This Trailer Park Outside Joshua Tree Is Everything

The punk-themed trailer does not disappoint. (Paolo Bicchieri)

There’s Prince waltzing through the air over an astroturf-surrounded pool in the middle of the desert. A hot tub on a watchtower is directly above you, cold wind sweeping over your face and making frost of the splashes of water. There’s a giant ball pit, children and adults alike firing BB guns and bows into hay bails, and themed trailers all around you. You’re at the Hicksville Trailer Park Palace. And, not unlike the lead role in The Shining, you’ve always been there, in some eccentric, maverick realm of your heart.

The Hicksville Trailer Park Palace is a SoCal must-see, a kind of fever dream of an AirBnB and camp site hybrid. The site, just 15 minutes or so by car from Joshua Tree National Park, hosts dozens of guests at any given time in its 11 trailers. Dogs are welcome, the wi-fi is strong, and there’s a vending machine with bottles of champagne and Advil. If you’re headed to Joshua Tree, you might consider heading to this one-of-a-kind trailer park for lodging.

Outside the trailer park. (Paolo Bicchieri)

The property is semi-historic, since the entire thing can be rented out by groups and has been by everyone from the now-infamous Johnny Depp to your friend’s cousin when they got married a few years back. It’s about an eight hour drive from San Francisco, so for Bay Area travelers it’d be worth making this a weekend trip. Still, that’s no stretch of the imagination since so many Californians want to see the arid alien landscape of Joshua Tree and its eponymous flora. It’s well-worth the drive, and the cheaper trailers can go for about $100 a night, sleeping two plus a pup.

My wife and I traveled to this legendary locale when we took a road trip to the Grand Canyon in March 2023. We planned to sleep in the park, but a tattoo artist in the Castro let us know Hicksville was worth a visit. She was super correct. The ball pit is not the sickest, unless you’re high or drunk is my guess, but the elevated hot tub and game room are dope. We stayed in the Lux, a somewhat punk and tiki-themed trailer, for just over $100. Complete with a mini fridge, TV and VHS, and full access to the grounds’ amenities, it made traipsing through Joshua Tree the next day all the wilder and more fantastical.

Joshua Tree National Park is worth every second of the drive from NorCal. (Paolo Bicchieri)