It wasn’t even 9 AM and it was already hot. I was hungry, hungover, tired, my jacket was covered in vomit and we were driving to Desert Center. Something ate Sofia’s chile mango slices since they were left outside of the car the night before. We were driving to a place called McGoo’s to get food, preferably breakfast of some sort. McGoo’s was about two miles down the road past Desert Center and when we pulled up to it, it was just a small convenient store that sold generic snacks. I got a 99 cent apple Danish that tasted like wax and Sofia got a box of sesame seed crackers that we finished in an hour. I will forever hate you McGoo’s because you were a hoax and all I wanted was hashbrowns and a glass of orange juice. Fucking whatever. 

We drove back to Desert Center to look around. Desert Center is basically an abandoned town on the I-10 freeway, 60 miles west of the Arizona border. It’s a very small town with few buildings. The founder of Desert Center died in the 70’s and his son was left to maintain it. There’s an empty market, a school, a café and some other type of building. None of these were accessible due to them being locked up and plastered with security alarm signs. But there were some small houses in the distance. Arriving at these houses, we realized that they were completely abandoned and people have been going through the belongings inside them. There was trash everywhere and most of the things in the houses were broken and destroyed. Every house had similar layouts with only one or two bedrooms. The pictures presented here are images of abandonment and what once was Desert Center. God Bless.

Photos by Kris Kirk

Words by Mark Gilroy