Talk:Zzyzx, California

message: There is no Zzz and Zzzz street! Well there is, but it's in Italy: http://maps.google.nl/maps?f=q&hl=nl&geocode=&ie=UTF8&ll=45.879433,8.067237&spn=0.00487,0.009398&z=17
I suggest removing that sentence since it's not underlined by any source. --Rderijcke (talk) 02:03, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Zzzz Street

message: 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)
thread_title:  Merge with Zzyzx Road 

message: 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
: We should ask Desertphile to come here and update this page. Soda Springs and Horse Thief Springs are part of the horriffic history of slaughter of the Native Americans in the region. Lee Hayes lives in Baker, and he also knows a great deal about the history. I see that Desertphile is registered on WikiPedia, I think I'll go ask him to update the history if he has time. Fredric Rice (talk) 16:54, 1 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  History 

message: 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.
:It is spelled Zzyzx Rd., not Zzyxz Rd. --Dpaulat (talk) 20:32, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Stone Sour 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Large unsourced addition 

message: 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 (talk • contribs) 13:08, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  in popular culture 

message: And I thought Zzyzx was a suburb of Gdańsk, Poland, like Wrzeszcz. :-)
Sca (talk) 14:29, 19 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: PL

message: https://vimeo.com/51653474  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.91.141.181 (talk) 04:38, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  KNBC LOS ANGELES News Clip about Zzyzx & Curtis Springer 

message: What does "Word Ways magazine verified the source of the lexicography..." mean; this also needs a source reference. --Macrakis (talk) 14:36, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Lexicography

message: There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Zzyzx Rd. (song) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you.  —RMCD bot 05:03, 4 August 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Move discussion in progress 

message: This is a "community". Does anyone still live here? If so it should say the population somewhere. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:640:4000:a875:34c2:ace5:4e29:923a (talk) 2019-05-07 (UTC)
:Zzyzx isn't a census-designated place with a boundary, so there's no official census count, but for anyone that's curious: Basically the only activity at Zzyzx is the Desert Studies Center.  According to the DSC website, the buildings can accomodate up to 75 people in dorms at once, but only "two long-term researcher residences ... with enough space to accommodate up to five individuals".  And there seem to be a couple of public on-site staff.  So the long-term "resident" population is probably between 1 and 12 at any given time, but that's presuming I didn't miss something.  One helpful article is a 2017 radio segment about the sole resident at the time (who later died in June 2018):  --Closeapple (talk) 07:51, 11 July 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Population 

message: The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:
* 
Participate in the deletion discussion at the . —Community Tech bot (talk) 04:51, 11 July 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion 

message: Editor FlightTime suggested putting up a discussion on the talk page after I objected to their removal of a "Popular Culture" sentence I had added to the Zzyzx article. This is discussed in the previous section by the three involved editors, but I'm going to repost it separately here. The sentence I added was the following, and the reference was "discogs.com".
"In 2020, the Brazilian psychedelic rock band Os Mutantes released a song and an album named Zzyzx."
Comments/thoughts? Finney1234 (talk) 01:26, 2 May 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: *Discogs is not a reliable source, and this RfC requires a secondary source establishing the significance (not just existence) of IPC entries. Nikkimaria (talk) 01:48, 7 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Request for Comments