Encountering the Integratron in the Mojave Desert
Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times
Carlos Coyan of Rancho Cucamonga meditates as more than a dozen people gather at the Integratron in Landers for a “sound bath.” “I would describe it as the fusion of art, science and magic,” said co-owner Joanne Karl. Video
Three sisters take over the dome in Landers, where therapeutic ‘sound baths,’ time travel and who knows what else are said to be possible.
If you set off one morning and drive into the desert, past swirling dust devils and Wile E. Coyote rock formations, and then you drive some more, all the way until the paved road ends, you might find yourself at the Karl sisters’ place, where time travel might, or might not, be possible.
Here’s Joanne Karl now, at 53, the oldest of the trio, striding across the compound. Today, she’s all desert flower — billowing dresses and sun-bleached tresses. Like the others, she’s strayed from her roots.
The sisters grew up in the New York suburbs. Their father worked in plastics; Saturday meant the country club and Sundays meant church. They also had a whimsical mother who, at 79, has yet to acknowledge that questions have been raised about the existence of Santa Claus.
“Be bold,” Jackie Karl told them time and again, “and mighty forces will come to your aid.”
That, topped off with a collective case of wanderlust, helps explain how Joanne, Nancy and Patty Karl came to own 11 acres of unforgiving Mojave Desert moonscape — and one 38-foot-tall, blindingly white dome called the Integratron.
Out There Southern California chronicles
- Mojave Desert: Encountering the Integratron
- Historic Filipinotown: Back on a roll in L.A. with Derby Dolls
- Chino Hills: Tiny tributes to life in L.A.
- Poinsettia Park: United by death
- Montrose: A small town war
- San Diego: The artist behind the iconic ‘running immigrants’ image
- Skid row: Joy is permitted on Fridays