Disputes over water rights keep L.A. utopia a dream
If Los Angeles is a dream factory, then the High Desert is one of its abandoned backlots, where old props are warehoused, waiting to be reused. Five miles east of Pearblossom, in the southeastern corner of the Antelope Valley, lie the ruins of a town that wanted to change the world. Drive too fast and you might miss them. As you slow to a crawl, a couple of chimney stacks come into view, the final remnants of a large building a few feet from the road’s shoulder. … Despite the earnest enthusiasm, the reality is that many of Los Angeles’ utopian experiments have failed over the years. And although it is typically argued that communes often collapse due to infighting, the majority of Californian utopian projects failed for another reason altogether: disputes over water rights.