“Highway 62 is the High Desert’s version of a magical mystery tour,” said David Parker, a new resident who cautiously gave up the city lights and paved streets of Palm Desert for a spacious ranch in the shadows of Joshua Tree National Park’s surrealistic boulders. “The High Desert is elusive,” he said, “you never know where the unpaved roads will lead, because a GPS is not always reliable around here.”
People around these parts seem to like it that way. At La Copine Kitchen in Yucca Valley’s Flamingo Heights, owners singer-songwriter Claire Wadsworth and chef Nikki Hill have a menu focused on their own specialties, such as the RhuBarbra Streisand, a house-made dessert popping up on the menu now and then. More predictable is their Lavish Lavosh, with roasted cauliflower and za’atar spiced garbanzo beans, which you won’t find at most roadside restaurants around here. More down to earth is John’s Place on Highway 62. You can’t miss their big sign advertising a $6.99 special; a seriously dressed one-third-pound burger brimming with sides of house-made onion rings and French fries. As you drive on Highway 62 the signage is a story in itself — Rainbow Stew for knick knacks, Pizza for the People, Doggie Style (for pet grooming), Medicine Woman, Geronimo Road and, a blast to the past, Beatnik Lounge, all framed by a six-mile stretch of those famously spiky Joshua Trees framing both sides of the highway.
Even if you don’t need a haircut, stop by The Beauty Bubble where owner-stylist Jeff Hafler cuts, colors and clips clients with everything from an amply hairsprayed “updo” to a “beehive.” Check out Hafler’s Museum of Hair History where 100 years of hairdressing is exhibited, from 1940s snoods to a baby blue Lady Schick Hair Dryer with Beautifying Mist. It’s no wonder The Beauty Bubble was honored as being one of the “top Beauty Destinations in the World” by blondesalad.com. And if that isn’t hair-raising enough for you, visit Sky’s The Limit Observatory and Nature Center in 29 Palms near the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. This 15-acre site opened Sept. 29, 2007, and now features events year round, such as a recent May 9 evening honoring Mercury’s transit across the face of the Sun. There are several Simi Dabah sculptures here, adding to the surrealistic drama of this High Desert destination. Smart move if you stop at the Joshua Tree Coffee Company, on Highway 62, of course, for a cup of their locally hand roasted certified organic coffee, such as Breakfast Bliss, and head up the road for some serious star gazing.
And then there is the issue of cacti. Once you dig your own mini cactus (for 59 cents) at the Cactus Mart “nursery, hardware and gallery” on Twentynine Palms Highway, hobnob with the resident free-range roosters and twin goats, Butch and Sundance, you realize there’s more going on in the High Desert besides spectacular sunsets and rises. This is the unofficial Garden of Eden for cacti, succulents and most anything that grows lavishly without a lot of H2O. It’s been around Twentynine Palms Highway since the mid-1950s. During the midcentury, it was a popular bar called the Hitching Post, according to Nicole Holland, owner since 2013.
“We are now the cutting edge of raising homeowners’ awareness of native plants education — just don’t ask us for the oleanders!” she said.
This is the oasis for High Desert landscape fans, horticulture fan Mark Farley said.
“Don’t fear the coming of the cacti!” Farley insisted.
Chuparosa bushes and flashy zebra-tail lizard sightings aside, while the High Desert anxiously awaits the official opening of the Sand to Sea National Monument, there is even more on the High Desert horizon to keep visitors exploring the paved and unpaved roads of one of Southern California’s last frontiers.
Pamela Price blogs at forbes.com.