Yesterday afternoon, in the heat of the day, I cruised the streets of New Cuyama. No other cars were buzzing around; all was still except for occasional service trucks. I was able to stop anywhere, roll down a window, and take what pictures I wanted, and never be in anyone's way. This is a very odd situation in California.

The homes are modest:


This particular design was repeated often, with varying finishes and orientation.

Several of the homes nearer to the highway had RVs in the front. This one looks like it's being lived in.

This one is for sale: $175,000. Two bedrooms, converted from three. There were also a couple of new homes:


which suggests that no place in California is immune to developer fever. It's just two homes right now; if I come back and see the field behind them full of new homes I'm going to freak out.

I drove to the southerly edge of town and saw this:





This field is near a place called a "service center", as a recall. There are signs pointing out that it's private property and it advertises tires and other mechanical equipment. I read somewhere that New Cuyama was started to support oil fields or something like that. I think I need to look that up.

In this small town I saw three churches: