Planned area or ???

[bulkyorled]

Probably a stupid question but what exactly are these? They're all over the Mojave in Kern County, this one is in/just outside California City, you can see it if you go to Cal City and follow 20 Mule Team Pkwy (whatever that was named for) and there's a massive one. But if you go out there, there's nothing, and you can't street view anything but that one street. God knows there's nothing out there anyways, but there are many of them. Another large one is if you drop a pin at Rosamond Blvd (or 140th Street) and Desert Sage Ave, there's a large one but the road doesn't go through. What's the purpose of those streets with nothing on them?  

Also kind of a neat thing, a lot of the streets over there are named after cars and particular models. There's Thunderbird Blvd to the upper left of the area

[NE2]

20 Mute Team Pkwy (whatever that was named for)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-mule_team

Obviously the area was platted but not developed. I wonder why nobody wanted to live out in the desert...
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-11/local/me-939_1_california-city

Apparently it's partly used as an off-highway vehicle area.

[bulkyorled]

I meant Mule not Mute  
Its funny you post that I was just talking about how about 40 some years ago my grandmother knew people who moved to Cal City and still live there actually and they would always talk about how its the city of the future. The "city of the future" only has 2 traffic lights. And I agree who the hell wants to live out there, its bad enough that there's dull cities such as Lancaster or Palmdale, or even worse Rosamond or other cities in the area. Gross haha I do not care for that at all. That article is 22 years old and there's still nothing going on even after the boom the AV had in the 00s


Seems like the article is saying they planned for Cal City, what Lancaster & Palmdale got over the past 15 years

I guess what's also odd is that Google even put up the streets on maps

[Alex]

In the map industry, these are called "paper streets", streets platted but never built. One example I remember was in southwest Escambia County where a planned subdivision was only partially built, because it was platted in wetlands deemed to sensitive for development. Portions of the planned neighborhood were absorbed into an expanded Bayou Tarklin State Park. Navteq data often incorporates paper streets.

[agentsteel53]

California City was planned to be the largest city, by area, in the US.

then they realized that apparently no one wanted to live in the desert. 

oops, forgot the slot machines.

[myosh_tino]

Probably a stupid question but what exactly are these? They're all over the Mojave in Kern County, this one is in/just outside California City, you can see it if you go to Cal City and follow 20 Mule Team Pkwy (whatever that was named for) and there's a massive one. But if you go out there, there's nothing, and you can't street view anything but that one street. God knows there's nothing out there anyways, but there are many of them. Another large one is if you drop a pin at Rosamond Blvd (or 140th Street) and Desert Sage Ave, there's a large one but the road doesn't go through. What's the purpose of those streets with nothing on them?  

Also kind of a neat thing, a lot of the streets over there are named after cars and particular models. There's Thunderbird Blvd to the upper left of the area

What I find interesting is if you turn off "Labels", you can actually see the street grid.  Apparently, someone took the time to grade all the streets (including the cul-de-sacs) shown on your map but never developed anything on the land.  Not sure if you can drive on these "streets" but if they're open to the public, you can definitely off-road on them.

[bulkyorled]

Someone shoulda told the cities of Lancaster & Palmdale that no one wanted to live there either. I never knew a hell of a lot about Cal City other than what my grandma told me about her friends that live there. I always thought it was a bad joke that they thought it was the city of the future. Not that it really could have had a future.


And yes you can actually drive on these dirt roads, offroad more or less I wouldn't personally though there's plenty of spots to get stuck in due to sand but if you had the right vehicle it'd be fine. They're all over the place in the Antelope Valley but they take up smaller amounts of land and they're more grid than the way that is. Kinda spooky 

[Bickendan]

Another one, off of CA 58 west of I-5: http://g.co/maps/jhbcd

[bulkyorled]

That's weird a lot of the streets there have the suffix Trail

[Quillz]

I believe the streets are open to the public but not paved, so they aren't really designed for cars. But, as said, some do take off-road bikes on them.

I think with California City, it was expected there would be a lot of people working at Edwards Air Force Base, and this would be where they lived. But it never really worked out that way.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

California City was planned to be the largest city, by area, in the US.

Wikipedia states that this city's planners originally expected to surpass LA in land size (not sure about population)

then they realized that apparently no one wanted to live in the desert. 

What about Phoenix and Las Vegas?

[agentsteel53]

Las Vegas - various easily accessed entertainment products.

Phoenix - haven't figured this one out yet.  bizarrely oppressive temperature, bizarrely oppressive government.  go figure.

[bulkyorled]

Las Vegas - various easily accessed entertainment products.

Phoenix - haven't figured this one out yet.  bizarrely oppressive temperature, bizarrely oppressive government.  go figure.

Well that took the words right out of my keys...

[hm insulators]

Phoenix - haven't figured this one out yet.  bizarrely oppressive temperature, bizarrely oppressive government.  go figure.

