Mysterious Company Buys entire California Ghost town for 22.5 mil
May 21, 2023 4:51 PM Subscribe
"A road diverges in the yellow flats along the outer rim of Joshua Tree National Park. The two lanes in the middle of the desert peel off Interstate 10 ..." "A few foremen live on the premises full time to keep watch over Eagle Mountain. Verdant palm trees poke out from the street they live on, while the rest of town remains preserved by dust. One night in the stillness, a foreman heard trespassers in the dark. The sound of a shotgun blast into the sky scared them off."
Huh:
In the years since, Hollywood has sought out Eagle Mountain when in need of a surreal backdrop. The climax for Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” was shot among the ghost town’s mechanical wreckage.posted by migurski at 5:35 PM on May 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
In 2021, a trucking mogul named Balwinder S. Wraich
That is one hell of a name!
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:17 PM on May 21, 2023 [17 favorites]
That is one hell of a name!
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:17 PM on May 21, 2023 [17 favorites]
nearby humongous solar plant google map, wikipedia
is producing ~1300GWh/yr – or 1,300,000,000kWh – @ 10c/kWh that's $130M worth of power each year, or enough power for 150,000 homes
NIMBY rough-scrabble desert communities are fighting more solar plant expansion.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 6:39 PM on May 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
is producing ~1300GWh/yr – or 1,300,000,000kWh – @ 10c/kWh that's $130M worth of power each year, or enough power for 150,000 homes
NIMBY rough-scrabble desert communities are fighting more solar plant expansion.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 6:39 PM on May 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
I wish that the San Francisco chronicle would spend 20 minutes more digging. I feel like their reporting is often half-baked. Could they really not spend a little more time probing to find out who was behind the company? Do they really have no sources?
posted by Toddles at 6:44 PM on May 21, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by Toddles at 6:44 PM on May 21, 2023 [13 favorites]
It's gonna turn out to be Disney, isn't it? They ditched their FL project and grabbed this instead, didn't they?
posted by revmitcz at 7:04 PM on May 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by revmitcz at 7:04 PM on May 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
Given the incredible shrinking of page count and the incredible increasing price of the SF Comicle they probably only have a few or less reporters now.
posted by njohnson23 at 7:16 PM on May 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by njohnson23 at 7:16 PM on May 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
I want to support the Chron but their experience for subscribers is nearly as bad as it is for non-subscribers - endless pop-ups. I've been reading the SF Standard a lot lately... but wonder what the catch is.
posted by remainders at 7:25 PM on May 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by remainders at 7:25 PM on May 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
According to this the Chronicle and SFGate are no longer affiliated since 2019
About SFGate
I think SFGate doesn't have a paywall...
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 7:37 PM on May 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
About SFGate
I think SFGate doesn't have a paywall...
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 7:37 PM on May 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's gonna turn out to be Disney, isn't it? They ditched their FL project and grabbed this instead, didn't they?
Westworld's already here?
posted by fairmettle at 7:38 PM on May 21, 2023 [5 favorites]
Westworld's already here?
posted by fairmettle at 7:38 PM on May 21, 2023 [5 favorites]
This took me 5 minutes to Google. The company is owned by Aaron Siroonian and the company shares the address with Ecology Transportation Services which does logistics trucking. Aaron is also associated with this company too.
"There’s no food for 40 miles."
It was bought by a logistics company for trucking purposes.
There. Mystery solved. Jesus.
posted by Toddles at 7:40 PM on May 21, 2023 [58 favorites]
"There’s no food for 40 miles."
It was bought by a logistics company for trucking purposes.
There. Mystery solved. Jesus.
posted by Toddles at 7:40 PM on May 21, 2023 [58 favorites]
Yes, but that would have made a very boring article to read.
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 7:43 PM on May 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 7:43 PM on May 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm being facetious. Of course, the mystery was weird. There was something about it that made it dystopian to read.
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 7:46 PM on May 21, 2023
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 7:46 PM on May 21, 2023
Plus all that money and land.
