South Edwards, CA

South Edwards is the final reach of Los Angeles County before the fence of the Air Force flight test base, a piece of the Mojave so open that a single house can have miles of creosote on every side. Edwards Air Force Base keeps civilians out, so the area never grows toward it, and what sits on this side is a scatter of big desert parcels, a few holding a single home and plenty with nothing on them at all. Weekends here tend to point south toward the buttes. Saddleback Butte State Park on Avenue J is the nearest public land, where Joshua tree woodland spreads around a granite butte. The Butte Valley Wildflower Sanctuary nearby comes alive with color after a wet winter. Lake Los Angeles is the first place with a counter to eat at, and Los Chiles on Avenue O is the sit-down Mexican stop there, sharing a building with Saddleback Market for basic groceries. Stephen Sorensen Park in the same community has a gym, ball fields and summer splash pads, and the Lake Los Angeles Library sits a block from Los Chiles. With the base on one side and empty land on the others, South Edwards has no path to becoming a town, and the drive to Lake Los Angeles or Lancaster is part of every errand for as long as you live here. What it gives back is a horizon with nothing built on it and a night sky that stays properly dark.