Joshua Tree Desert Art: Noah Purifoy’s Outdoor Musuem

This magnificent outdoor art exhibition took 15 years to make, and it shows. The amount of effort, passion, and dedication that go into creating this unusual museum was unbelievable. I should also mention that this entire place was made by one person, Noah Purifoy. I’ve been to a few desert art places, and this has to be the most impressive and grandest of all. If you’re looking for an unusual thing to do in the Southern California desert, this place is not to be missed especially if you like quirky arts.

This outdoor museum located minutes drive from Joshua Tree National Park comprises dozens of art pieces from a statue to a small size castle. All of the art pieces are made from recycle objects and unwanted items like broken mannequins, old televisions, and yes, a lot of toilets. This art site is similar to East Jesus, another outdoor art site near the Salton Sea and Salvation Mountain.

overview

Location: The museum site is located in the town of Joshua Tree, CA and is just minutes drive from the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park.

Address:  63030 Blair Lane, Joshua Tree, CA 92252

Reservation: The foundation that takes care of the art site asks that all visitor RSVP prior to visiting, please email Sue Welsh at tarashall@att.net before going. She replies to email very quickly.

Hours: The museum has no fence, so technically you can visit it anytime on any day

About: Noah moved from Los Angeles to the desert of Joshua Tree in search of the perfect place to express his creativity. He found a piece of land, 15 acres in the town of Joshua Tree where he spent 15 years filling up the whole place with amazing art works. There are 100 pieces in the area. Noah is also a co-founder of the famous 99 feet tall metal tower, Watts Tower organization.

Nearby Cool Places: Joshua Tree National Park, Desert Christ Park in Yucca Valley, and Mojave Desert Preserve,  Cabazon Dinosaur (World’s Largest Dinosaur Gift Shop)

Similar Desert Art sites: East Jesus, Salvation Mountain.

There’s so much to read and learn about this place and Noah, here’s the link to the official website if you are interested to learn more about the place.

personal story

I’ve seen numerous pictures of the place while searching for quirky arts and places in the desert. I’ve been to Joshua Tree 5 or 6 times but fail to visit this place every time due to time constrain or other excuses.

This time, my friend and I purposefully drove out into the desert just for this place. It was well over 100 degrees that day, so we were more interested in a low key type activity anyways.

I recommend going here when it’s not so hot; it is outside in the middle of the desert. Although I’m pretty fine with the heat, it was hard on my eyes because it was so bright and hot. It made it harder to spend time observing these art works.

We spent over an hour there. There’s a box with brochures for self-guided tour. The place is open for all to enter with no charges.

My friends and I were the only people there and we had no issue with parking. We went on a Friday.

All the art pieces were awesome, and if you really spend the time observing the detail, you will see how much effort he must have put into all of them.

After we were done exploring, we stopped by at Crossroad Kitchen for lunch; their burger kicks ass so I highly recommend.

This place definite became one of my favorite places in the California desert and it was very well worth the drive. I highly recommend that you visit this place next time you go to Palm Spring or Joshua Tree.