Desert Center, California
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Desert Center is a
census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
in the
Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...
in
Riverside County, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...
. It is in southern California, between the cities of
Indio Indio may refer to: Places * Indio, Bovey Tracey, an historic estate in Devon, England * Indio, California, a city in Riverside County, California, United States People with the name * Indio (musician), Canadian musician Gordon Peterson * Índi ...
and Blythe at the junction of
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...
and State Route 177, about halfway between Phoenix and
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. The ZIP Code is 92239, and the community is in telephone
area codes 442 and 760 Area codes 760 and 442 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California. These area codes serve an overlay complex that comprises much of the southeastern and southernmost portions of Californ ...
. The elevation is . The population was 204 at the 2010 census.


History


Beginnings: "Desert Steve" Ragsdale

The town was founded in 1921 by Stephen A. Ragsdale, also known as "Desert Steve", and his wife, Lydia. Ragsdale was an itinerant
preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...
and cotton farmer, originally from
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
. In 1915, he left his farm in the Palo Verde Valley along the
Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
to attend to some business in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. The road between Phoenix and Los Angeles was mostly sand, and Ragsdale's vehicle broke down near a place called Gruendyke's Well. This featured a hand-dug well and was inhabited by a prospector named Bill Gruendyke. Gruendyke rescued Ragsdale and gave him food, shelter, and water until his vehicle was repaired and he could resume his journey to Los Angeles. Upon his return, Ragsdale bought out Gruendyke and moved his family to the remote spot, where they constructed a small shack with a lean-to that served as a repair garage. A Model T truck was modified to serve as a tow car. Gasoline was pumped by hand from a 55-gallon drum. Lydia served food and refreshments to thirsty and weary travelers. In spite of the remote location— in any direction from anything—the Ragsdales prospered. Ragsdale named his outpost "Desert Center". In 1921, it was announced that the sand road running through Desert Center would be relocated about north, straightened, paved, and named U.S. Route 60, a modern "high-speed" highway. In March 1926, The San Bernardino Daily Sun reported that 21 miles of grading was being done on a new road from Desert Center to Hopkins Well, changing the location of the desert highway and running over better soil. :"'The old highway there will be abandoned when the new work is completed,' said Mr. . Q.Sullivan ivision engineer for the California Highway Commission">California_Highway_Commission.html" ;"title="ivision engineer for the California Highway Commission">ivision engineer for the California Highway Commission 'and we will later surface such stretches of the new road as are necessary.' F. C. Payton is the contractor handling the grading work." Ragsdale abandoned "old Desert Center" and built a poured-concrete café in the adobe style with an attached gasoline station and a huge
service garage. Across the road, a series of wooden structures were built, including a
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...
(which at one time was the largest Coleman Company">Coleman Coleman may refer to: Places Antarctica * Coleman Glacier (Antarctica) * Coleman Peak, Ross Island Canada * Coleman, Alberta * Coleman, Ontario * Coleman, Prince Edward Island United Kingdom * Coleman, Leicester, England United States * C ...
camping equipment dealer in the country), and a post office. He also built several cabins for travelers, and a large "plunge" (swimming pool) next to the café where travelers could escape the desert heat. Ragsdale was a desert eccentric of the first order, and his advertising for Desert Center in publications such as ''Desert Magazine'' reflected his personality: "U Need Us – We Need U", "Our Main Street is 100-miles long!",spring 2004 lrl
"We lost our keys...we can't close!" (a reference to the fact that the café has been open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year since it opened in 1921), "Free Room and Board Every Day The Sun Doesn't Shine In Desert Center", "If You Don't Believe Me, You Can Go To
Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
, or Visit Me in Desert Center in August! Nuf sed, Steve". When Ragsdale needed a teacher for his own children and the few others in the town, the county declined to send one; there weren't enough students to warrant the expense. Ragsdale hastily built a basic structure of stick framing with paper board walls to use as a schoolhouse, and placed an ad in Los Angeles newspapers asking for an auto mechanic with a large family, which he got, and a teacher was indeed provided by the county. Ragsdale frequently retreated to his writing shack near the north tip of the rock formation called "The
Alligator An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...
" (across I-10 from Desert Center) where he composed poetry—the stanzas are referred to as "Spasm #1", etc.—to be distributed in booklet form to travelers. Ragsdale was a close friend of many classic "desert people" such as Randall Henderson, founder of ''Desert Magazine''; Marshall South, the
hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
of Ghost Mountain; desert painter John Hilton; noted biologist
Edmund C. Jaeger Edmund Carroll Jaeger, D.Sc.,University of California, Riverside, Science Library (January 28, 1887 – August 2, 1983) was an American biologist known for his works on desert ecology. He was born in Loup City, Nebraska to Katherine (née Gunth ...
; and Harry Oliver, with whom Steve co-founded the annual Pegleg Smith Liar's Contest in Anza-Borrego. Oliver often printed items about Desert Steve in his 'newspaper,' the '' Desert Rat Scrap Book''. Within a few years, Ragsdale operated a number of satellite businesses in locations such as Cactus City,
Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
, Skyway, Box Canyon, and Shaver's Well. Around 1950, he left Desert Center, living the rest of his days at his log cabin retreat near the summit of Santa Rosa Mountain. His sons, Stanley, Thurman, and Herbert, took over operations of Desert Center, and Stanley eventually purchased the town from his father. Stanley ran it for decades, adding a hamburger stand and the Stanco gasoline station.


