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California City

Turning Desert Dust Into Gold

California City

LAist Studios

News

4.51.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2020

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2017 Ben Perez goes to a Mojave Desert resort for a free vacation and ends up signing away his life savings. Turns out Ben is one of tens of thousands to believe a version of this dream over the past 60 years.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Support for LAST comes from Pasadena Playhouse presenting Eureka Day.

0:04.6

Jonathan Spector's Razor Sharp 2025 Tony Award winning satire.

0:09.1

Eureka Day is on stage at Pasadena Playhouse beginning September 10th.

0:13.2

Tickets are on sale now at Pasadena Playhouse.org.

0:17.1

Live stream, supported by South Coast Repertory, presenting million-dollar quartet. Step back to

0:22.2

1956 when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins made music history

0:27.8

with one of the greatest rock and roll jam sessions in this musical with over 20 hits. September 13th

0:33.3

through October 19th, tickets at SCR.org. I wish I'd met Ben Perez before this all happened.

0:40.7

When he still had dreams, he thought he could make come true. When he still believed,

0:45.5

people were mostly good. But I didn't. I met him after. After he was betrayed by someone he trusted,

0:54.0

after he signed away his life savings, after he was betrayed by someone he trusted, after he signed away his life savings,

0:57.4

after he took a trip to a place called California City.

1:06.7

Hi, Ben?

1:08.7

Hello?

1:13.6

I first talked to him in June 2018. It was less than a year after he said he'd been tricked into buying a worthless piece of desert land.

1:20.6

I got your name because you wrote a ripoff report review, right?

1:26.6

Ripoff report is this website people go to to write scathing complaints when they feel

1:31.7

like they got ripped off, hence the name. Ben told me he lost around $31,000. And despite his

1:39.1

best effort, he hadn't gotten that money back.

1:42.4

That's actually my five years savings. I work five years just to save that $30, back. That's actually my five years savings.

1:45.0

I work five years just to save that 30,000.

1:48.0

That's your five years savings?

...

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