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 7:48 PM on May 21, 2023
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 7:48 PM on May 21, 2023
To add, this location is right on the trucking route between the Port of Long Beach and all points east in the South - Phoenix, Austin etc.
posted by Toddles at 7:58 PM on May 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Toddles at 7:58 PM on May 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
"yesterday is history. tomorrow is a mystery.
today is a gift. that's why it's called the present. work hard, be happy, and enjoy your life in Verdant Palms."
posted by clavdivs at 8:20 PM on May 21, 2023 [9 favorites]
today is a gift. that's why it's called the present. work hard, be happy, and enjoy your life in Verdant Palms."
posted by clavdivs at 8:20 PM on May 21, 2023 [9 favorites]
I drove through Desert Center recently. It does feel like there should be a truck stop or some fast food there.
But the Kaiser Eagle Mountain property is 12 miles from the interstate. I wonder if they are trying to arrange some land swap with BLM, giving Eagle Mountain back to the govt in exchange for some I-10 frontage?
My second guess is landfill, because a waste hauler named "Ecology Transportation" is highly suspect, ha ha. They do manage some transfer stations, but I don't know that they currently run any landfills.
posted by ryanrs at 3:58 AM on May 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
But the Kaiser Eagle Mountain property is 12 miles from the interstate. I wonder if they are trying to arrange some land swap with BLM, giving Eagle Mountain back to the govt in exchange for some I-10 frontage?
My second guess is landfill, because a waste hauler named "Ecology Transportation" is highly suspect, ha ha. They do manage some transfer stations, but I don't know that they currently run any landfills.
posted by ryanrs at 3:58 AM on May 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
> My second guess is landfill, because a waste hauler named "Ecology Transportation" is highly suspect, ha ha. They do manage some transfer stations, but I don't know that they currently run any landfills.
Yeah, idk if it any harder these days with an EPA that isn't being run by Neil Gorsuch's mom, but in the 80s a former mercury mine near the Bay Area was bought by a private party and used as a rehab facility, whose workers the owner used to transport illegal waste and dump it there. The company buying Eagle Mountain sounds big enough to be compliant within the advice of their legal counsel at least.
posted by JauntyFedora at 5:16 AM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yeah, idk if it any harder these days with an EPA that isn't being run by Neil Gorsuch's mom, but in the 80s a former mercury mine near the Bay Area was bought by a private party and used as a rehab facility, whose workers the owner used to transport illegal waste and dump it there. The company buying Eagle Mountain sounds big enough to be compliant within the advice of their legal counsel at least.
posted by JauntyFedora at 5:16 AM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
There. Mystery solved. Jesus.
Charles siroonian. Owns several companies with ecology in the name (including a company to repair their own trucks). Also owns a mineral and lime company and several others with similar names. If I were suspicious in nature I'd assume they'll be dumping on the property. If I were truly dead inside I'd assume hazardous waste as like 20 other companies I found with ecology services in the name specifically do hazardous waste hauling.
Shrug.
posted by chasles at 6:19 AM on May 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
Charles siroonian. Owns several companies with ecology in the name (including a company to repair their own trucks). Also owns a mineral and lime company and several others with similar names. If I were suspicious in nature I'd assume they'll be dumping on the property. If I were truly dead inside I'd assume hazardous waste as like 20 other companies I found with ecology services in the name specifically do hazardous waste hauling.
Shrug.
posted by chasles at 6:19 AM on May 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
Westworld's already here?
We would like. As it turns out with the closing of Galactic Starcruiser, Disney can't do cosplay right either.
posted by mikelieman at 7:02 AM on May 22, 2023
We would like. As it turns out with the closing of Galactic Starcruiser, Disney can't do cosplay right either.
posted by mikelieman at 7:02 AM on May 22, 2023
... live on the premises full time to keep watch over Eagle Mountain. Verdant palm trees poke out from the street they live on, while the rest of town remains preserved by dust.
