London Bridge + Mohave Desert = Lake Havasu City
Written: Oct 28 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: the London Bridge; friendly people
Cons: hot, hot, hot
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| skippio's Full Review: Arizona |
Review Topic: Overview
Writing our review of the Motel 6 in Lake Havasu City has inspired within us a burning desire to write about the city itself. Lake Havasu isn’t really a lake, it’s a dammed-up portion of the Colorado River smack-dab in the middle of the hot, miserable Mohave Desert. No one in their right mind would ever come to this little god-forsaken corner of the world if it weren’t for the London Bridge.
The lake was formed when Parker Dam was built in 1938. During World War II the Army Air Corps used the area as a training and rest camp. After the war, the camp was abandoned and subsequently purchased by a happy-go-lucky capitalist by the name of Robert P. McCulloch. (You may know him for his chainsaws.) Mr. McCulloch used the lake to test outboard motors. He developed a mobile-home park for his employees, and Lake Havasu City was born.
‘Round about 1968, some folks over in a town called London, England were having a spot of trouble with their bridge. It was sinking into the Thames river, which was not good. So, the good people of London replaced the bridge and decided to sell the old one to the highest bidder. Lucky for Lake Havasu City, McCulloch had a couple million bucks in his pocket, so he decided to bring the bridge to his community. The bridge was shipped and reconstructed stone by stone, near the banks of the lake. It was built on dry land, and on its completion a channel was dug beneath the bridge, creating an island in the lake. The London Bridge was dedicated in October 1971.
We had supper at Chubby’s Diner, located about two blocks away from the bridge. It was all-you-can-eat spaghetti night at Chubby’s, which we were happy to take advantage of. We talked to a waitress who filled us in on all the juicy details of Lake Havasu City’s population growth.
Well, Mr. McCulloch decided that since he had the bridge, he ought to find some people to live in the city and operate the tourist industry. So, he went back east to find some gullible folks to buy land in the new, planned community. He advertised in newspapers an all-expenses paid weekend in Las Vegas, with one condition – the travelers had to make a stop in Lake Havasu City and listen to a sales pitch.
Of course, many were attracted to the idea of a free weekend of gambling, and took him up on his offer. After a couple days of drinking, gambling and general carousing McCulloch brought them up to Lake Havasu at their peak level of exhaustion. (A little unfair, don’t you think?) Surprisingly, some people actually liked the idea of living there and purchased land. That’s how our waitress’s parents came to live in Lake Havasu City.
The city was incorporated in 1978. Today, Lake Havasu City is a thriving self-contained community of about 25,000 brave heat-resistant souls. It’s basically a strip city clinging desperately to the shore of the lake. The local economy seems to be driven by tourism. It has a reputation of being a party town, particularly around Spring Break time.
The area around the bridge is mostly covered by pseudo-British trinket shops, eateries, hotels, Union Jacks and fountains. There’s even a fake Big Ben, if you’re into that sort of thing. But in spite of all this atmosphere-creating effort, you will never actually believe you’re in London. For one thing, Lake Havasu City is usually right around 100 degrees, the sun is brutal, and across the river is a desert landscape of sandy hills and boulders.
We were very much impressed by the bridge itself, and the massive effort to faithfully re-construct it. Each granite block was numbered and diagrammed before it was dis-assembled and shipped, so that the bridge could be rebuilt exactly as it was. A total of 10,000 tons of stone was brought to Arizona from jolly old England, with some individual blocks weighing as much as eight tons. The bridge as it now stands is 930 feet long. Originally, the bridge was longer, but the extra arch made it too long. Somewhere, probably collecting cobwebs in someone’s garage, is a spare arch from the London Bridge.
There wasn’t much of a museum about the bridge when we were there, but we were told one would open in October of 2000. We were pretty disappointed about that, because we wanted the full story of the bridge. The bridge has been there for thirty years already, how long do you think it would take to put together a museum about it? (A very long time, obviously.) A little information center was near the bridge, with a few photographs and some brochures. The brochures weren’t free, they were fifty cents each with the proceeds going toward the construction of that blasted museum. The lady behind the counter wasn’t much help. She answered some questions, but seemed to be pre-occupied with her upcoming lunch break. When we picked up a book about the complete history of the London Bridge dating back to its earliest beginning in Roman times, she chastised us.
“You don’t want to look at that,” she said. “It’s about the OLD London Bridge. Who cares about all that garbage?” Well, since the two of us spend a lot of time with our noses buried in various historical tomes, we took umbrage at the incredible ignorance and ethnocentricity of that remark.
Lake Havasu is also known for its numerous beaches. The water is remarkably clean and clear, perfect for metal-detecting (if you’re so inclined). It’s probably nice for swimming, too. The beaches are free and open to the public, and are trash-free. The beaches fill up fairly early in the morning, so get there early to secure a good spot. Boating is a big pastime on Lake Havasu, and we hear the fishing is pretty good, too. Shopping and bar-hopping are also popular activities.
Lake Havasu City, from what we saw, is very clean and neat. Everybody we met was friendly and talkative, with the possible exception of the information center lady. We recommend you don’t visit in the summer, as it is very, inhumanly hot. Even in wintertime, we were told, the temperature hovers in the high 80’s. The London Bridge is an architectural marvel, and is definitely worth seeing. Unfortunately the area around the bridge is cheesy with a capital “cheese.” Just imagine a mock-Tudor Hawaiian Shaved Ice stand, and you’ll get an idea of the general character of the place. Overall, Lake Havasu City is worth a couple days’ visit, especially if you are into the beach and bar scene.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
skippio
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Member: W. Fritz
Location: Newton, Iowa
Reviews written: 44
Trusted by: 109 members
About Me:
Winners of Fitter Families, Best Couple, Texas State Fair, 1926. We haven't aged much.
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