East Jesus Is A CA Desert Community Down The Road From West Satan

The southern desert of California is unlike any place most have probably ever traveled to. There are numerous hot spring resorts, vintage souvenir stands, outdoor swap meets, old-timers full of sage advice, mumbling nomads, and even the state's "last free place" for visitors to contemplate the universe and connect with their spiritual side.

In 2022, I took my first trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Talk about mind-blowing. I've always loved the desert because it just feels like life slows down a bit and stress melts away when you're surrounded by ancient rocks and dusty coyotes.

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I grew up about 120 miles from Joshua Tree in Orange County. I used to take weekend trips to the desert when I was in high school with my friends. There was a cheap motel that had a swimming pool just outside of Palm Springs that we would all throw money into to rent for a couple of nights. We spent days hiking around the desert, eating roadside cuisine, and doing things teenagers do.

One place that doesn't show up on any map is a community billed as the "last free place" in California. Or, maybe it's the world; there aren't any brochures that explain.

East Jesus is a hippie village in Niland built from the blood, sweat, tears (and probably bong rips) of a man named Charles Russell who quit a well-paying tech job to establish the site back in 2007, according to californiathroughmylens.com. I've never had the privilege of spending time in East Jesus, but the smart-ass in me equates it with the film U Turn (1997), which is probably one of the better Oliver Stone films ever made.