Field trip to the Desert Lighthouse
OPTIONAL ONBOARD MEDIA
Welcome to the Field Trip to the Desert Lighthouse Optional Onboard Media! This optional programming is intended as a supplement to your journey from Los Angeles to Desert Lighthouse. Below you will find a curated selection of films and YouTube episodes about (or featuring) Desert Lighthouse.
Daniel Hawkins, Desert Lighthouse: A Point of Origin (2018) - 33min - Documentary
Desert Lighthouse: A Point of Origin follows the conception and the creation of Desert Lighthouse.
ERIN BrOCKOVICH (2000) - 2h 11m - Narrative feature Film
A flamboyant law firm secretary works tirelessly to gain justice for the small town of Hinkley, California wrecked by a utility company's pollution. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Julia Roberts.
Oddity Odysseys: What's INSIDE this Mysterious Desert Lighthouse? (2024) - Youtube
Lighthouses are generally found along the coast. What is this one doing in the middle of the Mojave Desert? Written and Produced by: Bethany Guerrero Cinematography and Visual Effects by: C. Drew Unser
Paulette Humanbeing: VALLEY PLEIN AIR CLUB DESERT LIGHTHOUSE TRIP WITH DANCE SONG (2022) - Youtube
Founded by Jeffrey Vallance, John “Mr. Let’s Paint TV” Kilduff, Victoria Reynolds, and Paulette Humanbeing, Valley Plein Air Club (VPAC) began by reviving the radical onsite in-person practice of the Impressionist painters in the context of Los Angeles’ legendary San Fernando Valley, but soon branched out to engage a variety of Western landscapes -- including Hawkins’ lighthouse at the edge of the Mojave Desert.
VPAC’s Desert Lighthouse excursion was documented by member Paulette Humanbeing. The works painted during this trip were included in the exhibition “VPAC X DLV: Plein Air Views of the Desert Lighthouse”, curated by Doug Harvey. Images of the exhibition can be viewed here.
THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER (2025) - 14 Min - Narrative Short film
The Lighthouse Keeper, a fictional short film, follows a strange and aimless traveler who quite literally carries all their baggage on their back as they wander a desert wasteland. In the relentless darkness of the desert, they come upon a lighthouse, only to find that they aren't as alone in this purgatory as they thought. Directed by Colette Weber Shaw and filmed at the Desert Lighthouse in 2024.
In the late spring of 2024, I hosted screenwriter and filmmaker Colette Weber Shaw at Desert Lighthouse as the set for her narrative short film The Lighthouse Keeper. I never imagined the work functioning in this way, but after a series of YouTubers featured the lighthouse in their episodes I became increasingly interested in allowing the work to permeate into the world in unexpected ways.
Wonderhussy Adventure #258: Lighthouse in the Middle of the Desert Outside Abandoned Toxic Town (2018) - youtube
“A bizarre, fully functioning lighthouse in the middle of the desert outside Barstow...hundreds of miles from the ocean!
This replica lighthouse was built by artist Daniel Hawkins in honor of the poor citizens of the nearby toxic, semi-abandoned town of Hinkley -- featured in the movie Erin Brockovich as the setting of a decades-long public poisoning at the hands of PG&E. This tiny desert outpost is still hanging on by its toenails...and now there is a lighthouse perched on a hill overlooking the area, presumably keeping the town safe from future ills.
Since my last visit to this haunting place, the old, hand-painted PeopleOfHinkley.org sign that used to stand at the highway exit, reminding passers-by of what happened here, has been torn (or has fallen) down. Was it by design? Are the people of Hinkley trying to move on? Or is some other entity trying to whitewash the past?” - Wonderhussy
the Light at the edge of the world (1971) - 2h 8min - Narrative feature film
A ruthless pirate captures the keeper of a lighthouse, in the most southern city in Argentina. His goal is obvious and horrific. He plans to control the lighthouses signals in a way that the passing ships will be crushed on the rocks. Starring Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner.
From 2018 to 2020, Desert Lighthouse was a nearly constant target of copper thieves, scavengers, and vandals. Over this two year period nearly daily attacks on the lighthouse occurred. A few years later when watching The Light at the Edge of the World, I found it unusually reminiscent of that time period as I labored to keep the lighthouse illuminated and secure.