14 messages---------------------------Johnnie ------------------------------------------------- : [log in to unmask] (Justin the Blue) : Re: Place Name Mystery : Fri, 5 May 1995 01:46:20 -0700 (PDT) > > Five gold stars to anyone who can solve this place name mystery. I > have a patron (professor) who is looking for a place called: > > Zzyzx > > No clue as to where in the world this place is.... Try New Mexico, the good 'ol USA. I have a good friend who came out of there, and makes trips down to Albuquerque. If memory serves, she showed me a photo of an Interstate exit marker proclaiming "Zzyzx Rd". If I'm right, it would be off the I-40. Most likely that would be somewhere west of Albuquerque. If I'm wrong, I'll ask her again; I'd swear she showed me a photo of this, though. Good luck. ...Justin the Blue -- As Seen On | Justin the Blue...SunDial Earth Station...K #11 ___ _ _ | [log in to unmask] | \ / | Fantasy Cartographer/Street Map Cartographer for Hire | \/ | Better living through the Lambert Conformal Projection ----------------------------------------------------------- : Thu, 4 May 1995 23:12:19 -0700 (PDT) : KATHERINE RANKIN <[log in to unmask]> : Re: Place Name Mystery Zzyzx is a sort of health spa in the desert in the area near Las Vegas, Nev. I think it may actually be across the border in California. I believe the person who started it was an eccentric, and that it is closed now. I'll try to find out more about it for you. Kathy Rankin -------------------------------------------------------------------- Kathy Rankin Phone: (702) 895-3062 Special Formats Catalog Librarian FAX: (702) 895-1207 University of Nevada, Las Vegas Internet: [log in to unmask] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- : Thu, 4 May 95 22:20:26 EDT : [log in to unmask] (Gerald I. Evenden) : Re: Place Name Mystery At a spot in Calif. near the Nev. border, just west of Baker? (it has been a long time), there is a sign to a road leading to Zzyzx. This was the days before the current interstate that runs through there so may not now be signed. Sorry, don't have a road atlas handy at the moment. My recollection was that it once was on road maps. Just a hole-in-the-wall south of the highway. Gerald (Jerry) I. Evenden Internet: [log in to unmask] voice: (508)563-6766 Postal: P.O. Box 1027 fax: (508)457-2310 N.Falmouth, MA 02556-1027 ----------------------------------------------------------- : Thu, 4 May 1995 16:59:41 -0700 : [log in to unmask] (Tony Meadow) : Re: Place Name Mystery If I remember correctly, there is a town of that name located in Death Valley. There is also a literary journal named after the town. Tony ------ Tony Meadow Bear River Associates, Inc., PO Box 1900, Berkeley, CA 94701 USA Telephone: 510 644 9400 Fax: 510 644 9778 Internet: [log in to unmask] AppleLink: D0068 ----------------------------------------------------- : [log in to unmask] : Thu, 4 May 1995 15:25:00 -0700 : Re: Place Name Mystery Have you tried any imaginary place names? My best guess: it looks a little like one of the places Italo Calvino might have dreamed up (Invisible Cities, and a number of other titles). LC -------------------------------------------------------------- : Thu, 4 May 1995 16:03:46 -0700 (PDT) : "T. Edwards" <[log in to unmask]> : Re: Place Name Mystery Ah, this one is an EASY one. For those of you who may have lived in southern California, and made the roadtrip from LA to Las Vegas, driving the monotonous desert highways, you may recall this. At some point along interstate 15 in California, I think between Baker and the Nevada border, there's a lonely exit ramp off the freeway, with a sign pointing to the town of Zzyzx. I may be wrong as to where the exit is (it might be between Baker and Barstow). But I know it's there, as I've seen the town's sign many a time. No, it's not a romanized version of some foreign tongue either, just a funky name someone decided to construct that would look interesting in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Tom Edwards ----------------------------------------------------- : Thu, 4 May 1995 14:14:04 -0700 (PDT) : Phil Hoehn <[log in to unmask]> : Re: Place Name Mystery It's in California -- Phil Hoehn, U.C. Berkeley Earth Sciences and Map Library -- (Please send 5 gold stars via e-mail) ---------------------------------------------------------- : [log in to unmask] (JK Herro) : Thu, 4 May 1995 12:49:20 -0700 : Re: Place Name Mystery (Zzyzx) Eric: The USGS National Geographic Names Database (GNIS CD-Rom) tells of two in California; Zzyzx Spring (AKA Soda Springs, Zzyzx Mineral Springs, Zzyzx Springs, at N 35 08'10" / W116 06'10") and a locale Zzyzx (AKA Fort Soda, Soda Springs, Zzyzx Mineral Spring Resort) and are on the Soda Lake North, CA 7.5' quad; San Bernardino County in the Mojave Desert. The following citation indicates that it is a significant Native American Indian site. Cameron, Constance. "The West Pond report : archaeological investigations at SBr-363c Soda Springs (Zzyzx), California / by Constance Cameron ; with sections by Ronald D. Douglas ... [et al.]