Early prepaid health insurance

In the early 1930s, Dr. Sidney R. Garfield, who had just graduated from University of Southern California, went to visit a former classmate with a practice in
Indio Indio may refer to: Places * Indio, Bovey Tracey, an historic estate in Devon, England * Indio, California, a city in Riverside County, California, United States People with the name * Indio (musician), Canadian musician Gordon Peterson * Índi ...
. The practice was thriving to capacity, while Garfield was nearly without business in Depression-era Los Angeles. Garfield's friend explained that he was the closest doctor (50 miles) to 5,000 men digging the
Colorado River Aqueduct The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu on ...
under direction of Six Companies, Inc. The project site's headquarters was just southeast of Desert Center. Garfield borrowed money from his father and constructed a 4-bed
clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care needs ...
near the construction site. The clinic was cooled by an ammonia
air-conditioning system Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC ) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. H ...
and at the time was the only air-conditioned building between Riverside and Phoenix. Garfield would treat the men, who would promise to pay on payday, but who would usually go to Blythe or Indio and drink their paychecks. Within a year, Garfield was broke and announced that he would pull up stakes. Hearing this,
Henry J. Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known for his shipbuilding and construction projects, then later for his involvement in fostering modern American health care. Prior to World War II, ...
, whose division of the Six Companies, Inc. was building the stretch of the
Colorado River Aqueduct The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu on ...
through the Desert Center vicinity, visited Garfield at his clinic. His idea was to take a nickel a day out of each man's paycheck to prepay for that man's future medical treatments, should an injury occur while he was working. If the man wanted to be covered for the remainder of the day, after work hours, another nickel would be deducted. If the man had a wife and/or children he wanted to cover, this would cost another nickel. Within a short time, Garfield had a steady income stream and things improved for him immensely. When the aqueduct project was finished, Kaiser's next venture was the construction of the
Grand Coulee Dam Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had two powerhous ...
, and he took Garfield with him to manage the workers' health care, but this time there were 50,000 men, not just 5,000. Garfield's Contractors General Hospital evolved into
Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP) is an American integrated delivery system, integrated managed care consortium headquartered in Oakland, California. Founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield, Sidney R. Garfield, the ...
, the largest managed health care system in the world, but its origins are in Desert Center. In 1992 a roadside historical marker at the site was unveiled by Garfield's sister next to the grocery honoring Desert Center as the birthplace of Kaiser Permanente.


General Patton – Desert Training Center

By 1942, Desert Center had very few residents. It was then that the Army, under the direction of Maj. General
George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (11 November 1885 – 21 December 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, then the Third Army in France and Germany after the Alli ...
, established the Desert Center Army Air Field and the Camp Desert Center to support operations in the California-Arizona Maneuver Area. The base covered . Its purpose was to train troops for combat in the deserts of
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
against the forces of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The enormous operation came to a close in 1944, when the Allies were victorious in the North African theatre. A museum honoring Patton and his training complex is located in Chiriaco Summit. After the military's departure, the town became quiet again, remaining relatively unchanged as the old U.S. Route 60/ 70 was replaced by
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...
.


