Desert Town by Ramona Stewart
The 1946 novel Desert Town by Ramona Stewart has brothels, car chases, gangsters, cowboys, crooked cops, a love struck teenage girl and tons of thinly veiled homosexuality. What more could you ask for? Well it was also made into the film noir movie Desert Fury, shot in Technicolor, with a very young Burt Lancaster in 1947! Come join us at the Glass Outhouse on Monday, May 7th at 7:00pm where we will discuss the book and watch the movie outdoors when it gets dark enough. There seem to be quite a few used copies floating around online. I think the cover art on my Pocket Book is fantastic.
To get to the Glass Outhouse, drive 4 miles east of 29 Palms on Hwy 62 and turn right on Thunder Road, where you will see the Book Club sign and the gallery sign. The water tank painted to look like a giant Pepsi can is a good landmark to watch for. If you pass the airport, turn around, you went too far. See you at the movies!—Kip
Every month from October 2014 until March 2020, Kip’s Desert Book Club gathered on the first Monday of the month at 7:00 pm in the home of a different resident of the Morongo Basin to discuss a book that in one way or another touches on the theme of “desert”.
Since the start of the pandemic, Kip has been hard at work making renovations to the kitchen and bathrooms at Copper Mountain Mesa Community Center, where he is the board President, and keeping their monthly USDA food drive alive. During this time, Kip’s Desert Book Club had largely been on pause, with the exception of a few virtual meetings. These virtual gatherings allowed us to welcome the participation of book club fans from beyond our local region.
Sixty-six books, more than seven years, and one pandemic later, Kip has decided to step back from being the primary book club organizer and join the rest of us as readers. Kip, we thank you for all the wonderful and eclectic desert books you’ve chosen over the years, as well as the unforgettable stories and knowledge you continue to share (if you know, you know!)
So, we are excited to announce that beginning in January 2022, our in-person book club will resume as the Desert Research Library Book Club (or DRL Book Club, for short). Each month, a member of the current Desert Research Library Artist Cohort will select a book from the library as that month’s book club selection.
