Even today Gulf Royal Chinese remains an exotic culinary outpost in the desert.

FORBES: Arabia-Asia: Gulf Royal's Long-Distance Takeout

Much of the alleged abuse took place at the Gold Base, a Scientology outpost in the desert near Hemet, a town eighty miles southeast of Los Angeles.

NEWYORKER: The Apostate

The lion's share of U.S. drone missions are flown by Air Force pilots stationed at Creech, a tiny outpost in the barren Nevada desert, 20 miles north of a state prison and adjacent to a one-story casino.

CNN: Computer virus hits U.S. drone fleet