Havasu Palms Marina       The year was 1966. The USA was involved with an unpopular war in Vietnam. The country was struggling with civil rights, and man had not yet reached the moon. In spite of a growing population of flower children, anti-war protests, and political marches, families continued to dream and move forward.
        One of these was my own. My father, Walter Clint Johnson, was a general contractor. My mother, Caroline Glandon Johnson, was the traditional homemaker, seeking no career outside of our family.
       As an independent general contractor, Walt began specializing in commercial construction. It proved to be a smart move, as the housing industry in Southern California declined in the late sixties. Even more fortunate was the business relationship he forged with Winchell's Donut House, which kept him busy building one donut house after another.
       In the late sixties our family took several water ski trips to Lake Havasu. We'd previously enjoyed numerous holidays at the river along the Parker Strip. Long time friends. Gene and Margaret Mushinskie suggested our family try Havasu. We camped across the bay from the Nautical Inn, at a beach where the channel now cuts to make way for the London Bridge.
       My mother's eldest brother, Ken Glandon, told us of a campground, Havasu Palms, for sale along the California side of Lake Havasu. From a vehicle's prospective, Havasu Palms, California in 1966 was a world away from Lake Havasu City, Arizona. There was no highway in those days which connected the southern end of the city to the Parker Strip. Unless you traveled via water, a voyager needed to commute through Twenty-nine Palms and Needles California, in order to reach Lake Havasu City from Parker.
       Havasu Palms, Inc., originally named Road's End Camp, was located some 12 miles north of Parker Dam, California. Today, as it was in 1966, the last eight miles of road is dirt, winding through the rugged, yet picturesque, Whipple Wash.Early Days at Havasu Palms
       There we discovered a quaint fishing camp, littered with unsightly shacks, a dilapidated general store, pieced together with weathered boards and planks. Rickety wooden boat slips dotted the shoreline, while an enormous array of debris - tires, old cars, engines, rusted tools, reels of wire - lined the roads of Havasu Palms, leading from the store to camp. It offered a modest trailer park with approximately 20 pads (several were occupied) and limited camping facilities.
       The then owners of Havasu Palms had a lease with the Bureau of Land Management, which ran to 1984. The leasehold included over four miles of shoreline, which bordered on the alleged Chemehuevi Indian Reservation. On this neighboring piece of property a small dirt airstrip was situated.
       Walt looked beyond the tool shack, which sported an array of disgusting dried up fish heads, and the lack of telephone service, no television, and the fact that the nearest town was Parker - 28 miles away. Instead he saw the incredible sunsets over clear blue water, a retreat for fishermen, water skiers and boat enthusiasts. He saw an adventure with limitless possibilities.
Original Havasu Palms Store       When first negotiating the purchase of Havasu Palms, Walt asked the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) if there was ever the possibility the lease land could be added to the neighboring Chemehuevi Indian Reservation. He'd heard stories of unhappy business leases along the river on reservation properties. The BLM assured Walt that such an occurrence was impossible, because the shoreline was located on a public reservoir, and as such could not be part of the reservation.
       Accepting the verbal assurance, Walt, along with two other business partners, bought Havasu Palms in 1967. The lease land was added to the Chemehuevi Reservation in 1974.  Although Walt's accountant thought he was crazy to leave his successful construction business, Walt convinced his wife, Caroline, and two daughters, Lynn (age 17) and Bobbi (age 13), to leave the security of home for parts unknown.
       Not only were Walt and Caroline the major shareholders of Havasu Palms, they would be its general managers for the next 22 years. In January of 1968 the Johnson family moved into an old trailer, installed a mobile phone in their truck, and discovered life without television, or neighbors.
Caroline Johnson 1968       The BLM assured Walt that if he hired a professional architect to develop an acceptable master plan of Havasu Palms, and if he realigned a portion of the access road into the resort, a, long term lease would be forthcoming. Walt met the demands of the BLM, yet lease negotiations stalled, for unbeknownst to Havasu Palms, the Department of Interior was making plans to transfer the lease land to the Chemehuevi Reservation.
       Without a long-term lease there could be no development loan. Armed with ambition, creativity, perseverance, hard work, humor, and the assistance of family and friends, Walt became the Havasu man and captured his dream, in spite of un-kept government promises and endless challenges.
         Over the years Walt expanded the park, creating a 131 site mobile home park, with a marina, new store, and the Road’s End Restaurant.  The park was a self contained community, which included its own sewer plant, and required reading the electric meters in a portion of the park, as well as supplying and maintaining the park’s water well, and being responsible for trash pick up and disposal.
         By the late 1980’s Walt began suffering with congestive heart failure, and eventually hired his youngest daughter and son-in-law to assume management of the park.  In spite of his illness, he continued to work, moving forward on new projects and always looking to the future.
Walt Johnson at the Road's End Restaurant          Walt died in December of 1992, and his ashes were spread over Lake Havasu and his Havasu Palms marina. 
          The family remained at the park until 1999, when the lease with the Tribe expired and was awarded to another group.  Havasu Palms sought binding arbitration with the Tribe, which was offered under the lease.  There were various issues, including the Tribe’s unauthorized seizing of Havasu Palms' personal property.  Havasu Palms won at arbitration, and was awarded a settlement, yet it was later overturned, deemed it was not in the best interest of the Tribe.
           Walt's widow, my mother, Caroline, settled in Lake Havasu City, as did my husband and myself. For more information on the history of Havasu Palms, you can visit our website at www.HavasuPalms.com.
           Today (July 2008) my husband Don and I are part owners of Heirloom Realty, where Don is the Designated Broker.  For about six years I worked with Don in real estate sales, but now work primarily as Heirloom Realty's Marketing Manager, as well as managing my various websites and actively participating in the Lake Havasu Museum of History's My Story Project.

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