Cal Nev Ari (Las Vegas, Henderson, Laughlin: RV park, real estate, mobile home)

[elfyum]

I love that name! I checked city data & according to the stats, it's basically a tiny retirement community. Anyone ever been there/live there/know anything about it other than that? I assume it has that gloriously insane desert weather like Phoenix & Vegas? Thanks!

[Bangladesh]

The climate of Cal-Nev-Ari is a little hoter then Las Vegas and slightly cooler then Phoenix that's all I know about Cal-Nev-Ari never been there,never lived there,and bairly not anything about it.

[AV Native]

Originally Posted by elfyum

I love that name! I checked city data & according to the stats, it's basically a tiny retirement community. Anyone ever been there/live there/know anything about it other than that? I assume it has that gloriously insane desert weather like Phoenix & Vegas? Thanks!

I've driven by there plenty of times in a previous job I had as a professional motor coach driver for a major Las Vegas area transportation company. Every time I took tourists out to Laughlin for a day trip I'd pass by the little hamlet. I haven't been by there since 1996, but this is what I remember:

Cal Nev Ari is basically a walled motor court with houses (mainly mobile homes) located inside. One bar/restaurant/hangout, one pay telephone, and that's about it. The size of the area people live in is about 20 acres at the most. Lots of undeveloped Mojave Desert land surrounding it.

Oh, one more thing: it has a landing strip for light aircraft. Your typical Desert Rat outpost, the way it used to be. . . before all the influx of people came to the western US and raised the price of real estate.

Temperatures are similar to Needles, California (on the Colorado River).

Searchlight, NV is just 20 miles north of Cal Nev Ari, and has the closest necessities of life, although Laughlin, NV/Bullhead City, AZ would be your "big city" everyday shopping. And then there's Las Vegas and Henderson for big ticket shopping to the north.

Not sure about how they get their water. Would love to know more about that.

s/AV Native

[Lehi]

Originally Posted by AV Native

Not sure about how they get their water. Would love to know more about that.
s/AV Native

According to a website I found, the Spirit Mountain Utility Company provides water and sewage disposal services. There are two existing water wells, two more are permitted. There is a system of tanks and waterlines that store and distribute water throughout the developed portions of the property.

[RobPL]

Wow! That's nice. Is there any job nerby maybe...?

[tileman]

Cal nev ari is just a bunch of damn trailers piled together, it looks like a damn cult commune or some strange cult of old people lol.

[rgb123]

I just drove by it the other day. I was glad to see it because there is nothing else around for miles....good to know where you might find a phone if you break down!

very small....but beautiful area and in proximity to Lake Mead Rec Area and the Colorado River.

[Sharon Holmes]

You are all missing the point. And I'll respond to Cal-Nev-Ari and Searchlight together. This is high desert. The guy who said the weather is like Needles is nuts. Needles is the armpit of the Colorado River system, and is at less than 900 feet above sea level. Hot humid and buggy in the summers. Cal-Nev-Ari is at approximately 2500 feet. Yes, there are a lot of manufactured homes, but if you drive around the airport you will find stick-built homes, fruit orchards, horses and the roads are wide and graded so you can taxi you plane to your house. These are folks who love the desert. They not only want to hear the coyotes songs at night, but they feed them to make sure they come every night. The town is also known as Kidwell, because it was started many years ago by Slim and Nancy Kidwell (she still owns and runs the town and everything in it). The people that work in the casino, bar, restaurant, mobile home park, RV park, Convenience Store, Motel, and everywhere else, live there and love it. Stop on a Sunday morning for the breakfast burrito special. People fly or drive from all over the southwest desert area for that he-man breakfast.

Then just 10 miles north, and 1,000 feet higher is Searchlight, a wonderful old mining town from the 1890's. It snows there most winters, and Highway 95 had to be shut down last winter because of an ice storm. It is a changing community too, because both of them are linked to Las Vegas by good highways and the drive is less than 50 minutes. It takes longer to drive across the Las Vegas Valley!

If you need malls, and daily trips to a supermarket and beauty shop, don't consider it, but if you want a peaceful lifestyle in beautiful desert country that is higher and cooler than Las Vegas, let alone Needles, don't go so fast next time. There are beautiful new homes being built along the Cottonwood Cove Road, just out of sight from the 95 highway. And more are coming. Did you know that when Clark County was formed by dividing Lincoln County, there were more people in Searchlight than in Las Vegas? It only became the County Seat because it was on the through Union Pacific rail line to Salt
Lake City. Searchlight only had a spur line off the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe.

So you pick...Yes, there are retired people in both communities, but there are also people who just wanted to get out of the rat race at any price. There are writers, artists and people who only do business over the internet. And none of them are going to sell their water to Las Vegas.

[dynimagelv]

Cal-Nev-Ari was founded by Joe Kidwell [a retired WWII Marine corps Fighter Pilot] and was a small collection of Mobile Homes sited around a dirt strip runway. It has since been paved and is primarily a retirement/aviation settlement....employment is negligable except at Laughlin or Searchinght.

[scirocco22]

How is it pronounced?

calnevaree or calnevareh? ...and what sylable is accented?