Bare Trees and Empty Streets at George Air Force Base Housing

George Air Force Base operated in Victorville, California, from 1941 until it closed in December 1992 under the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure process. Originally established as Victorville Army Air Field, it later served as a Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command installation, home to bomber and fighter squadrons for five decades. Its family housing tracts, built in the ranch-style common to Cold War-era military construction, once housed hundreds of families stationed at the base. After closure, the property was redeveloped as Southern California Logistics Airport, but many of the old residential streets and housing rows sat empty for years afterward.