Visiting · Practicalities
Restaurants, gas and groceries in California City
In town there are gas stations, a few grocery and convenience stores and a short list of restaurants, most of them along California City Boulevard. Out in the desert there is very little. Fill the tank and the water containers before you leave town, not after.
Last reviewed · 15 sources
At a glance
Where can you eat in California City?
Most of the town’s restaurants are on or near California City Boulevard.13 The ones below are listed by at least two of three independent sources: OpenStreetMap, the city’s business-licence list and the chamber’s map.123
- McDonald's, fast food
- Subway, sandwiches
- Jesse's Pizza, pizza
- West Best Pizza Co., pizza
- Gloria's, Mexican
- Coyote Cafe, American
- Primo Burgers, burgers
- Elsy's Donuts, doughnuts and bakery
- Golden Bamboo, Thai
- Tokyo Tuna, sushi
- Green Tea Garden, restaurant
Where can you get gas in California City?
OpenStreetMap shows three fuel stations inside the city’s boundary. Two are on California City Boulevard in the built part of town: a Fastrip, and an unnamed station near Neuralia Road, probably the 1 Stop Gas on the chamber’s map. The third is a Shell at the western end of the boulevard, by Highway 14, some nine miles from the town centre.13 The city’s business-licence list includes the Fastrip and a One Stop Gas.2
Mojave, on the highway about 16 miles southwest, has more choice: OpenStreetMap maps around a dozen fuel entries in and around the town.4
This page carries no pump prices, which change daily. For the statewide picture, the US Energy Information Administration publishes California’s average retail gasoline and diesel prices every week.14
Where do fuel and water run out?
This is the part that matters for safety. State Parks’ advice for its desert parks is to bring plenty of food and water, because there are often no restaurants, gas stations or stores near them.9
- Red Rock Canyon State Park. The park lists drinking water at Ricardo Campground and firewood for sale at the visitor center; its page says nothing about fuel or food.8
- Jawbone Canyon and Dove Springs. No water or hookups for camping, according to State Parks’ description of the surrounding land.10 On Highway 14 at Jawbone Canyon, OpenStreetMap maps the Jawbone Canyon Store with fuel and a convenience store; confirm it is open before relying on it.5
- Randsburg. No fuel is mapped in Randsburg itself. Friends of Jawbone says gas is available in neighbouring Johannesburg,7 where OpenStreetMap maps a Texaco.6 Randsburg’s own businesses have been closing; see Randsburg.
Drive times from City Hall in free-flowing traffic, and what you will find at each place:15
Where can you buy groceries?
The grocery and convenience stores that OpenStreetMap, the city’s licence list and the chamber’s map agree on are Dollar General Market and Family Dollar, near City Hall, and Cactus Market, further west on California City Boulevard.123 The two gas stations in town also have convenience stores.12
For a full supermarket shop before a long stay in the desert, the larger towns on the highways, such as Lancaster, Tehachapi and Ridgecrest, have more choice; see road distances to those towns.
Sources
Every fee, rule, distance and date above traces to one of these, checked on the review date. Rules, closures and fees change: where it matters, confirm with the managing agency before you go. If something here is wrong, tell us and it will be fixed.
- 1.OpenStreetMap: fuel, food and grocery entries inside the California City boundary. OpenStreetMap contributors, via the Overpass API, queried 17 September 2026.Crowd-sourced; cross-checked against the two sources below.
- 2.Business Directory. City of California City.The city's list of business licences. Undated: a licence does not prove a business is trading.
- 3.Visitor's Downtown Guide (map). California City Chamber of Commerce, 2017.
- 4.OpenStreetMap: fuel stations in and around Mojave. OpenStreetMap contributors, via the Overpass API, queried 17 September 2026.
- 5.OpenStreetMap: Jawbone Canyon Store. OpenStreetMap contributors.Mapped with fuel and a convenience store on Highway 14 at Jawbone Canyon. Existence only; confirm it is open.
- 6.OpenStreetMap: Texaco, Johannesburg. OpenStreetMap contributors.
- 7.Rand Mining District. Friends of Jawbone.
- 8.Red Rock Canyon State Park. California State Parks.The park's official page: directions, hours, fees, camping, dogs, vehicles, drones, closures and contacts. Its current-restrictions panel was empty when checked.
- 9.Expect a limited wildflower bloom this spring in Southern California's state parks. California State Parks, 24 February 2025.Includes the department's safety advice for desert parks: cell coverage, GPS routing onto four-wheel-drive roads, food, fuel and water.
- 10.Onyx Ranch SVRA. California State Parks, Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division.The state vehicular recreation area laid out in a checkerboard among the BLM land at Jawbone and Dove Springs; states that no water or hookups are available for camping in the area.
- 11.Safety. Friends of Jawbone.
- 12.Borax Bill Visitor's Guide. City of California City OHV Department, 2025.
- 13.Safety (Mojave National Preserve). National Park Service.For the national preserve to the east, not California City; used for its water guidance.
- 14.Weekly Retail Gasoline and Diesel Prices: California. U.S. Energy Information Administration.Statewide weekly averages, not prices at any station in California City.
- 15.OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap data, from California City City Hall. Project OSRM and OpenStreetMap contributors, routed 17 September 2026, long-distance rows added 24 September 2026.Every distance and time was computed this way, and each one links to its own route so it can be re-run. Times assume no traffic.