When I first learned about Desert Christ Park in Weird California, I put it on my bucket list because it seemed like good fodder for a snarky blog post. But instead, I found the experience strangely moving.
Just about two hours outside of Los Angeles and half an hour before you reach Joshua Tree National Park, and just north of the town of Yucca Valley is a dry little hillside that is populated by king-sized white statues of Jesus and his followers.
The sculptures are arranged in little tableaus that aim to tell the story of Jesus as you might have learned it in Sunday School. The craftsmanship leans toward grotesque and the brilliant white painted concrete is garish. But when you stand among the white giants with no other sound beside the wind in the creosote bushes, there is a deep sense of peace. This park is not polished, but it is sincere.
A Miracle that the Desert Christ Exists
The idea of a Desert Christ came to Frank Antone Martin, a retired aircraft factory worker, who was troubled by the development of the atomic bomb in the 1940s. He decided to build a bomb-proof monument to the Prince of Peace and locate it somewhere that it could be viewed by thousands of people.
Working with rebar, concrete, and a weatherproof white coating, Martin built the statue in the driveway of his Inglewood home. He was hoping to locate the big Jesus at the rim of the Grand Canyon but he couldn’t get a permit from the National Park Service.
Right around the same time that Martin was crafting his sculpture, a missionary named Eddie Garver got the notion that God wanted him to build a Christian theme park in the desert outside of Yucca Valley. He bought a five acre parcel of barren hillside but beyond that, had no idea where to start.
It’s a mystery how these men ever found each other. Inglewood, the home of Los Angeles International Airport, and Yucca Valley which is close to nowhere, might as well be worlds apart.
But find each other they did, and on Easter week 1951 the “unwanted Christ” was moved from Martin’s Los Angeles driveway to its new home overlooking a no-man’s land of scrubby sage and Joshua trees. Over the next ten years Antone Martin built dozens more of his impossibly difficult concrete sculptures depicting the Life of Christ.
Property disputes forced relocation of many of the statues. Then philosophical differences threatened to undo the whole thing. It seems that Martin didn’t care for Garver’s plan to charge admission, so the artist literally defaced his creation by smashing the noses off all the statues except Judas.
Eventually Garner backed out of the deal, and a change of heart and change of plans gave Martin a reason to reface the statues. Since that time the park was recognized as a landmark and there are ongoing efforts to conserve the sculptures.
Desert Christ Park
56200 Sunnyslope Dr
Yucca Valley, CA 92284
NOTE: Desert Christ Park is located next to a Foursquare Church, but the two facilities are not associated. It’s better to park in the small gravel lot for the sculpture park, so that church members don’t have to fight off tourists.
See Also
Desert Christ Park is on the way to Pioneertown: One of the Last Great Movie Ranches.
For more small adventures see 2024 the Year of Microadventure and scroll to the bottom of the page.
