In reaction to my 1/24 posting “Cities of Z, found and lost” (an adventure in Z-names), Michael Thomas inquired in Facebook and got my answer:
— MT: Have you heard of Zzyzx Road? It would be a fine place for a city if it weren’t in the middle of the desert on the way to Vegas
— AZ: Yes, and I was sure I’d written about it, but I can’t find any evidence of that. So I might post a brief note on it.
This is that note. Though in addition to Zzyzx Road in Nevada, you’ll get the bonus of the 2006 film noir Zyzzyx Road.
Pronunciation note: Zzyzx is pronounced /zVzɪks/, where V is either /aj/ (apparently for the name of the actual road) or /ɪ/ (in the movie title).
On Z Road. From Wikipedia (somewhat edited down):
Zzyzx, formerly Soda Springs, is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County CA, within the boundaries of the Mojave National Preserve, managed by the National Park Service as public land. It is the former site of the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa and now the site of the Desert Studies Center.
… Zzyzx Road is a 4.5-mile-long, part paved and part dirt, rural collector road in the Mojave Desert. It runs from Interstate 15 generally south to the Zzyzx settlement.
Interstate 15 exit sign for Zzyzx Road (Wikipedia photo)… The nearest populated area is the small town of Baker, 7 miles (11 km) north on Interstate 15. Las Vegas NV is the nearest major city, approximately 100 miles northeast.
… Curtis Howe Springer made up the name Zzyzx and gave it to the area in 1944, claiming it to be the last word in the English language. He established the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa in 1944 at the spot
The last word. Springer should have realized back in 1944 that any claims for Zzyzx as the last word in English would be short-lived; ZZZ trade names would soon abound (in a competition to be last (in telephone directories and the like), ad then there’s the onomatopoetic interjection ZZZ (spelled with varying numbers of Zs), in various dictionaries as the the sound of snoring (especially used in comic strips).
In Z movies. From Wikipedia:
Zyzzyx Road, also called Zyzzyx Rd., is a 2006 American thriller film written, produced and directed by John Penney and starring Katherine Heigl, Leo Grillo, and Tom Sizemore.
The film gained notoriety from its gross ticket sales of only $30 on its opening run, due to its intentionally limited release at a single cinema; it is the lowest-grossing film in U.S. history in terms of box office sales.
Plot synopsis [AZ: enigmatic]: Grant, a philandering accountant, goes to Las Vegas on a business trip and encounters a seductress, Marissa, and her jealous ex-boyfriend Joey. Grant and Marissa incapacitate Joey, believing they have killed him, and decide to bury him along the eponymous Zyzzyx Road, a rural road off Interstate 15 in California’s Mojave Desert. After digging a grave, they return to find Joey missing from the trunk of Grant’s car. Grant chases Joey through the desert with a shovel, and when he finds him hidden in an abandoned mine, he tells Joey a secret about Marissa.
(No, I don’t know what the secret is. Or what the surprise twist at the end is.)
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