The Center for Land Use Interpretation Newsletter

Desert View Tower

Unusual Real Estate Listing #453

1253Desert View for sale sign. CLUI photo

THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LANDMARK DESERT View Tower is for sale, through real estate agent Ed Snively. The four-story, handmade rock tower stands on the edge of the Jacumba Mountains, looming thousands of feet above the Anza Borrego Desert. It was built in the 1920's by a man named Burt Vaughn, to commemorate pioneers crossing the desert to get to San Diego. Along with the tower, the 113 acre property includes an unusual residence also built by Vaughn, and a boulder grotto with rock carvings of skulls and animals carved by W.T. Ratcliffe in the 1930's. The current owner, the Desert Tower Corporation, currently operates a gift store and museum at the tower.
Asking Price: $700,000

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