Our Building’s History:

The Cultural Arts Center of the High Desert started out as a USO Club.  For some who are not of the baby boomer generation, the term USO may not ring a bell, but the role of the United Service Organization has been critical in keeping up the morale of the military enlisted for almost 80 years.  The USO was founded in 1941 by Mary Ingraham in response to a request from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide morale and recreational services to U.S. uniformed military personnel.  Its goal was to entertain the troops with music and comedy and offer familiarity as the GI's "home away from home." 

USO centers were initially established in churches, barns, railroad cars, museums, beach clubs, or log cabins before they became the cookie-cutter buildings that were subsidized by the government.  Most centers offered recreational and social activities, while some USO centers provided a haven for spending a quiet moment alone, writing a letter home, seeking spiritual guidance, or providing childcare services for military wives. 

On September 12, 1941, Victorville resident Imogene Garner Hook announced the start of a drive to raise funds for a USO building. The city applied to be a USO site due to its proximity to the newly founded Victorville Army Flying Field, and a month later on October 10, 1941, FDR approved $45,000 support for the Victorville project. The blueprints were sent, and Construction began on 8th Street, on a lot that was donated to the cause by the Appleton Land, Water, and Power Company.

Famous heartthrob and matinee idol, Tyrone Powers was slated to appear at the grand opening kickoff event at the building on Dec 20, 1941, but as it happened, he enlisted in the military himself and deployed to another base before the gala could take place.  Instead, Hollywood starlet Priscilla Lane served as a special guest for the event, dancing the evening away with over 75 enlisted soldiers, signed autographs, and according to the San Bernardino Sun newspaper “furnished the recorded music on her own amplifying machine.” 

War correspondent Quentin Reynolds,  wrote in an article for Billboard magazine in 1943, that “Entertainment, all phases of it – radio, pictures and live – should be treated as essential. You don’t know what entertainment means to the guys who do the fighting until you’ve been up there with the men yourself... You can quote me as saying that we should use entertainment as an essential industry…”

During WWII when the building was a USO club, many of the greats from the early Hollywood era made their way to our dusty little town to entertain the enlisted at the Officer’s club at the airbase, and undoubtedly many made surprise appearances on the USO stage as well.  GIs who were stationed at the new Victorville Army Air Field, (which was commissioned as a pilot training center in 1941 and later changed to George Airforce Base in 1950), would come to the USO club for a donut and a cup of coffee, to watch a movie, or meet and socialize with their comrades.  

They also came to enjoy the popular music of the 40s and to fill a dance card with a bevy of Jr. USO Hostess names on a Saturday night.  They’d swing dance to the tunes of some of the big band era greats, like Les Brown and his band of Renown or Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsay, or Artie Shaw, all part of the impressive USO band roster that framed the stage for iconic singers such as Doris Day, Dean Martin, Dinah Shore, and even Old Blue Eyes… Mr. Frank Sinatra.  

Comedians like Laurel and Hardy and Groucho and Harpo Marx were known to entertain the troops, some of whom are listed as guests on the roster of the famed Kemper Campbell Ranch, so most likely took a turn here at this USO club.  We know for certain that Edgar Bergun and his pal Charlie McCarthy graced the stage of the USO Club, and rumor has it Lucille Ball even took a turn delighting the enlisted on the Victorville USO stage.  

After the USO was disbanded in 1947, this building was sold to the Victorville Park and Recreation District and became the Victorville Community Center. Many activities and community efforts thrived in this building, and it provided a hub for the Victor Valley to enjoy everything from sports, community leagues, and competitions, to dance classes and gymnastics.  

There were plenty of community uses that the building offered, such as the Teen Opportunity Club, Brownies/Girl Scouts, the headquarters for Meals on Wheels, Boy Scouts, 4H, the Explorer’s Club, Future Farmers of America, and events like Regional Science Fairs, Book Clubs, Flower shows, and Sock Hops, and it was even used as the DMV for a season of time.  And of course, it was a mainstay venue for lectures, musical concerts, and plays, then in 1992, the building was deemed an historical landmark.  

Finally in 1998, under the apt hand of radio legend Dick Dorwald and a faithful crew of civic-minded individuals, a nonprofit group called the High Desert Cultural Arts Foundation embarked on a fundraising effort that focused on reconfiguring the interior of the building.  The purpose was to present the High Desert with a standalone performing arts venue and a place for local artists to display their artwork for viewing and purchase. After a 3 year renovation period, the HDCFA opened in July of 2001.

After 20 years of faithful service as a performing arts venue for a variety of High Desert theatre groups, the building was shuttered on March 15, 2020, due to COVID-19.  The marque sign portrayed the simple word “Intermission.”  On August 1, 2020, the building caught fire and suffered significant damage to the roof, south side exterior, and a great deal of smoke damage to the interior.   The City of Victorville, along with community-minded patrons of the arts, went to work repairing the damages and after three years of obstacles, entity name changes, and Covid detours throughout the repair schedule, the building is finally ready for a grand re-opening celebration.  (On Dec 20, 2021, the community would have celebrated the 80th Anniversary of that opening day, complete with a ribbon-cutting, flag-raising, and a musical tribute program on the stage of the newly renovated Cultural Arts Center of the High Desert (CACHD). Unfortunately, due to the Pandemic, the doors were still shuttered and the community was unable to celebrate this milestone at that time.)

According to Artistic Director Karla Franko, the Grand Re-Opening Gala Event is slated to take place sometime in 2024; 83 years after this historic landmark was dedicated in 1941.

Stay tuned for more details and ways to get involved. Our history is still being written…