Eagle Mountain Mine and Prison

The site of Kaiser Steel Eagle Mountain Mine, which was one of the largest
open-pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially ...
iron mining Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...
operations in the world at the time of opening, is located about north of Desert Center. The rich iron ore deposit was discovered by geologists employed by
Henry J. Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known for his shipbuilding and construction projects, then later for his involvement in fostering modern American health care. Prior to World War II, ...
during construction of the
Colorado River Aqueduct The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu on ...
in the early 1930s. The Eagle Mountain Mine operated at capacity from World War II until Kaiser closed the mine and the town of Eagle Mountain in early 1982. Movies & TV shows have used the mine as a
filming location A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, instead of or in addition to using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film crew wi ...
, including scenes from the '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''—first '' Terminator'' movie in 3-D. A for-profit prison was operated by Utah's
Management and Training Corporation Management & Training Corporation or MTC is a contractor that manages private prisons and United States Job Corps centers, based in Centerville, Utah. MTC's core businesses are corrections, education and training, MTC medical, and economic & so ...
here in facilities leased from Kaiser Steel. Nine weeks before it was closed on December 31, 2003, a
race riot This is a list of ethnic riots by country, and includes riots based on Ethnic conflict, ethnic, Sectarian violence, sectarian, xenophobic, and Racial conflict, racial conflict. Some of these riots can also be classified as pogroms. Africa A ...
claimed the lives of two black prisoners. Plans for a project to operate an enormous
waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste, together with monitor ...
landfill at the mine site were stopped by environmentalists' legal actions taken to protect the surrounding
Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...
ecosystem and the
groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...
aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...
.


Desert Center today

Today, the town barely survives. The United States Post Office is the only remaining business. The nearest gasoline and fast food are at Chiriaco Summit, over 19 miles away. Desert Center is home to agricultural farms, two mobile home parks frequented by "
snowbirds Snowbird may refer to: Places * Snowbird, Utah, an unincorporated area and associated ski resort in the United States * Snowbird Lake, a lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada * Snowbird Glacier, a hanging alpine glacier in the Talkeetna Moun ...
", and the Lake Tamarisk community, which includes a golf course and that was founded by the Kaiser Steel Corporation for mine management.
Desert Center Airport Desert Center Airport is a private-use airport located five nautical miles (6  mi, 9  km) northeast of the central business district of Desert Center, in Riverside County, California, United States. The airport is located at ...
has a runway, but last operated as a public airport in 1992. It is now privately owned and since 2010 has been the site of the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, a professional-grade motorsports track that can be rented by clubs and individuals. The 1980s saw a surge of growth in Desert Center as
jojoba Jojoba (; botanical name: ''Simmondsia chinensis'')also commonly called goat nut, deer nut, pignut, wild hazel, quinine nut, coffeeberry, and gray box bushis an evergreen, dioecious shrub native to the Southwestern United States and northern M ...
gained popularity. The brackish water, sandy soil, and dry weather make the area ideal for cultivation of this hardy desert plant whose oil is used chiefly in cosmetic products. In the early 1990s, Stanley Ragsdale commissioned the planting of several hundred
palm trees The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially ...
in strange patterns on the town's frontage with Interstate 10. When asked why, he said he always wanted a "tree-ring circus". Since his death in 1999, the trees have been left unattended and many have died. a large portion of the town has been purchased by a Riverside resident and is in escrow. The area around Desert Center has become a hotbed of
solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...
generation with the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm nearby.


Services

The community is served by State Route 177 and
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...
. Most wireline phone numbers in Desert Center and Lake Tamarisk are served by
Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...
from the (760) 227-xxxx exchange. Additionally, Desert Center is served by Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) via the (760) 205 and (760) 437 exchanges (per the Telecordia Local Exchange Routing Guide). , a
Caltrans The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...
maintenance station existed at 29476 Ragsdale Road. Local schoolchildren are part of the Desert Center Unified School District. Elementary and middle school students attend Eagle Mountain School in Eagle Mountain, California, while high school students are bussed daily to
Blythe, California Blythe () is a city in eastern Riverside County, California, United States. It is in the Palo Verde Valley of the Lower Colorado River Valley region, an agricultural area and part of the Colorado Desert along the Colorado River, approximatel ...
.
Palo Verde Valley Transit Agency Palo may refer to: Places * Palo, Estonia, village in Meremäe Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Palo, Huesca, municipality in the province of Huesca, Spain * Palo, Iowa, United States, a town located within Linn County * Palo Laziale, a location ...
operates lifeline transportation services to Indio and Blythe for local residents.


Lake Tamarisk

Lake Tamarisk is a community about one and three quarter miles north of Interstate 10 off Kaiser Road at , and on the Desert Center 7.5-minute quadrangle. The community has a golf course with low greens fees. Both the Lake
Tamarisk The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tamb ...
Library and Riverside County Fire Department Station 49 are located in Lake Tamarisk.


Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the CDP covers an area of , all of it land. In the vicinity of Desert Center are the
Chuckwalla Mountains The Chuckwalla Mountains are a mountain range in the transition zone between the Colorado Desert—Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert, climatically and vegetationally, in Riverside County of southern California. The mountains are named after ...
,
Corn Springs Corn Springs is a palm oasis situated in the Chuckwalla Mountains of the Colorado Desert in Riverside County, California, United States, seventeen miles southeast of Desert Center. Native Americans relied on the springs, and they engraved ma ...
, Eagle Mountain (Kaiser Steel's former iron mine), and Chiriaco Summit and museum.


