles is very often the hottest spot in the United States. I can't say we'll be spending any time at all in the actual town though. There is much to see in this area. Our side trips should take us into Arizona and Nevada also. 

UPDATE:
Leonard Knight, the creator of this giant work of desert folk art, passed away on February 10, 2014. Think what you will about his art, but you can't deny the man's dedication.

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Slab City

Slab City (formerly a World War 2, USMC Artillery Training Base), is located a few miles outside of Niland, California.  The base, which closed in 1946 is about 120 feet below sea level, in the desert near Salton Sea. The buildings were torn down and only the cement slabs were left behind. Through the years people starting living here either full-time or on a seasonal basis.  There are exactly ZERO utilities here. That means no water, electricity, and no plumbing. The people living here are mostly artistic, counter culture, crazy, or eccentric. Throw in some snow birds who come here to escape cold weather and you got a pretty eclectic group.

Post Apocalypse is a good description of it. They have a library (of sorts), crude yet creative galleries (of sorts) and even a couple of bars. All electricity is from solar, wind, or generators.  Somewhere close, there must be a VERY stinky dump! If I had to sum it up in one sentence, I'd say it's hippie commune meets Mad Max... Personally, I think it's amazing, but I could never live here. Maybe back in the day, but not now. The place has clearly seen better days...

This was the original gate guard blockhouse at the entrance gate to the base.

From what I've seen, this is a pretty typical looking resident of Slab City.

Two of the most well known characters around these parts are "Half Pint" and her donkey. They are well known enough, that even I know who they are.

Please meet Half Pint's hippie donkey. It's waiting for her outside of a small store in the fast approaching modern day ghost town of Niland. That little slice of decay will have it's own post pretty soon.

Slab City is about one square mile in size. Although most of it isn't as congested looking as this, a lot of it is. This photo was taken from the jeep and those smudges in the sky are most likely squished bugs. 

A Slab City estate.

Lot's of "hippie" type buses.

Some local art! (you know I had to have a least one black and white shot in the group.

Mobile folk art.  Do you think it actually runs?

Who ever lives in this one has some electricity.

A Slab City night club called the "Range." Okay, how do they keep the beer cold. Or do they?

Slab City condos?

This thing was awesome looking. I wanted to get a closer look, but the locals were chasing us with pitchforks and torches (not really).  Embiggen for a closer look at the whatever it is...

More buses and I don't know what the heck those containers are. Maybe studio apartments.

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Slab City is another example of the strange things (and people) you see in the deserts of America. I love the desert for those two reasons and because of the amazing landscape.  This place is less than 200 miles from Los Angeles and about 75 miles from San Diego and I'll bet you that 99.9% of the population of both cities have never seen, or even heard of this place. Probably half of those who've heard of it, would be too afraid to go there.

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