Lots of people move here from Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and so forth to get away from the snow and put up with the heat, or they spend time up in the mountains where it's cooler. (A common phrase: "You don't have to shovel heat/sunshine.") Many others are "snowbirds"--they come here in November and either live in their RVs out in the desert or they have a second home in Phoenix or Tucson, then about April they all start pulling out and heading back north. It's amazing all the Green Bay Packer flags and bumper stickers you see in the winter months here.

I have to agree with you about certain government figures, though. 

[jwolfer]

Phoenix - haven't figured this one out yet.  bizarrely oppressive temperature, bizarrely oppressive government.  go figure.

Lots of people move here from Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and so forth to get away from the snow and put up with the heat, or they spend time up in the mountains where it's cooler. (A common phrase: "You don't have to shovel heat/sunshine.") Many others are "snowbirds"--they come here in November and either live in their RVs out in the desert or they have a second home in Phoenix or Tucson, then about April they all start pulling out and heading back north. It's amazing all the Green Bay Packer flags and bumper stickers you see in the winter months here.

I have to agree with you about certain government figures, though. 

I live in Florida and most of the state is populated with people from somewhere else.  The people claim residence here because there is no state income tax.  But people never make Florida "home" its in NJ,NY,OH etc.  That is the problem with Arizona and Florida.

Those people never want to invest in Florida for the future, that is part of the reason schools arent that good in this state.  At least where I am in Jacksonville we do not have the "snowbird" population of South and Central Florida.  Lots of transplants here but people tend to make Jax home, more like Charlotte or Atlanta.  Not many jobs in some of the smaller cities other than services for retirees and/or tourists. 

[realjd]

This is common in Florida also:
Palm Bay's "The Compound" - http://g.co/maps/ndsrw
East of Naples: http://g.co/maps/kgb38

[dfilpus]

East of Naples: http://g.co/maps/kgb38

This area was supposed to be South Golden Gate Estates. It is now the Picayune Strand State Forest. The state of Florida purchased all of the land back from the people who bought land from the original developers. The streets built by the original developers are still there, but the state has cut off access to them. The whole area is being allowed to revert to swampland. Back in the 1980's, I drove around in the area. There were fisherman fishing on the canals and beehives set up in cul de sacs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picayune_Strand_State_Forest

[KEK Inc.]

People with arthritis prefer warmer temperatures yearly due to how joints contract in cold weather, so that's another reason why Florida and Phoenix are popular retirement places. 

[xcellntbuy]

Living in south Florida, I can certainly attest to the fact that people are from somewhere else.  Being a former New Yorker, I moved here 14-1/2 years ago for career reasons.  Seventy percent of our 19+ million people were born elsewhere.  South Florida (predominantly Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties) are totally different in their intense on-the-go lifestyle from the folks on the Gulf Coast, just 100 miles to the west, where it is VERY laid-back.  Longtime south Floridians tell me the Atlantic Coast used to be like the Gulf Coast, "until all those northerners came down."  Our fellow northern Florida residents often look southward as the den of iniquity, wicked, loose living, excessive and ostentatious, boisterous.

Florida is a VERY regional state in terms of lifestyle, its people, culture, politics and so on.

[bulkyorled]

I think Phoenix and the surrounding area are very nice. Well kept up usually. I'd live there if it weren't for the crazy ass government over there. Las Vegas I can't explain but it's not gross in my opinion. What would Cal City have had? No gambling... I guess it woulda been Phoenix 2

[realjd]

Living in south Florida, I can certainly attest to the fact that people are from somewhere else.  Being a former New Yorker, I moved here 14-1/2 years ago for career reasons.  Seventy percent of our 19+ million people were born elsewhere.  South Florida (predominantly Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties) are totally different in their intense on-the-go lifestyle from the folks on the Gulf Coast, just 100 miles to the west, where it is VERY laid-back.  Longtime south Floridians tell me the Atlantic Coast used to be like the Gulf Coast, "until all those northerners came down."  Our fellow northern Florida residents often look southward as the den of iniquity, wicked, loose living, excessive and ostentatious, boisterous.

Florida is a VERY regional state in terms of lifestyle, its people, culture, politics and so on.

The Atlantic coast is also plenty laid back, you just have to go north of Jupiter. Compared to us, SW Florida looks crazy busy and hectic! We don't have anywhere near the number of snowbirds and tourists that they do.

[agentsteel53]

meanwhile, inland northern Florida is culturally similar to Alabama and Georgia. 

[bulkyorled]

Florida is one of those states you could split into two or three and have several states with completely different mind sets.

[CenVlyDave]

You can do the same with CA too!

[Brandon]

Florida is one of those states you could split into two or three and have several states with completely different mind sets.

More than a few states are that way.  Even my own (Illinois) is a prime example.