Sounds like heaven.
One night in the stillness, a foreman heard trespassers in the dark. The sound of a shotgun blast into the sky scared them off.
Wait, WHAT?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:57 AM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Sounds like heaven.
One night in the stillness, a foreman heard trespassers in the dark. The sound of a shotgun blast into the sky scared them off.
Wait, WHAT?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:57 AM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
It seems a little inconvenient for truck parking (Desert Center would seem to make more sense), but I guess that's a possibility.
I think it's wise to keep a skeptical eye on this. A waste hauler is fundamentally in the business of making inconvenient stuff disappear. Doing it right can be hard and expensive. If I were a hazardous waste hauler, even if my initial motives were of the most crystalline purity, having a desert fastness far from prying eyes would subject me to an almost irresistible temptation to commit environmental crimes there.
posted by Not A Thing at 10:32 AM on May 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
I think it's wise to keep a skeptical eye on this. A waste hauler is fundamentally in the business of making inconvenient stuff disappear. Doing it right can be hard and expensive. If I were a hazardous waste hauler, even if my initial motives were of the most crystalline purity, having a desert fastness far from prying eyes would subject me to an almost irresistible temptation to commit environmental crimes there.
posted by Not A Thing at 10:32 AM on May 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
I feel like $22.5M is too big of a buy-in for illegal dumping and other cheap crimes. That's a fleet of 250 brand new trucks.
Maybe it's related to the aqueduct? The Colorado River Aqueduct passes within a mile or two of the mine. That must be how the town got its water. Do water rights apply to the aqueduct?
posted by ryanrs at 11:10 AM on May 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
Maybe it's related to the aqueduct? The Colorado River Aqueduct passes within a mile or two of the mine. That must be how the town got its water. Do water rights apply to the aqueduct?
posted by ryanrs at 11:10 AM on May 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
Hauling and disappearing waste is also traditionally a heavily mob-connected industry, both in the US and elsewhere. Just saying.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 5:31 PM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 5:31 PM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
He'd have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids and their talking dog.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:21 PM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:21 PM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
>>It's gonna turn out to be Disney, isn't it? They ditched their FL project and grabbed this instead, didn't they?
>Westworld's already here?
I think they're referring to the recently-scrapped Lake Nona Project, which would have seen Walt Disney Imagineering move its headquarters from California to Florida.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:27 PM on May 22, 2023
>Westworld's already here?
I think they're referring to the recently-scrapped Lake Nona Project, which would have seen Walt Disney Imagineering move its headquarters from California to Florida.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:27 PM on May 22, 2023
@ZenMasterThis ... I know right...
The writing in the article is really one of the reasons I was so intrigued. Because this detail could have been introduced in so many different ways, but the set-up was just... eery.
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 8:03 PM on May 22, 2023
The writing in the article is really one of the reasons I was so intrigued. Because this detail could have been introduced in so many different ways, but the set-up was just... eery.
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 8:03 PM on May 22, 2023
why even live in a desert ghost town if you can't shoot guns at all hours?
posted by ryanrs at 8:54 PM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ryanrs at 8:54 PM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Bummer. I'd hoped the buyers would be cryptocurrency Libertarians ramping up to do a Bioshock in the desert.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 9:36 PM on May 22, 2023
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 9:36 PM on May 22, 2023
Do water rights apply to the aqueduct
ever since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:53 PM on May 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
ever since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:53 PM on May 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
About 15 years ago I did the initial surveys for the first solar plant in this valley. Back then a mean old woman managed the town. She kept up around four of the houses so that people who came out to work could stay somewhere. The house I stayed in was like a 1960s/70s time capsule. Everything down to the plates and cups was original. The neighborhood looked like an apocalypse movie. Houses boarded up and weeds growing out of every crack.
Pretty surreal.
posted by joeyverge at 1:42 PM on May 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
Pretty surreal.
posted by joeyverge at 1:42 PM on May 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
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