Most Californians are pretty used to earthquakes, but Palmdale residents don't bat an eye. The city is located right next to the San Andreas Fault, which makes it especially prone to quakes and aftershocks. Historically, Palmdale earthquake activity is above average for the state of California, and the people have long since got over it. Whenever people ask Palmdale residents what an earthquake feels like, they just shrug it off-because it's no big deal to them. They're kind of badass like that.
"My name is Afroman and I'm from east Palmdale." Sound familiar? Of course it does. Afroman played his part in keeping kids off drugs with his 2000 song "Because I Got High," where he laments his losses due to drug use. But because he drops a line about his Palmdale heritage in a lot of his songs, everyone from the city has heard about it. And heard about it. And heard about it some more. They get it, he said it in the song.
Palmdale residents often get asked whether their hometown is actually a real place. The city gets a bad rap as "the boonies" because the surrounding area is almost all desert, but any local will tell you that they do indeed have plenty of civilization, including restaurants, parks, and great neighborhoods. Shopaholics are in heaven here too because Palmdale is home to the Antelope Valley Mall, which sits on a whopping one million square feet. Take that, all you L.A. snobs.
Palmdale is a pretty quiet town with not much going on in the way of nightlife, there's no denying. But that's not because no one is having fun. The residents have brought all the fun inside-more specifically inside their living rooms or basements. Locals play games like Team Fortress 2 with a fervor and even set up online servers so other Palmdale residents could play together on Xbox and PC (rather than actually see each other in person, of course). There are five, count 'em, five GameStop stores in Palmdale alone, along with a few other smaller video game shops. As if that wasn't proof enough, there are even several therapists in town that will cater specifically to video game addiction. It's serious, people.
Don't ask anyone from Palmdale how the traffic is out here. Just don't. The city was number three on Forbes' list of cities with the longest commuting times. The majority of people in Palmdale don't actually work in the city-they work in the nearby Los Angeles area. And the average amount of time they spend getting to work is almost 41 minutes-and you thought New York City commutes were awful! The Interstate 14 is particularly nightmarish. The Palmdale Transportation Center built in 2005 alleviated some of the stress, but Palmdale residents still make sure to keep their iPods charged, snacks packed and their composure cool for those long drives.
Palmdale is unavoidably landlocked, but that doesn't mean locals give up on their dreams of catching "the big one." In 1924 a reservoir was created near the city's southern border to bring water to the Antelope Valley, and now Palmdale has its very own artificial lake stocked with thousands of fish for the catching. And boy, do those fishing fiends take advantage of that fake lake. The Fin and Feather Club is where you'll find most of them. Last year the members of this fishing and hunting club caught nearly 42,000 fish! And the club is no joke: You must be a Palmdale or L.A. area resident to join, and fishing access to the lake is generally reserved for members.
Fire chasing, the risky business of getting as close to a brush fire as possible to take some awesome photos, is a fave of daredevils in southern California. Brush fires cause the biggest number of natural disasters in Palmdale-in fact the city's Fire Station #37 is one of the busiest in the entire nation, so fire chasers here are in heaven. While it's definitely not the safest (or sanest!?) form of recreation, you do end up with some undeniably epic shots.
Palmdale residents deal with one of the most confusing street naming systems of any city in California. Get this: If a street runs east to west, it's called an Avenue, and named with a letter, like Avenue A or B. If it runs north to south, it is called a Street, ordered numerically with multiples of 10. And directions get even more complicated to give if you live on a road between the Streets and Avenues, which have suffixes in the names. Are you still with me? On top of that, house addresses are always named after the streets they are near. OK, forget it, I'm already lost. They must be.
The people of Palmdale get it. They live in the desert. The landscape isn't exactly reminiscent of Yosemite. But that doesn't discourage locals from appreciating what they do have. They especially love their poppies: Trust me, they have to, the Antelope Valley is full of them! People also get their outdoorsy fix at the Devil's Punchbowl, a popular hiking preserve just a few minutes out of the city that seriously looks like a miniature Grand Canyon. Residents even bring nature back with them. Homes here are traditionally designed with green lawns and backyards despite the desert setting, and when the rains are good you'll see gardens popping up all over town.
The upside to having zero nightlife is that Palmdale is a peaceful, quiet community, and the perfect place to start a family. In fact, families make up more than two-thirds of the city's population, so it's no secret. Palmdale also has numerous family-friendly places for everyone to enjoy like the Mulligan Family Fun Center, with miniature golf, arcades and more ideally designed for kids. Another fun spot that kids (and entire families) love is the Barrel Springs Trail, where everyone can spend a day hiking or riding horses.
