What Felicity is known for
Felicity is a town grown to over 8,000 acres of Sonoran desert, known as the Center of the World. On May 21, 1985 the Imperial County Board of Supervisors unanimously named the spot the Official Center of the World, and one man set out to prove it in granite. A 21-foot granite-and-glass pyramid stands there.
A freeway exit with no reason
The jackass mail route crossed this ground, gold brought people, an aquifer lies beneath it, and the Army trained here at Camp Pilot Knob. The Quechan of the Fort Yuma Reservation are neighbors. In the 1950s Jacques-Andre Istel, a French-American parachuting pioneer and former Wall Street man, bought 2,900 acres.
Interstate 8 carried traffic past the site, but passing is not stopping. To make Felicity a destination rather than a dot on the map, Istel needed a reason for drivers to pull off the freeway, and sand, sun and good water were never going to supply it. So he set about building one.
A county law and a pyramid
His proof was a children’s book, Coe: The Good Dragon at the Center of the World. On May 21, 1985 the Imperial County Board of Supervisors unanimously named the spot the Official Center of the World. He named Felicity in 1986 for his wife Felicia. The proof also took shape as a 21-foot granite-and-glass pyramid, with granite panels of history for millennia.
What the claim earns
In 1989 France’s Institut Geographique National recognized Felicity as the Center of the World, a foreign stamp on a fairy tale. Travelers off Interstate 8 stop for the bronze marker inside the pyramid and the engraved panels. There is one restaurant, no hotel, and a museum keeping the record.
Why it worked
Felicity treated an audacious claim as serious and never blinked. Istel did not try to win on scenery; he competed on story, choosing the boldest identity going, the literal center of the world, and defended it with every trapping of permanence: a county law, a pyramid, France’s recognition, panels engraved to outlast civilization.
The freeway brings the cars past the exit; the granite is his bid for a reason to brake.
Questions people ask about Felicity
Why is Felicity, California famous?
Felicity is known as the Official Center of the World. Imperial County's Board of Supervisors unanimously named the spot that on May 21, 1985, and in 1989 France's Institut Geographique National recognized Felicity as the Center of the World.
Who is Felicity, California named for?
Felicity was named in 1986 for Felicia, the wife of Jacques-Andre Istel, a French-American parachuting pioneer and former Wall Street man who had bought 2,900 acres in the 1950s.
How tall is the pyramid at Felicity?
The granite-and-glass pyramid at Felicity is 21 feet tall, with granite panels of history for millennia and a bronze marker inside it. Travelers off Interstate 8 stop for the marker and the engraved panels.
Can you eat or stay in Felicity?
Felicity has one restaurant, no hotel, and a museum keeping the record. Interstate 8 carried traffic past the site, and Istel needed a reason for drivers to pull off the freeway.