Climate

According to the
Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, Desert Center has a
hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
, abbreviated "BWh" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Desert Center was on July 9, 2024, while the coldest temperature recorded was on January 7, 1950.


Demographics


2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Desert Center had a population of 256. The population density was . The racial makeup of Desert Center was 173 (67.6%)
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 5 (2.0%)
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0 (0.0%) Native American, 2 (0.8%) Asian, 0 (0.0%)
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 49 (19.1%) from other races, and 27 (10.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 71 persons (27.7%). The whole population lived in households. There were 96 households, out of which 14 (14.6%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 46 (47.9%) were married-couple households, 7 (7.3%) were
cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...
couple households, 26 (27.1%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 17 (17.7%) had a male householder with no partner present. 28 households (29.2%) were one person, and 18 (18.8%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.67. There were 60
families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...
(62.5% of all households). The age distribution was 46 people (18.0%) under the age of 18, 10 people (3.9%) aged 18 to 24, 50 people (19.5%) aged 25 to 44, 66 people (25.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 84 people (32.8%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 52.0years. For every 100 females, there were 86.9 males. There were 175 housing units at an average density of , of which 96 (54.9%) were occupied. Of these, 68 (70.8%) were owner-occupied, and 28 (29.2%) were occupied by renters.


2010

The 2010 United States census reported that Desert Center had a population of 204. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was 6.7 people per square mile (2.6/km). The racial makeup of Desert Center was 164 (80.4%)
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
(76.5% Non-Hispanic White), 1 (0.5%)
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 3 (1.5%) Native American, 2 (1.0%) Asian, 0 (0%)
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 25 (12%) from other races, and 9 (4%) from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 38 persons (18.6%). The census reported that 203 people (99% of the population) lived in households, 1 (<1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized. There were 85 households, out of which 20 (24%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 37 (44%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 10 (12%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1 (1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 3 (4%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 0 (0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 33 households (39%) were made up of individuals, and 15 (18%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39. There were 48
families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...
(57% of all households); the average family size was 3.19. The population was spread out, with 40 people (20%) under the age of 18, 12 people (6%) aged 18 to 24, 43 people (21%) aged 25 to 44, 64 people (31%) aged 45 to 64, and 45 people (22%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.5 males. There were 140 housing units at an average density of 4.6 per square mile (1.8/km), of which 61 (72%) were owner-occupied, and 24 (28%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 9%; the rental vacancy rate was 33%. 147 people (72% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 56 people (28%) lived in rental housing units. According to the 2010 United States census, Desert Center had a median household income of $27,031, with 28.8% of the population living below the federal poverty line.


In popular culture

* A critical scene in the 1945 film ''
Detour __NOTOC__ A detour or (British English: diversion) is a (normally temporary) route taking traffic around an area of prohibited or reduced access, such as a construction site. Standard operating procedure for many roads departments is to route an ...
'' takes place, according to the film's narration, outside a highway gas station "near the airport at Desert Center". * A portion of the Eagle Mountain Railroad south of Desert Center was used in the filming of the movie '' Tough Guys'', which is a 1986 comedy starring
Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year caree ...
,
Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...
,
Eli Wallach Eli Herschel Wallach ( ; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. Known for his character actor roles, his entertainment career spanned over six decades. He received a British Aca ...
and
Dana Carvey Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster, screenwriter and producer. Carvey is best known for his seven seasons on ''Saturday Night Live'', from 1986 to 1993, which earned him five consecutive Pri ...
. ''Tough Guys'' was the final collaboration for Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. * Films using Desert Center locations:Titles with locations including
Desert Center, California, US<

/ref> ** '' Tough Guys'' (1986) ** '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991) ** '' H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds'' (2005) ** ''Desert Road End'' (2006) ** ''Falling Objects'' (2006) ** ''
Unknown Unknown or The Unknown may refer to: Film and television Film * The Unknown (1915 comedy film), ''The Unknown'' (1915 comedy film), Australian silent film * The Unknown (1915 drama film), ''The Unknown'' (1915 drama film), American silent drama ...
'' (2006) ** ''Battle of Los Angeles'' Eagle Mountain Mine site (2011)


References


External links


The Center for Land Use Interpretation: museum show


* * {{authority control Census-designated places in Riverside County, California Populated places in the Colorado Desert Populated places established in 1921 1921 establishments in California Census-designated places in California