Hesperia & Others
M. Penn Phillips was a bold and ambitious real estate developer who believed in turning wide-open land, often desert or high-country wilderness, into thriving communities. Starting in the 1920s and continuing into the 1960s, he spearheaded numerous developments, primarily in California’s deserts, mountains, and inland valleys. Some projects found their footing; others fell short. But all bear the stamp of Phillips’ flair for promotion and his dream of reshaping the American West.
One of his earliest ventures was Frazier Mountain Park, launched in 1924 in the mountains of Kern County. Phillips built a lodge, created five artificial lakes, and sold hundreds of cabin lots to folks looking for a cool-weather retreat. The area is still known today as Frazier Park.
In the late 1920s, he set his sights on Nevada, carving up large tracts of desert outside Las Vegas and marketing them to people hoping to stake a claim near what would eventually become a booming city. These Las Vegas tracts were speculative—sold well before the Strip or Hoover Dam existed—but laid the groundwork for future development.
Around the same time, Phillips was busy acquiring tens of thousands of acres along the Colorado River, which straddles the Arizona-California border. Though no town came from it, this was classic land-banking—buying cheap desert land and selling it to dreamers, retirees, and speculators.
After World War II, as Southern California experienced rapid growth, Phillips focused on the Antelope Valley, subdividing desert land near Palmdale and Lancaster. He marketed these parcels to veterans and working families, banking on the growing aerospace industry nearby to drive settlement.
By the early 1950s, he’d moved into the Victor Valley, laying out Mountain View Acres near Victorville. These were one-acre lots with few frills—just raw land and a chance to build your own home on the cheap. That do-it-yourself spirit carried over into Apple Valley and beyond, where Phillips sold off more desert tracts with promises of clean air, open skies, and low prices.
He didn’t stop there. He offered land across the Mojave, from Barstow to Newberry Springs, always touting affordability and opportunity. Not every buyer got rich, but enough people came to plant the seeds of small desert communities.
Phillips’ biggest swing came in Hesperia. Starting in 1954, he acquired over 23,000 acres and developed a comprehensive city plan, featuring homes, businesses, a man-made lake, a golf course, and his signature “U-Finish Homes.” These were houses built with finished exteriors but unfinished interiors—buyers were expected to finish the drywall and floors themselves. It was cheaper that way, and it attracted a wave of do-it-yourselfers. Hesperia eventually became a city, though much of Phillips’ vision was scaled back or scrapped due to infrastructure problems and unrealistic timelines.
Then came Salton City, a bold plan on the western shore of the Salton Sea. Between 1958 and the early 1960s, Phillips laid out thousands of lots and built streets, a yacht club, a hotel, and even a golf course. Sales were explosive—millions of dollars’ worth of lots sold in just one weekend. But the sea turned brackish, the infrastructure crumbled, and the dream fell apart. Today, Salton City is a shadow of what was promised, with paved streets stretching out into the desert, most still awaiting homes that never materialized.
He even sold land in the Big Bear Lake area, offering cabin sites in the mountain pines. These were some of his more modest and enduring projects, quietly blending into an already popular resort region.
From mountain lakes to desert shores, Penn Phillips left behind a scattered legacy of ambition and overreach. Some of his projects sparked the creation of real towns. Others remain little more than maps and memories. But taken together, they paint a vivid picture of one man’s attempt to reinvent the West, one parcel at a time.
List of Penn Phillips Projects in High Desert & Mountains
- Frazier Mountain Park – Frazier Park, CA (1924)
Mountain resort community with lakes, lodge, and recreational amenities. - Las Vegas Tracts – Las Vegas Basin, NV (1927)
Early speculative desert subdivisions before major city growth. - Colorado River Basin Lands – AZ/CA border (1929–1932)
Large-scale desert land acquisition and resale, not tied to any one town. - Palmdale & Lancaster Tracts – Antelope Valley, CA (Late 1940s)
Ranch and residential lots near growing aerospace centers. - Victorville – Mountain View Acres – Victorville, CA (Early 1950s)
1-acre home lots, early desert subdivision still populated today. - Apple Valley Subdivisions – Apple Valley, CA (Late 1940s–1950s)
Home and ranch parcels sold in conjunction with other desert ventures. - Barstow & Newberry Springs – San Bernardino County, CA (Late 1940s–1950s)
Remote residential and farm lots; many remain undeveloped. - Hesperia – Hesperia, CA (1954–1960s)
Master-planned community featuring “U-Finish Homes,” a lake, and a resort vision. - Salton City (Salton Riviera) – Salton Sea, CA (1958–1960s)
Massive planned resort town with marina, golf course, and yacht club – later failed. - Big Bear Lake Area Tracts – San Bernardino Mountains, CA (1940s–1950s)
Cabin and mountain home sites in a growing resort region.