Travel with Rick Steves · Saturday, August 15, 2026
The conversation highlights California City, a planned city in the Mojave Desert conceived in the 1950s to rival Los Angeles. Dylan Thuras explains that while its infrastructure is in place, including roads and cul-de-sacs, the city has a very small population, making it appear like a ghost town.
“I was fascinated by California City. I didn't realize that there was a planned city 100 miles north of LA that was actually built to rival Los Angeles, but apparently never got off the ground.”
“Technically, by geographical scale, I believe it is still the third largest city in California.”
“But it's got a population just of a handful of people. Of a few thousand.”
“It was designed as this car-centric mega-city, except built largely in the 1950s.”
“So now it sits there, it's been, you know, roads and cul-de-sacs all laid out except there are basically no houses there.”