." Fullerton, Calif. : Museum of Anthropology, California State University, 1984. vi, 152 p. : ill. ; 28 cm. JK Herro ---------------------------------------------------------------- : Thu, 04 May 95 13:51:03 EST : "Michael Knes, Detroit Public Library" <MKNES@WAYNEST1> : Re: Place Name Mystery Eric - As to Zzyzx a key word search on LUIS/NOTIS turned up the following: Tertiary stratigraphy of highly extended terranes, California, Arizona, and Nevada : proceedings of a workshop held at the Desert Research Center. Soda Springs (Zzyzx) California... (SuDoc I 19.3:2035), don't need the five gold stars but a chilled martini would be nice if we ever meet up. Hope this helps! Michael Knes, Map Specialist ---------------------------------------------------------------- : Fri, 05 May 1995 10:28:56 -0500 : [log in to unmask] (Robert E. Murowchick) : Re: MAPS-L Digest - 2 May 1995 to 4 May 1995 My best guess is that the Mystery Place is abbreviated from the full Chinese name, romanized in the pinyin romanization system that is used in the People's Republic of China. That romanization system is full of Q's, X's, Y's, and Z's. For example, the capital city of Henan Province is Zhengzhou; the capital city of Guangdong Province is Guangzhou, and Hong Kong is Xianggang. Sometimes place names are abbreviated based on their pinyin romanization, which can result in very bizarre looking strings of letters. These are frequently used in billboards and other advertising, I suppose in an effort to appeal to Western viewers who can't read the Chinese characters themselves. The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo), for instance, is sometimes abbreviated in print as ZGSHKXYKGYJS. If Mr. Schmidt's patron can provide any additional information, such as where he saw the reference to "Zzyzx," it might be possible to figure out what the full romanization would be, and therefore what the original Chinese characters would be. Or maybe not! With best wishes, Bob Murowchick Fairbank Center for East Asian Research Harvard University Tel: (617) 495-4657 Fax: (617) 495-9976 Email: [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------- : Fri, 5 May 1995 08:38:09 -0700 (PDT) : eva stowers <[log in to unmask]> : Re: Place Name Mystery Wow -- finally a MAPS-L question I know the answer to :) Zzyzx, located 100 miles southwest of Las Vegas, was a health resort founded in 1944 by fromer radio preacher Curtis Springer. I think they specialized in rejuvenation. The UNLV library has a videocassette of a local television program on the subject from 1983. Eva Stowers Desert Research Institute Library ----------------------------------------------------------- : Fri, 5 May 1995 08:40:09 -0700 (PDT) : PETER V GRATTON <[log in to unmask]> : Re: Place Name Mystery Zzyzx is on Highway I-15. If you head west to California from Las Vegas, you pass the Zzyzx Road turnoff. It always creates a stare, when you first pass the sign. I am 99% sure it is in California. Those of you with your GNIS up and running can probably confirm. Pronounced Zis ixs. Glad to be able to help solve a mystery. I believe there is a Zzyzx ranch at the end of Zzyzx Road. I believe that was the ranch's brand; making rustling very difficult. Eric, I am originally from Minnesota and went to High School with Gary Schmidt. As Gary always said " Like the Beer". Peter Gratton [log in to unmask] Government Publications Dept Library Univ of Nevada, Las Vegas 4505 Maryland Parkway Box 457013 Las Vegas NV 89154-7013 ------------------------------------------------------------ : Fri, 5 May 1995 09:20:58 -0700 : Robert Zimdar <[log in to unmask]> : Re: Place Name Mystery Zzyzx is well known to folks in southern California with a gambling bent, since it is on the road to Las Vegas! Or, to those of us who spend our time wandering around dry lake beds! The geology of the area is wonderful. We haven't a clue as to the meaning! Zzyzx in on the western edge of Soda Dry Lake, less than ten miles south of Baker, southern California, USA. It is on USGS 7.5-min quad "Soda Lake North"; it is quad B1 of the USGS 2x1-degree sheet 35116-A1 "Soda Mountains". It is in the "Devil's Playground" of the Mojave Desert. The Zzyzx Springs Road exit off I-15 is between Barstow and Baker. Hope this helps, +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Robert Zimdar and Lisa Heizer, Systems Coordinators CIVAC: Computer Imaging, Visualization, and Animation Center Department of Geological Sciences, San Diego State University voice:(619) 594-5673 fax:(619) 594-4372 Internet: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ---------------------------------------------------------------- : "Steven Frank" <[log in to unmask]> : Fri, 5 May 1995 08:48:31 MST7MDT : Re: Place Name Mystery I remember seeing the name Zzyxx on a roadsign years ago while driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. I am pretty sure it was on the California side near the Nevada border. Steven Frank Phone: (505) 646-8171 Dept. of Surveying FAX: (505) 646-3549 New Mexico State University Box 30001, Dept. 3SUR Email: [log in to unmask] Las Cruces, NM 88003-0001