"... part of what was different... was the way that many transplants were funding their dreams — by putting glamping setups or cabins on home-sharing websites.... Around that time, something else was changing that would set the stage for the rental gold rush: an appetite for an emerging aesthetic that some called 'high desert boho' or 'the Joshua Tree Look' on Instagram.... By 2018, there were so many renovated Joshua Tree rentals with the same metal cowboy tubs and wicker swings that an Instagram account emerged to mock them. Photos of these carefully curated spaces drew a new type of visitor, encouraging still more short-term rentals...."
There's a link on "Instagram account" in "an Instagram account emerged to mock them," but it does not go to a mocking Instagram account. It goes to a place where you can book stays at Joshua Tree places.
I'm not sure what to make of the NYT article. It's awfully snooty! It seems to be trying to enlist the reader — presumably sensitive to environmental concerns — into serving the interests of the very rich. Is it really so bad to have rental cabins in the area near Joshua Tree National Park? Are we stepping on the privilege of our betters if we think it would be nice to stay somewhere like this or this for a few days?
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19 comments:
can't We ALL Agree? That Only the Very Rich should be able to enjoy things?
What's next? Allowing the hoi polloi into Martha's Vinyard?
No, can't go to Joshua Tree, its so crowded, nobody goes there anymore.
YB
For a very long time the very wealthy in California have used 'environmentalism' to keep others out and limit competition. Some sincere non-wealthy greens are naively exploited and led around by the nose, while others just move out of a state with a deeply broken government and dysfunctional fantasy world attitudes all around.
Side note: Several decades ago green political officials/national park management began to routinely block hotel development inside park boundaries. As a result, there are large and growing "fungus" developments just outside the entrance gates. Visit Yosemite and Yellowstone, for example. These developments also bug the elite.
The elite were also upset when airfare prices came down and slobs started flying. First world problems. Let them eat cake.
"It seems to be trying to enlist the reader — presumably sensitive to environmental concerns — into serving the interests of the very rich."
And...this is new? This IS the era in which we live. Be led by social media influencers. Follow their instructions, clone-like. Then get articles written about you poo-pooing your actions, which has to be destroying the thing that they want for themselves.
I give you....Burning Man. Or, a more simple one: Napa. Or one soon to be on the 'kill list': Destination Mushroom Retreats.
"Joshua Tree" would be a great name for an artist, musician, architectural experimentalist or all-around weirdo.
I gather it's also a national park as well as a U-2 album.
I'm not sure what to make of the NYT article. It's awfully snooty! It seems to be trying to enlist the reader — presumably sensitive to environmental concerns — into serving the interests of the very rich. Is it really so bad to have rental cabins in the area near Joshua Tree National Park?
Have no fear, Times readers. Nature will take care of the proles.
Rock Climber Falls to Death at Joshua Tree National Park
A rock climber at the Joshua Tree National Park fell and died last weekend. This is the second death at the park this year.
By The Associated Press • Published March 29, 2022
This story is one example of a continuing effort going back decades to preserve National Parks for the right kind of visitors, i.e., the environmentally conscious rich, and to limit access by all yahoos, the poor, homeless vagrants, and others who would take more than pictures and leave more than footprints (as the old saying goes). Gatekeeping now includes required reservations to enter parks, which are closely rationed, expensive vendors inside parks, limits on duration of stays in parks, parking limitations restricting vehicle use, strict law enforcement of visitor behavior regulations, and so on.
And the funny thing about all this is that a hundred feet off any trail in most parks, you are all alone.
Man! One attempted cremation of a semi-famous musician and...BANG! There goes the neighborhood!
Isn't the whole Joshua Tree thing a cliche at this point?
If you aren't staying at the JTI, you're doing it all wrong.
I blame U2
A sanctified place, according to teh hippies. Many of my old school friends used to truck on out there from OC to “enjoy” themselves.
Was just there three days ago hiking Black Rock Canyon. Stayed in Desert Hot Springs, not in an Air B&B.
Joshua Tree proper is packed with cars and tent campers. If you don't take a long hike or backpack, it's not the experience you might've gone for. But it's always pretty.
"Are we stepping on the privilege of our betters if we think it would be nice to stay somewhere like this or this for a few days?"
Don't ask me. Ask Carlos Slim. It's his paper.
Okay NYTimes, now do Arches Natl Park. Just as crowded. And Moab is filled with weirdos too.
Like Lurker21 suggested, I assumed that Joshua Tree was an artist who drew people.
Blogger Howard said...
I blame U2
Oh for so many things... The Irish love to hate them.
So, Bono is on stage warming up for the show and he tells the crowd "Every time I clap my hands a child in Africa dies"
Some wag in the front row shouts back "Well then quit clapping your fucking hands!"
Apocryphal I'm sure, but still pretty good.
I was at the US embassy in Dublin waiting to see about getting my son a certificate of birth abroad, and there was some Irishman getting shitty with the rather large black woman at the counter about his US work visa. She told him in no uncertain terms in a strong southern accent that he had better go sit down and wait his turn.
My wife turns to me and says "That's The Edge" U2 band member apparently.
Joshua Tree National Park is beautiful, and completely oversaturated in the same way Yosemite is. In both places I've encountered Park Service individuals who more resembled Nurse Ratched than Smokey Bear. The trees themselves are not rare, but their various locations can be too remote for most people and introduce the need for a decent 4x4 with ground clearance.
Hubby and I made a stopover in Joshua Tree in 2007 toward the end of our cross-country trip, and the volume of cars coming to the campground was steady right up until about midnight or so. Not an enjoyable time. We did an early morning run on one of the trails and then decided to blow. We found a fun but technical 4x4 trail out of the park heading south, and ended the day near the Anza Borrego Desert, a far less visited area with tons of remote places to camp.
It is already MASSIVELY against the law to mess with Joshua trees on protected land in California. Plus, the area is a desert, so there is not a lot of plant and animal life out there. I say, let the tourists take their photos and let them know that they'll be punished if they damage the Joshua trees. The weird part about Joshua trees being protected is that it only applies to Joshua trees on protected lands. Anyone can cultivate a Joshua tree on their property without being tripped up by these regulations. Just try and cultivate an endangered animal species and see how quick the Feds step to you.
BTW, Joshua trees are not endangered on the Federal level. It's a State of California thing.
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