All you (n)ever wanted to know about Ridgecrest (Lancaster: new home, wedding)

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by KNJO

Northern Arizona still has a very high concentration of LDS, the norm for the USA is 1.57%
With total religious population around 30%, 9.48% of that in Flagstaff is LDS, many surrounding communities are at or near that level. Mesa may only have a 15% population of LDS, but nearly 90% of the city of Mesa government is LDS. You can Google "Mormon Corridor" of check out Wiki Mormon Corridor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for more information. You can also check out Sterlings Best Places www.neighborhoods.homeseekers.com/
Google "Mesa Corruption" to learn more about LDS control in Mesa.

LDS typically can be found in control of the local governments; including law enforcement and school boards, often giving preferential treatment to fellow LDS members.

That may explain why the city of Phoenix feels 'freer' than Mesa.......it seems to have a much weaker LDS influence.

[Howard Roark]

One main problem I had when I lived 11 years in Ridgecrest is that I would get two severe sinus infections per year. Once I had pneumonia. I know it had to be from the Owens Dry Lake dust, very small particals that lodge in your lungs. This was difficult since I took advantage of the outdoors and was into road biking and swimming.

Other than that, Ridgecrest was a long chapter in my life that I'd rather forget (
To those who like R/C, please don't feel insulted). I had no religion, so I was ostracized. I am by no means a social conservatve (very liberal in that realm). I had no long term gilfriend there. It wasn't until I moved out in my late 30s that I met my long term girlfriend. Most people in those days were males and engineers, so finding a girlfriend was tough. I still have friends in the area. They invite me back but I fear going back. I would get instantly depressed. I went back 3 years after I left and found got instant depression.

Back in the 80s/90s most people would work out at lunch time. Nothing better to do. I betcha the percentage of obesity among IWV folks is far lower than the general populace.

If ever I again live in a small community, I'll pick Santa Cruz - full of socialists, but at least they are social liberals.

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by Howard Roark

One main problem I had when I lived 11 years in Ridgecrest is that I would get two severe sinus infections per year. Once I had pneumonia. I know it had to be from the Owens Dry Lake dust, very small particals that lodge in your lungs. This was difficult since I took advantage of the outdoors and was into road biking and swimming.

Other than that, Ridgecrest was a long chapter in my life that I'd rather forget (
To those who like R/C, please don't feel insulted). I had no religion, so I was ostracized. I am by no means a social conservatve (very liberal in that realm). I had no long term gilfriend there. It wasn't until I moved out in my late 30s that I met my long term girlfriend. Most people in those days were males and engineers, so finding a girlfriend was tough. I still have friends in the area. They invite me back but I fear going back. I would get instantly depressed. I went back 3 years after I left and found got instant depression.

Back in the 80s/90s most people would work out at lunch time. Nothing better to do. I betcha the percentage of obesity among IWV folks is far lower than the general populace.

If ever I again live in a small community, I'll pick Santa Cruz - full of socialists, but at least they are social liberals.

Very interesting post.............especially the part about air pollution possibly being worse in Ridgecrest vs. desert Phx.

[Scott69]

Wow!! David A., Just for perspective, I didn' t catch in your posts what years were you living there, do you mind passing that?!
Its interesting to see how R/C has changed over the years (or hasn't changed as the case may be). My family moved quite a bit when I was a kid. We started out in Pomona, went to Trona, then to Ridgecrest, out to Inyokern, back to Ridgecrest, then down to Mojave/Rosamond. That was from the late 70s through the late 80s.

During that time, I didn't see a problem with anyone from the LDS church. In fact, the kids I did know whose families were in the church, were fairly irritated with it! (that went for the kids in California City and Mojave as well!).
You are spot on about the skies. Absolutely beautiful at night, as long as you get away from the glare from Ridgecrest. When it was cloudy and I lived in Inyokern, we would see the lights from Bakersfield and what we presumed to be the LA Basin reflecting off of them - of course that was when it actually rained.. Seeing Owens Peak in the morning with a ring of clouds around it or right after a snow storm was always a treat.
About every 4 years was right for snow storms - and rain storms. It flooded (and snowed- different years) twice in R/C when I lived there. Because parts of the town used to be lake bottom, it pooled in unexpected places. You couldn't really do anything - you just had to wait for the water to dry up - there was no where for it to drain too!

I used to say (and still do) that Ridgecrest was 100 miles from anywhere..
100 miles from the city (Los Angeles - Lancaster/Palmdale wasn't TOO big yet!)
100 miles from the desert (Death Valley - yeah, I know its the desert, but Death valley is even MORE desolate!)
100 miles from the snow (I'm talking the good snow up in Mammoth!)
100 miles from the beach (Ok, so its about double that.. but you get the point!)

Oh, and they did have a yacht club there I understand..

Some good pictures/history of the area can be found by putting High Desert Memories into Google - no I don't have anything to do with the site.

