Quartzsite – Bizarre and Fun

Numbers-wise, Quartzsite has a bizarre population. They say the population is 3,500 here in the summer and 250,000 in January and February. It’s one thing to read that, but it’s another to see it and understand the implications. The town doesn’t have any real ‘chains’ except McDonalds. There are no Lowes, Walmart, Best Buy, etc. Since most of the year the population is so small, why build a store here?  Some small stores and restaurants make it through the year living off the profit from winter months. Others open only during the winter months.

The appearance is bizarre. During the summer, there are a few permanent building scattered around town. Mostly there are what looks like open fields. Come winter, the RV parks fill up and tents go up for a major flea market along with gem shows.

Of course, the fun part is the bizarre people and things to do. The town is known as the home of Hi Jolly. As an experiment, camels were brought here to see how they would do in the desert. The experiment was cut short by the Civil War. Anyhow, one of handlers was called  Hajj Ali. Locally, he was called Hi Jolly. The town built him this pyramid when he died.

Since I used to work for a company that made wheels, here I am by a statue.

Randomly, there are two jets as a memorial.

This is a 1,000 year old ironwood tree.

Celia’s Rainbow Garden was started as a memorial for an 8-year who died from cancer. More people built memorials to their loved ones and it grows. There doesn’t appear to be any rules to this. Just add a sign, maybe some plants, statues, or rocks. These memorials show personality!

There’s even a small ‘town’.

The two Belts are by the World’s Largest Belt Buckle.

Talking to Paul, the Naked Bookstore Owner, was the highlight of our visit (or at least the most memorable). He knows a lot about books and has some wonderful stories including a performance at Brown University and Bette Midler. Don’t watch this at work! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K69he7qsLiQ