In the early 20th century, there were many comparisons between our desert area and the deserts of the Middle East.
This was made even more evident with the importation of date palms and the beginnings of a date industry. One large-scale development plan even sought to build our own version of the walled city of Biskra, but it did not come to pass.
The ancient city of Biskra lies about 250 miles southeast of Algiers in Algeria. Lying on the edge of the Saharan Desert, Biskra, by the 20th century, had become a desert oasis of art and culture, with many calling it the “Saharan Nice,” comparing it to the city in France.
In our desert region, if one looks along the hills that make up the northeastern side of the Coachella Valley, a string of palm oases can be seen. In these hills, several miles north of Indio, one of the larger of these oases was dubbed Biskra Palms. Here, in the late 1920s, Charles H. Jonas, a Southern California real estate developer, envisioned an oasis similar to the Algerian oasis of the same name in Riverside County.
Biskra was to start as a $500,000 hotel built using architecture of the Sahara Desert region. Soon, a walled city was contemplated at which visitors could walk among shops and restaurants offering “Oriental and North African wares” as Jonas’ brochures declared.
Once the walled city was completed, tracts of land surrounding the oasis would be subdivided into estate lots and winter homes for wealthy buyers, all done in similar architecture to the hotel and retail center. If one desired, a person could then say that his address was in Biskra, in Southern California’s own Saharan oasis.
By late 1928, construction had started on a road to Biskra, several trails through the area, rock walls and even some leveled building pads. Much of this work was done by Joe Toutain, the long-time constable in Banning.
Publicity for Biskra went to extremes. Numerous sight-seeing trips were organized to bus potential investors to the site. “Arab” style tents were set up for people to see. In this time of reverence for Rudolf Valentino as “The Sheik,” many people came out to see the planned community. The investors even went to the expense of sending their primary architect, Mark C. Daniels, on a trip to Algeria to study Saharan architecture.
However, people coming to see a staged mock-up do not equal investors. The hype about Biskra was draining the coffers of the investors and construction lagged. By late 1929, the stock market had crashed, and much of the money that was left disappeared. In the following months, the tents blew away, the few workers on the project left, and the investors tried to save what little assets they still had, let alone those that could be used for speculation. The development of Biskra came to a sudden halt, and was never brought forward again.
Today, Biskra Palms oasis is still there and makes for a great hike. A portion of the road is still visible, but that’s about all that remains of the hopes for our own walled city of Biskra.
If you have an idea for a future Back in the Day column about a local historic person, place or event, contact Steve Lech and Kim Jarrell Johnson at backinthedaype@gmail.com.
