Zzyzx is more than the strange sign off I-15

Zzyzx gets your attention before you know anything about it. The name shows up on an I-15 sign west of Baker, and it looks like somebody tried to win the alphabet.

The place itself has a deeper desert story. Soda Springs was a natural oasis used long before the freeway. Water held on here after older lakes dried away, which made the spot important in a very dry part of the Mojave.

In the 1940s, Curtis Springer turned the place into Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Resort. He promoted health products and ran a popular radio program, but the claims around the resort later drew serious trouble from federal agencies. The old spa story is colorful, but it should be read as history, not as advice.

Today, the twist is calmer and better. California State University operates the Desert Studies Center there, and the area is part of Mojave National Preserve. Public visitors can walk around Lake Tuendae and the picnic area, but the buildings across the lake are active educational spaces.

So Zzyzx is not an abandoned ghost town. It is a desert spring, a roadside mystery, a lesson in hype, and a working field station all in one short turn off the highway.