At 11:57 AM 6/21/05, you wrote: > >If you're referring to the desolate desert road in SoCal off I-15, that's > >"Zzyzx" Road. > >That's the one! > > >I actually exited the freeway there once. Nothing but a road down to a > >dry lake bed IIRC. Pretty hot there now: 110 in nearby Baker. > >When I was there, it looked like it had been that way for some time. >That was 20 years ago..
Back in the 1930s there was a mineral springs resort southeast of the freeway. Back then the mineral springs were touted as cures for anything that ailed you, including arthritis. Supposedly the place was called Zzyzx so it would the memorable, and found as the last entry in any list of mineral springs (pronounced zyy-zexx). A rail siding went to a small station just for the resort. A shuttle bus went up a mile or two long gravel road to the resort. It's all gone now, expect for the offramp that was built in when the freeway was built. About 1971 a friend and I carpooled one year to the SAROC convention and we saw the sign for exit at around midnight. We had some time to kill, a full gas tank, and a jerry can of gas in the back just in case so I got off the freeway and went north, and found a dead end within a half-mile. Went back and drove the other direction and within 10 miles found the old resort ruins. There was a gentleman living in a run-down trailer there, said his grandad worked there in it's prime days, and told how all the hollywood stars would come up on the train for the weekend. He gave us a flashlight tour of the ruins and retold his grandads stories... pointed out that the mineral springs themselves were still there, and if there was a market the place could be rebuilt. Unfortunately all the marble and era fixtures were scavenged after it closed. I remember seeing a TV piece on Zzyzx a while back, maybe on the Travel Channel, or a Huell Howser piece on PBS, or somewhere. Picture the Kenwood Inn <http://www.kenwoodinn.com> but in the desert, and done in 1920s and 30s style, and in local hand-cut rock and marble. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