Some odd trivia I've noticed from the 80s.
- many of the kids I grew up with in Inyokern have "alternative lifestyles" in homosexuality. That's fine in my book, I'm not into it, but to each their own. but why such a high percentage in such a small area?
- in the -80s more kids from Ridgecrest went to the Defense Language Institute than from any other school in the country.
- When I moved to Mojave, I was - awkwardly enough, held in awe because I had gone to school at Burroughs High School. It was very competitive academically at that time. The two academically strongest high schools in the county at that time were East Bakersfield and Burroughs High School. At that time, I kid you not, you could get 5 years of German, French or Spanish - junior high through high school. Once at the high school (it was a 3 year high school at the time) you could get to 3 years of Latin and Russian as well. I haven't seen that many schools say that today.

The school wasn't too strong in Baseball. And Football, well, they always gave it their all. It seemed to really excel in Basketball, regularly going to the State or Regional Championships.

But then again.. that was the 80s. As I am in the military (not the navy!) now, I haven't been back to the region in almost 10 years - and then only to visit.

I'll close, because I've hijacked this a bit much. Its my two cents. I agree with you David A. Its not for everyone - but then again, what place is?!

Cheers!

[David Aguilar]

Thank you Scott for sharing your experience with us.

I was there from May 1, 2004, til May 31, 2007. My late mother moved there in the fall of 2003, so I was familiar with it from at least then. Yeah, I know big difference.

You're right, Owens Peak and the Southern Sierra truly look awesome after a snowstorm, especially when the snow goes far down the mountains, almost to the desert floor.

The winter of '04-'05 was terrible, rain-wise. I mean, we probably got a whole ten inches for the year, but that is a lot by Ridgecrest standards. I remember "the dirt" being all flooded with puddles most of the winter, puddles you either had to try and drive around or drive straight through, sometimes with disastrous results (I delivered pizza). It also snowed in early January of '05, got about three inches, that was all gone by the next day. (That experience piqued my interest in snow, hence the move to Denver) Schools got let out about 1/2 hr after school began, and everybody in town seemed to be out driving that day.

You are right, there is a higher gay/lesbian/alt population than you would expect in such a conservative, small town. For the most part I believe our gay friends get along just fine, but Ridgecrest is no San Francisco, that's for sure.

I never had a bad experience with either the LDS church or LDS members, but I have heard stories.

I didn't go to HS there, but from what I could tell Football came first, then Baseball, I never heard much about Basketball. Popular non-sports activites include ditching, dropping out, doing drugs, and having unprotected sex at the local park, at least so I have heard. Otherwise, Burroughs came off as an Anytown, USA type school to me.

Again, thanks for sharing!

[the1fordirt]

I grew up in Ridgecrest and I agree about the drug problem but that is pretty much every where I now live in the Antelope Valley and think it is worst here. As for as the LDS there were very few. And to clear up the name of the BASE they changed the name about ten years ago it was called the Naval Weapon Center both of my parents are retired from there I think I would know. Most of the people that live there are employed by the base so it is not a divided town. With the exception of the military.

[KNJO]

As for as the LDS there were very few

Explain the nine wards in the Ridgecrest area, even LDS will tell you that is a high number for a 25k population.

[smileygrrrl61]

hello! i've read all the posts here about ridgecrest. some are spot-on but there are a few things that need to be looked at as well. i've been here for 10 years and am ready to move to a place where i don't feel so stifled.

i'm almost 50 and have lived in a lot of places -- big cities, small towns -- across the western U.S. but i've never lived in one quite like ridgecrest. teen pregnancy is HUGE here, as mentioned! LDS is huge here, as stated! bible-thumping is RAMPANT here! if you are a more "earthy" person into "earthy" religions, you'll be hiding deep in the closet with the gays here. (the fight against prop h8 here was tipped WAY on the "yes" side, but the LDS factor was huge in that.)

i get physically ill reading the letters to the editors here. you don't need to read the bible, you can simply read the letters. a lot of well-written people use their brains to spew hatred of any opinion outside of what you hear on FOX NEWS. examples: ban halloween! it's the devil's holiday!; we don't need laws. all the laws are in the "good book"; the geneva convention should be used as toilet paper!; barack obama is a communist!; i'll cling to my gun and fight this socialistic agenda with my fellow patriots!; the liberal socialists should be happy with their new "messiah" as their president; ... blahblahblah. you won't see movies like "religulous" or "war, inc." or any other thinking man's (or woman's) movie because there's no market for it. this truly is sarah palin's REAL AMERICA! the majority of folks here hate our new president! kern county IS the bible-belt of california.

