Empty Access Road at George Air Force Base, Victorville

George Air Force Base operated in Victorville, California, from 1941 until its closure under the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure round, with the last personnel leaving in 1992. The base served as a training center for fighter and attack pilots for much of the Cold War, home to squadrons flying the F-4 Phantom and later the F-16. Its housing areas, built to accommodate thousands of military families, included rows of duplex and fourplex units laid out along interior streets much like a small town. After the closure, the surrounding property was redeveloped as Southern California Logistics Airport, though large sections of the old family housing were left standing and eventually abandoned. Decades of vacancy have left the streets cracked and overgrown, with the concrete curbs and pavement markings the clearest remaining trace of the neighborhood's original layout.

Photo taken in December 2011.