Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008 - (Page 49)

rise building and live the corporate life,” said Simpson, wearing a T-shirt and jeans. “It was kind of driving me nuts.” He is working on developing an “eco-friendly campground and spa,” where “people can experience being outside and learn about the desert but have their comforts, too” — which will include massage therapy, pools to soak in, plasma TVs. In the meantime, Simpson sells real estate, mainly to a niche market of artists, architects and designers. He arrived at the tail end of the boom. In 2003, only 15 of the nearly 300 properties sold in Joshua Tree cost more than $100,000. You could buy a shack for less than the price of a new car. Then word got out. Prices shot up. When Simpson opened shop in 2005, the market was still, he said, “on fire.” (It has since slowed down.) People who had never visited the desert were buying lots sight unseen. Many of the buyers came from L.A., San Francisco and New York. The boom took the area by surprise, but it wasn’t hard to understand. Ecosystems are interdependent. Housing costs in and around big cities were astronomical. Even successful artists could barely afford a studio, much less a vacation home. So what that it could be infernally hot, that there were no decent restaurants and that you had to check your shoes for scorpions — land was cheap, JetBlue tickets even cheaper. And the area had been getting a lot of press. In 2002, Zittel organized the first High Desert Test Sites show, inviting artists (most of them from out of town, which raised some hackles locally) to erect installations at sites scattered about the desert. For a few days a year since then, art students, gallery owners, scenesters and journalists have arrived, maps in hand, sniffing out the next big thing. Like attracts like. A new wave of artists and designers bought property here; designers, too. Stephanie Smith bought a homesteader’s cabin and called it Ecoshack, now a lab for her L.A.-based environmentally conscious design company. The L.A. architecture firms Taalman Koch and Marmol Radziner & Associates are building glass-andmetal prefab homes. Galleries are opening from Joshua Tree all the way to Wonder Valley, 10 miles past Twentynine Palms on the very edge of nowhere. The Red Arrow Gallery opened in Joshua Tree last year. “The price was right, and the air is clean,” said Katie Shaw, the owner. She shows photography and drawings, is planning a film program, and works three jobs to keep it all going. “It’s just nonstop.” At the moment, though, Shaw is depressed about the Home Depot in the works just down the road from her gallery. And for every sleek architectural prototype built here, another block of tract housing goes up, leaving John Simpson worried that Joshua Tree will soon resemble the places that he, and his clients, intended to escape. “If this area was built out to its full zoning, we’d have 100,000 people here. We have 8,000, 9,000, and it’s starting to feel full.” The desert might be changing, but it was never timeless. The old desert dwellers wrinkle their noses at the newcomers — “It’s a lot of artists,” one Joshua Tree native said to me, “I mean, a lot of artists” — but the old prospectors didn’t think much of the homesteaders, either, and the American Indians, well, no one asked the Indians. Earlier this year, I hiked up the sandy wash behind the cabin I was renting. As it snaked uphill, the wash turned into a steep canyon. I scrambled over boulders, hoping no rattlesnake was sunning itself near my reaching fingers. At last a valley opened up beneath me, uniformly ocher in color, apparently bare of vegetation. Down below, I found that the earth was not barren but covered with low, dry grasses, the occasional creosote bush and, every few yards, remains of a Joshua tree. They had died in a fire 12 years before, hundreds of them. Many experts believe the culprit was the grasses. Fires don’t usually spread in the high desert — there’s not enough ground cover. But sediment from L.A. smog has enriched the soil with nitrogen, allowing nonnative grass to take root. Ecosystems are interdependent. Lightning strikes that once would have burned out in a few yards now can spread for miles. Joshua trees are bad at reproducing and can take centuries to grow. By the time I noticed that the sun was getting low, I could no longer find the canyon I’d climbed up in. I spotted another wash beneath me