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The Dry Oasis : Travelers Wanting Booze Won’t Find It in Town of Ludlow

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

During the late 1800s and early 1900s this old mining and railroad town on what is now Interstate 40 was one of the wildest places in the Mojave Desert.

Today it’s one of the quietist.

In the old days, booze flowed like water. A dozen saloons and a couple of bordellos lined its dusty streets.

Now the nearest place you can buy a beer or any other alcoholic beverage is in Newberry Springs, 35 miles to the west, or in Needles, 100 miles to the east.

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Ludlow is dry, thanks to Harold Knoll, 79, and his family. They’ve owned the town, lock, stock and barrel, for 15 years. Everybody in town works for them.

And the Knolls are dead set against drinking.

“We are a Christian family. Unfortunately, there isn’t a church in Ludlow. We belong to the Assembly of God Church . . . in Newberry Springs,” explained Harold Knoll’s son, John, 52. “We don’t believe in drinking. That’s why liquor isn’t available in Ludlow.”

A spokesman with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board said his agency keeps no records on how many communities in the state--like Ludlow--ban the sale of liquor. But in these parts, tee-totalers clearly reign.

There is no town government in Ludlow. The Knolls make the rules by virtue of ownership.

The family owns what few houses remain from the old mining days, several abandoned turn-of-the-century buildings, three gas stations, a mini-mart, a 10-room motel, a cafe, trailer park, the whole works.

Only 63 people live in Ludlow. But Caltrans reports an average of 3,000 vehicles with 6,000 passengers leave Interstate 40 every day to drive into the town in search of gas, a snack or a meal.

This is hot country. Temperatures of 115 to 120 degrees are common in the summer. Ludlow T-shirts sold in the mini-mart show a burro with its tongue hanging out, a prospector perspiring profusely, or a sign saying “Nearest Water 20 Miles.”

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Many visitors passing through Ludlow look forward to a cold beer to quench their thirst, or a cocktail before dinner.

Too bad.

“Many ask for a beer or six-pack. When I tell them we don’t sell alcoholic beverages, some say things that aren’t very nice,” said Kathy Abels, 26, a mini-mart clerk.

“We get them stomping out of the restaurant in a huff when they can’t get a drink, saying things like ‘My god, what kind of a town is this?’ ” noted waitress Ruby Sorensen, 57.

Her husband, Francis, 62, who runs the local Triple-A towing service and is kept busy carting wrecks off the busy interstate, said he’s glad the town is dry: “There would be a lot more accidents if alcohol was sold in Ludlow.”

In the old mining days Ludlow had more than 1,000 people. The town was alive with characters right out of pages of the Old West, like “Ma” Preston, Ludlow’s legendary “Queen of the Desert,” who owned and operated several businesses including a saloon, restaurant and hotel. She was the biggest property owner in town. A native of France, Ma operated saloons in other Mojave Desert mining camps before coming to Ludlow in 1902 when she was 52.

She was a huge woman with a Gravel Gertie voice, according to local lore. She swore like a trooper, wore Mother Hubbard dresses and wide-brimmed men’s hats. When customers got out of line in her saloon she would lift them by the collar and britches and bodily toss them out.

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Ma Preston was the richest person in Ludlow. During World War I she supported the war effort by buying $20,000 in Victory Bonds, more than anyone else in San Bernardino County. She retired in 1920 and moved back to France, where she died six years later.

Over the years, town property changed hands several times, until it was finally acquired by the Knolls, long a ranching family in the area.

If “Ma” Preston and her crowd could see Ludlow now, they probably wouldn’t hang around long. Closest place to get a drink is 35 miles to the west, 100 miles to the east.

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