Not one mention of nearby Lone Pine, California, the filming location of over 400 movies and TV shows, many of them classic Westerns? The Alabama Hills are incredibly scenic, and anyone staying at Cerro Gordo will want to see them. Also there’s a wonderful art installation at Owens Lake—a wind-powered organ in an abandoned glass factory, which you can listen to online 24/7 at KPPGlive.org
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European and Asian tourists will absolutely LOVE this place when it's completed. Anything Wild West or Cowboy related they totally go for. Hollywood movies, Tombstone, ya know. Got to add a daily shoot out at sundown and it's a winner.
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If Mr. Underwood and Mr. Bier insure that high-speed internet is available, I'm looking for a quiet place to live out my years. I don't much care about the dusty walk to the general store or the saloon; that'd suit my temperament (curmudgeon) just fine.
But I gotta keep working (Social Security ain't gonna cut it) so I have to have broadband. Show me that the internet zips along in Cerro Gordo and I'll make an offer on one of them houses.
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Have fun.
I doubt anyone is going to want to visit a burnt out mine in the middle of a hot desert.
Seems real estate in Miami or LA would be a better investment for financial upside.
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@There...Show me 300 acres in Miami or LA that i can purchase for 1.4 million and I'm all over it. Provided of course that you or someone else can front me the 1.4 million.
As for having fun. I think restoring an old ghost town would be much more fun than developing another shopping center or office complex.
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Hope for abandoned mines and waste tailing piles and ponds everywhere. The true American experience. The bloodstains and bullet holes certainly helps round out that experience.
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We flew hang gliders from Cerro Gordo in the 1976-1990 time frame. The town itself (private property) was off limits for much of that time. It is not quite the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from there. 4 wheel drive is recommended.
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Please no! It is a desert for crying out loud.
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What a Golden Opportunity !! Do it right, as a Vintage Class Act. Good luck, gentlemen.
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They should check out if any of the zinc ores are fluorescent. There is an abandoned zinc mine in New Jersey and there are several gorgeous fluorescent minerals associated with the ore. It’s quite spectacular.
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For those interested in seeing a part of America seldom visited, the drive from Reno to Las Vegas on US 395 on the east side of the Sierra Nevadas is worth the time (but not in summer). On the route there is Bowie State Historical Park (a preserved ghost town), Mono Lake Tufa Natural Reserve, Manzanar National Historic Site (Japanese-American internment camp), Cerro Gordo, Death Valley National Park, the Area 51 Alien Center (kitsch). The diversity of places can make it an enjoyable drive for 3 , 4 or 5 days.
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An absolutely beautiful & isolated part of California - the "ghost town" lies between the Eastern Sierra and Death Valley, with the Panamint Range in between. If Joshua Tree has become an artistic colony, I can definitely see this developing into one as well; although there's much less infrastructure than Joshua Tree
And if the new owners even want to go there ....
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Very cool place, but one impediment to its 'revival' is visible in the opening photo: Owens Lake (or more accurately, the shadow of its former self which remains) sitting at the bottom of Owens Valley as you look west toward the Sierra Nevada. This former lake, tapped to feed L.A. water demand about a century ago, is now the source of alkali dust storms, and the largest source of dust pollution in the United States. Good luck revitalizing the area under those conditions. Perhaps it's better as it is, a rare slice of old west life preserved for history, rather than rebuilt into condos and vacation homes.
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It sounded more as if they were thinking of a themed retreat/hotel rather than permanent condos? People would probably visit even with the dust storms if the popularity of Burning Man in its incredibly inhospitable environment is anything to go by. Especially nowadays with Westworld being so popular on HBO.
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@Erik L.
I've never visited Cerro Gorda but I just did some internet recon after reading this article. How quaint! And the town is 8 miles up a steep and narrow dirt road. I am not sure that the new owners share your vision of condos and vacation homes.
As for the dust, "The LADWP has spent about $2 billion in accordance with a 1997 agreement to combat dust from targeted areas of the dry lake bed. By introducing vegetation, gravel and shallow flooding, the agency has reduced particle air pollution by more than 95%." http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-owens-lake-birds-20180425-...
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Several errors in this comment.The city of la has spent over 1 billion on correcting the dust problem. Still dusty but not worse in US. Owens River was tapped for water, not Owens Lake. The lake itself and the area around have a fascinating history and the lake is still. A significant water fowl resource.
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