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California City

Author: LAist Studios

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Description

Deep in the Mojave Desert, there is a little town with a big name and a bizarre history: California City. For decades, real estate developers have sold a dream here: if you buy land now, you’ll be rich one day. Thousands of people bought this dream. Many were young couples and hard-working immigrants looking to build a better future. But much of the land they bought is nearly worthless.  In this new podcast from LAist Studios, host Emily Guerin tells a story of money, power and deception. 

99 Episodes
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Comments (11)

I'm listening

If the properties that are seized are being auctioned off at 500$ then isn't it cheaper to buy it from these auctions than from the scamming developers?

Mar 4th
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Walter Zimmerman

so interesting i live 30 mins away I never knew any thing about that town other than it was an odd place with cheap homes and lots of tweakers.

Nov 25th
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🤨

Why would you sneer at the fact that most Nader's people were men back then?! Do you need someone to give you a participation trophy every time?

Aug 16th
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Danielle Luther

Kudos to you, Emily Guerin, for shedding light on this long term and horrendous scam. I am 💯% sure that other, high ranking politicians (that also share the title of Real Estate mogul), got rich this exact same way. Translation = by taking other people's hard earned money and taking advantage of individuals.

Jul 31st
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Tammy Maggard Garcia

Great story Great storyteller!

Jul 28th
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Helen Turner

very poor sound quality except for narration

Jul 27th
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Incredible Similarity

@ 2:05. third largest city in California. Ha. not even close. Where do you get your information from I ask.

Jul 27th
Reply (2)

Shari Lynn

Not surprising that real estate agent Catherine has a bumper sticker for Trump as she is a fan (mark) of another con man, Nat Mendelssohn, the developer behind California City.

Jul 22nd
Reply (1)
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