i've never been sicker in my life until i moved here. like the one person said: 2 major sinus infections per year. yep! i can vouch for that. there are lots of allergies; lots of pneumonia; lots of cancer (people & pets!!!). the air may LOOK clean here but i guess you can't really see arsenic and dioxin and whatever else is blowing off the owens dry lake bed. when there is a wind-event here -- which is OFTEN! -- it is hell on your sinuses and hell on your sanity!!! god knows what truly blows in that thar' wind!!! obesity? it's a big problem here. there are more grossly obese people here than anywhere i've been in my life ... even the KIDS are huge here. if you aren't one of them, you are somehow chastised for not being curvy in all the wrong places.

and "green"? even the city council members gripe about "god-d##ned tree-huggers" ruining everything for them. the city nags that it's too expensive to try to stay within EPA regulations of ppm of arsenic in the water. the current issue is fighting tooth-and-nail AGAINST a recycling program, which they are lying about and saying that this town is in compliance with. anyone who truly recycles knows this is pure BS!!! and the way they don't care about animals here is pathetic. they put so many healthy animals to sleep here in the small, insufficient shelter and for a small town, that's insane! but don't try to make issue of it because it's not important. why? you'll be told that "animals don't have souls and only man was made in the image of god" thing. i don't buy it. never will.

someone mentioned bipolar and depression. i can vouch for that too. i feel like my soul is being zapped of any life here. i've heard from a few very sensitive and creative people here that they feel dead and uninspired here. dating? i definitely would not want to be single here. usually people divorce and neither leaves town so you'll always be running into your date's exes! i figure that if i had to stay here the rest of my life i'd resign myself to alcoholism. perhaps that explains the drug/alcohol problem in this and surrounding towns.

healthcare: for those who need it, it's hard to come by. that is the biggest complaint i hear from people moving here to retire. the healthcare choices here are limited. most of our doctors rotate in (like twice a month) from bigger cities. if you break a bone, they fly you to bakersfield. the medical center went under just recently but since one of the part-owners (that i know of) is from an "old family" here, i guess we'll never know the true story about what happened there. i've heard this medical facility referred to as the "good ol' boys" club. they ran out a sweet asian gynecologist because she wasn't part of that club. i drive to palmdale to see a gyno.

for those looking to invest in the future and using ridgecrest as a stepping stone: well, it's cheap to live here and cheap to buy a house here. but if you want to move you can't really "buy up". (i.e., the value of your house won't be enough to buy into a nicer town that has more to offer). fortunately i love my house and my space here within my house, so that keeps me somewhat sane. but for days when i feel social and want to get out? ugh. you gotta make a day-trip or weekend trip to do that. i'm so sorry that i just can't beat 'em or join 'em because i do love my house so much. but i can't grow old here.

anyone interested in finding out more about ridgecrest should look into the BRAC ruling a couple of years ago. they wanted to shut down point mugu and ship those jobs here. but people living in ventura didn't want to have any part of it!!! (and i didn't blame them one bit!) even their representative said something to the effect of "that god-forsaken place", which got the locals riled here. they flamed this poor man's email account with hate letters and one wrote a letter to the editor saying that she would mail him some of our lovely desert sand and a bible. LOL!!!! i kid you NOT!!!

[ridgenet]

Originally Posted by KNJO

Explain the nine wards in the Ridgecrest area, even LDS will tell you that is a high number for a 25k population.

I looked up how many wards there are in R/C and I see that there are 4 wards. Where do you get 9? I grew up there and left about 20 years ago. We had 3 wards then and I see 4 now. Here is the link below. Just copy and paste the link below. Don't include the [url] brackets in your copy and paste. It shows the Wards and Branches of the Ridgecrest California Stake. In the city limits we have the Ridgecrest 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wards. There are two meetinghouses in town. Both buildings are located on Norma Street. The 1st and 4th wards meet at 1031 South Norma St. and the 2nd and 3rd wards meet at 501 North Norma St. The meetinghouse on 501 N. Norma is the one I attended as the other building was built after I left. We moved to R/C in 74'. My dad retired from "the base." I attended Groves elementary, Ridgecrest Heights (now Faller Elementry), James Monroe, and Burroughs. I use to deliver for John's Pizza when they had trucks with the different planet's names stenciled on the sides. What little I made paid for me to attend and graduate from Cerro Coso, I worked at Sears when it was located by K-mart (or Grants for ole timers), threw papers for the daily Independent a little. Lots and lots of memories there. Made peanut butter pizzas tooo. Still remember that one person who liked his pizza to go through the oven twice, looked like burned toast.

Bishop California has one ward
Lone-Pine Independence has a branch
Mammoth Lakes has a branch

I remember motocross and exploring the valley.

Hope this helps

Later,

https://secure.lds.org/units/stake/1...05730,00.html?

[jph23pw]

I thought I could add my 2 cents, seeing how I had lived there from age 2-20.Well as for jobs, thats why I moved-there is very few. Now as for incest, well the ones who say there is incest there must have brought that with them. The town is small and it does have its problems with drugs, but every place does its up to will power and good friends to help with that. Also, yes it is a very white town, but its a nice one.