Talk:Zzyzx, California

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If you go to Special:Allpages, it goes far beyond Zzyzx, with punctuation coming after the alphabet.
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[edit] Merge with Zzyzx Road

It was sensible to merge this page with Zzyzx Road, but we ended up with the merged article's principal title being Zzyzx Road rather than Zzyzx, California, which makes no sense - the place does exist and is recognised by the US Govt, which makes it a more sensible referent than the road. So I have reversed things. seglea 22:19, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Mojave Road

The article reads "The Mojave Road ran past the spring...." Why the past tense? Mojave Road still passes Zzyzx Spring. --- Desertphile, October 20th 2007.

[edit] History

There is still a lot to be added here about the history of this location before it became Zzyzx in 1944:

  • Hancock's Redoubt, the U.S. Army fort built on the site in 1860
  • Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, abandoned in 1940
  • Soda Dry Lake and Soda Springs on the edge of the settlement (Zzyzx has apparently been referred to as Fort Soda, Soda Springs, and Zzyzx Springs)
  • The "Zyport", and whether or not that was the same airstrip that is now called "Zzyzx Airstrip" on the old T&T railroad grade

[edit] We need a better picture

I may be traveling to Las Vegas sometime in the next month. Hopefully I will be able to get a better picture of Zzyzx Road while en route! The current picture is blurry and is low contrast. --Coolcaesar 06:52, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

No worries, I have a much better image, just have to find it...

--User:snakefisch 12:49, 11 August 2006 (GMT)

On May 31st I replaced Image:Zzyzx Road.jpg with Image:Zzyzx road.jpg, because the second one is of better quality, is a closer view of the sign, and shows the mountains in the background. —Christopher Mann McKayuser talk 22:38, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] pronunciation

how is it pronounced. worth putting in lead? Mccready 17:31, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Okay, hats off to whoever wrote "Isaac's, not physics" Gorman 05:32, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
So it's pronounced as "Zei-zix" with the accent on the first syllable, rhyming with "Isaac's", not "physics". Wouldn't that make it "Zei-zax" then? Otherwise I don't see how "zix" can be pronounced to rhyme with "Isaac's". -- Ritchy 00:18, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
Personally, I pronounce "Isaac" rather like "eye-zik", so "Isaac's" would come out "eye-ziks". Jordan Brown 07:15, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
My hat stays firmly on. Ad hoc pronunciations are always bad news because they are ambiguous. Many people pronounce "Isaac's" as /"aI.z@ks/. In any case, how is "zai" meant to be pronounced? The intention is as in the first syllable of "xylophone" and "zydeco", but the digraph "ai" is rarely pronounced in English in the way intended here - it is more often like the vowel in "day".
IPA is the way to go because it removes all ambiguity. I've commented out the unhelpful and misleading "Isaac's/physics" text. — Paul G 08:35, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stone Sour

What exactly does their Zzyxz Rd have to do with this one? I actually started to believe it was a typo on their part, but on a huge album like this, I doubt it.

[edit] Large unsourced addition

The material below sounds plausible, but the anon who added it claims it was from "personal interviews', so it's not appropriate for the article until we have a published source:

"Springer was one of a number of radio preachers who located in California in the 1930's and 1940's. He actually filed for mining land grants to claim the land in not only his name but that of his wife and children, and eventually was convicted of fraud in those claims. He chose the site because, he claimed, it held the remains of what he called "Fort Soda," a small adobe brick rest point that had been built and used by the U.S. Cavalry during conflict with Indian tribes in the area in the late 1800's. A small hilltop peak just above those ruins was also one of the most prominent landmarks in the vicinity.

Springer made recordings of sermons at the location, originally on records, and later on audio tape, that were sent to radio stations around the United States. He supported his operations partly from donations sent to him by listeners. He promised all who sent donations that they might enjoy a "free California vacation" by visiting his site - but neglected to explain that Zzyzx Springs was in the middle of the desert, devoid of diversions except for his hot mineral and mud baths, and that visitors on Sundays had to listen to his sermons, delivered via a huge loudspeaker system perched on the peak above the site. However, Springer also was devoted to healthy foods, and served immense free meals in a central cafeteria made from the best available fresh fuits and vegetables. Springer also served the meat of goats and rabbits, which were all raised on the grounds. Shortly before he was evicted, Springer claimed that he had constructed the world's largest underground rabbit warren at Zzyzx Springs, all made from railroad ties taken from the abandoned Tonopah Railway.

Construction of the facilities began in 1944 and continued up to the day Springer was removed from the grounds. Nearly all the work was done by "volunteers" from various homeless shelters and "missions" in downtown Los Angeles. Initially, Springer used a stretched airport shuttle car to collect his volunteers at the famous Midnight Mission in Los Angeles, taking them out to the Springs several hours' drive east. There the men, many of whom were chronic alcoholics, were given the best food and spring water while put to work hand-forming mud bricks to build tiny rooms to house them, and later the more spacious facilities for the "spa" and Springer's family. A typical stay for the volunteers was a week - but at the time the Springs were closed by the government, two men were hired as caretakers - and both called themselves reformed "winos" who had been there for nearly 20 years.

Springer was a scavenger who bought, or persuaded his faithful listeners to donate, government surplus building supplies, materials from bankrupt building contractors, and items from salvage yards. He replaced the airport limousine with used school buses at some point. When the Springs were shut down, the grounds were still littered with supplies ranging from dozens of porcelain toilets to stacks of rusting plumbing pipe and piles of adobe bricks, while several old school buses were parked haphardly around the grounds.

After a number of "guests" complained about the lack of entertainment or diversions at Zzyzx Springs, Springer installed a shuffleboard court. It became the most popular feature of the site until the shuffleboard sticks wore out and were not replaced. Eventually, Springer had a large pool scraped into the sand in front of the main buildings, then drilled down through the clay layer beneath the desert sands to tap into water from the Mojave River below. The pool quickly filled with the brackish water. A huge whaling dory was dragged in and set at one end of the pool but it was entirely impractical. However, creating the pool produced a surprise - suddenly, there were fish in the water. They turned out to be a species thought long extinct, the Mojave chub, sometimes also called the desert pupfish (see reference on this page).

Besides donations, money to support the project came from sales of various "natural" products. Springer bottled the highly-alkaline water of the Mojave River and sold it as a baldness cure he named "Mor-Hair." He evaporated the water and packaged the salts left behind under the name of "Antediluvian Tea." This product Springer claimed would cure many different ailments - mixed with water or other liquids, it was a rough but effective laxative. Among the charges levied against Springer, but ones he managed to evade, were postal fraud for using the U.S. Mail to fulfill orders for these and other products. "

Stan (talk) 22:04, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] in popular culture

any appearance of the string or variants in the computer or video game industries is likely a coincidental charmingly inverted take on the old hacker nonsense word xyzzy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pseudo Intellectual (talkcontribs) 13:08, 21 January 2008 (UTC)