California City: Deception, Power, and Money in the Mojave Desert

Deep in the Mojave Desert sits California City: a would-be city of the future; a place where empty desert land is presented as a ticket to the American Dream. For decades running, real estate developers have gotten rich by selling this dream to thousands of people, many of whom are hard-working immigrants looking to build a better future. But the reality is much different. The land investments never paid off and the landowners, many of whom scraped together their life savings to buy a plot of land, were left with next to nothing. We devote the whole show to an excerpt from the first episode of “California City,” new podcast from LAist Studios, hosted and reported by Emily Guerin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices