This is one of my favorite spots in the western desert. Zzyzx was a strange sort of town and “health spa” built around the natural Soda Springs. It was founded and built by a complete quack and radio evangelist, Curtis Howe Springer. He seems to have been one of the get-rich-quick types, involved in many schemes before Zzyzx came to fruition. The land was seized by the government in 1974- he didn’t even own the land, he only had a mining claim on it and the government evicted everyone living there. Here’s a good article on the history of Zzyzx:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/zzyzx .

I’ve been back many times since. It’s so beautiful and silent there. The desert seems to go on forever, and viewing it from the ruined pool of a decades-abandoned resort is an otherworldly experience.