USA Today recently named two California cities the Best Small Towns in the West, including the No. 1 overall in the survey.

Tucked halfway between LA and Vegas, Barstow is a unique California desert town with plenty of road trip ... as well as ...

In the remote, sun-scorched stretch of southeastern California, the lost town of Ogilby whispers stories ... Surrounded by vast desert silence and forgotten history, Ogilby is a gateway into ...

A once-glamorous resort was rusting away in the California desert. Then, three friends brought it—and the entire town­—back to life.

By 1868, with the colonial suppression of the Indian resistance, most of the California desert was claimed for livestock grazing, mining, towns, utility lines and roads, and military bases. Land use ...