Zzyzx, California
One of the filming locations is Zzyzx, California, is there really a place with that name?
shareYep, there sure is. Found it on Google maps with some facts about the place.
Zzyzx, CA Quick facts
Zzyzx, formerly Camp Soda and Soda Springs, is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, California, United States, within the boundaries of Mojave National Preserve. Wikipedia
I have no idea how it is pronounced! share
I wonder how it got that name. Someone must of had an odd sense of humor.
shareMy theory is that this backwater area of California was settled by Appalachian transplants in the mid 1800s. There they found a spring and fertile land into which they planted the corn seeds they brought with them. Soon they had excess corn and with a plentiful supply of good spring water, they did what they had always done back in the eastern mountains: They built a corn liquor still. Now with not much else to do in the Mohave Desert, they soon began partaking of this "mountain dew" morning, noon, and night.
Eventually, government cartographers showed up early in the 1900s and asked around the nodding off, inebriated residents what was the name of their area. Without exception, the only answer they got out of them was...Zzyzxx....Zzyzxx...Zzyzxx...Zzyzxx...repeated over and over at regular intervals.
Now the government men surmised that since the residents replied to their queries with great reverence and with eyes closed, that the name of the place was indeed Zzyzxx, and that is what they named it. However, they decided to shorten it by dropping the last “x” to Zzyzx, as they determined that it otherwise would not be pronounceable.
Footnote to History: The government cartographers were fired later that year when it was discovered that they had obtained large quantities of the local product and their work performance had fallen off precipitously.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zzyzx,_California
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