and, hoping it would take me down toward the highway, hustled toward it. I weaved between the boulders until, about 20 yards in front of me, I saw a mountain lion. It saw me first, then turned and ran. It leapt from rock to rock with extraordinary grace and disappeared. Mountain lions hunt by pouncing on their prey from above. This one ran off in the direction that I still had to walk, and rocky precipices hung every 15 or 20 feet over my path. But it was almost dark, and I could guess no other way home. Feeling foolish, with a rock in one hand and a pocket knife in the other, I walked on, shouting obscenities, hoping to scare it off. I doubt that I intimidated it, but I didn’t see it again. For weeks, I didn’t know what to make of the encounter, and still don’t, except that from the vast, denuded valley to the fleeing lion, I couldn’t have asked for a starker image of wildness on the run, and me alone, pitiably human: lost, dumb and ill equipped to deal with the danger or the beauty of this place. I’ll tell you one more story, because all is not lost. Even with Home Depot on its way, some things won’t change fast. I was hiking home another day, not far from where I met the lion. The sun was setting. I hurried along as the daylight dimmed and the earth turned pink. The shadows disappeared. Then, without warning, the world grew bright again. Gold and fuchsia spilled from the sky. Eventually the cloud cover shifted or the sun withdrew too far, and darkness fell again, but for a minute the earth stayed bright, the desert lit up like an amusement park. I couldn’t move an inch. VISITOR INFORMATION HOTELS: Spin and Margie’s Desert Hideaway: Five comfy, brightly colored suites. 64491 Twentynine Palms Highway, Joshua Tree; 760.366.9124; doubles from $125. 29 Palms Inn: Private bungalows and cabins beside a palm oasis. The restaurant offers high-end dining (steaks and seafood) in the desert. 73950 Inn Avenue, Twentynine Palms; 760.367.3505; doubles from $70. RESTAURANTS: Algoberto’s Taco Shop: No-frills Mexican. 56143 Twentynine Palms Highway, Yucca Valley; 760.365.6651; entrees $2 to $6. Crossroads Cafe and Tavern: Local hangout with hearty breakfasts and healthy salads. 61715 Twentynine Palms Highway, Joshua Tree; 760.366.5414; entrees $5 to $10. Country Kitchen: Standard diner fare, and great stir-fried noodles. 61768 Twentynine Palms Highway, Joshua Tree; 760.366.8988; entrees $4 to $8. CAFES, BARS AND CLUBS: Joshua Tree Saloon: Karaoke and free tacos Wednesday nights. 61835 Twentynine Palms Highway, Joshua Tree; 760.366.2250. The Palms: Homey dive bar with pool table and local bands. 83131 Amboy Road, Wonder Valley; 760.361.2810. Pappy & Harriet’s: Barbecue and beer. Occasional big-name music acts from out of town. 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown; 760.365.5956. SIGHTS: The Integratron: Architectural wonder and rejuvenation machine. “Public Sound Baths” most weekends, or by appointment. 2477 Belfield Boulevard, Landers; 760.364.3126. Joshua Tree Retreat Center: New Age workshops and retreats in a complex designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son. Also known as the Institute of Mentalphysics. 59700 Twentynine Palms Highway, Joshua Tree; 760.365.8371. Noah Purifoy Museum: An outdoor sculpture park. Blair Lane, Joshua Tree (ask for directions in town); 213.382.7516; www.noahpurifoy.com. Art Queen: Artist-run gallery located in two former garages. 61855 Twentynine Palms Highway, Joshua Tree; 760.362.3338. The Red Arrow Gallery: Art gallery featuring emerging talent. 61010 Twentynine Palms Highway, Joshua Tree; 760.366-2519.: DON’T MISS: High Desert Test Sites: Andrea Zittel’s annual art invitational 310.276.5424; www.highdeserttestsites.com). spring coastaltraveler http://www.noahpurifoy.com http://www.highdeserttestsites.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008

Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008 Contents Coastal Connoisseur Coastal Picks Coastal Scenario Coastal Art Coastal Driver Coastal Roadkill Coastal Eco Coastal Hotel Coastal Desert San Diego La Jolla Laguna Beach Malibu Santa Barbara San Luis Obispo Big Sur Carmel Monterey Santa Cruz San Francisco Sausalito Mill Valley Stinson Beach Bolinas Olema Point Reyes Station Fairfax Inverness Marshall, Tomales Sebastopol Petaluma Sonoma Coast Redwood Coast

Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008

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