Zzyzx, California: Quack-Founded Town With Last Name in the Alphabet

Really odd and interesting place. It's occupied and used for desert research by the university, but you can still visit. We just pulled all the way in and parked inside the grounds. There was a decent bathroom too. Cool history on the property.

With the exception of a few fairly short sections, the road is now paved.

Zzyzx, now the Desert Studies Center, is worth the bit of a drive to get there. Sometimes chained off, sometimes not, we happened to find it on a day when the caretaker was there.

Zzyzx was made what it is now by the Rev. Dr. Curtis Springer, called by the medical field the "King of Quacks," as a cure-all mineral hot springs. Problem is, the "hot springs" was a boiler he put under the water, and the miracle cures were actually just juice. He built a cross shaped mineral pool, a 64 room hotel, a chapel, and more on squatted-on property, where the rich and famous came for the advertised "fountain of youth."

Closed for many years, the U of C came and made it the center for desert studies after finding the rare Mohave chub living there. It's got a neat energy to the place, and is tourist-friendly, hosting weekend events, visiting scientists, and the occasional day tripper. The area around it has an expansive Gypsum flats, as well as picnic areas.

How do you pronounce this???