The true story of Quartzsite, Arizona, the tiny, desert town from 'Nomadland' that attracts 2 million RVers and snowbirds every year
Chloe Zhao's "Nomadland" has swept this year's awards season, taking home both the Golden Globe and Critics' Choice awards for best picture and best director.
Based on a 2017 book by Jessica Bruder, the film follows the journey of Fern, a 61-year-old woman who turns to van life after she loses everything in the wake of the 2008 recession.
While Fern is a fictional character played by actress Frances McDormand, the places she visits, and many of the people she meets, exist in real life.
Zhao called Quartzsite, Arizona, a main filming location for the film, "one of the wildest towns" she's ever been to in a recent interview with Conde Nast Traveler.
It's "the place that nomads gather once a year — you really want to see what it's like. It's special," Zhao said.
"Quartzsite, Arizona, is a town and a meeting place," traveler Thomas Farley wrote in Rock & Gem magazine in 2017. "In winter it is a gathering of the clan for recreational vehicle snowbirds, flea market enthusiasts, ham radio operators, off-road motorists, geo-cachers, and rockhounds."
From the purported largest RV gathering in the world to gem and mineral shows to a man known as the naked bookseller, here is the real-life story of Quartzsite.
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Quartzsite, Arizona, is one of the main filming locations for Golden Globe best picture "Nomadland" and a real-life nomads' stomping ground.
Quartzsite is a tiny town located in the Sonoran Desert 129 miles west of Phoenix with a permanent population of roughly 3,700 people.
Each year, Quartzsite attracts an estimated 2 million visitors. It's particularly popular with van dwellers, who flock to its trade shows, 70-plus RV parks, and federal campgrounds during the winter months.
In an article for camping website The Dyrt, nomadic couple David Hutchison and Shari Galiardi call Quartzsite "a shrine to modern transportation."
"Every kind of mobile home and driver is welcome and celebrated in some corner of this open-air cathedral," they added.
Source: The Town of Quartzsite
In "Nomadland," Fern decides to make the pilgrimage to Quartzsite to join her friend Linda May at a real-life event called Rubber Tramp Rendevous, also known as RTR.
The RTR is an annual gathering of nomads run by Bob Wells, a van dweller since 1995 and founder of the blog Cheap RV Living, who plays himself in the film. The event is free to attend and takes place over two weeks in January.
Source: Homes on Wheels Alliance
The goal of RTR is to provide van dwellers with essential survival skills and a sense of community. Seminars cover topics like how to go to the bathroom while on the road and how to stealth park.
"I love this lifestyle," one RTR instuctor says in the film as she teaches attendees how to defecate into a bucket. "It is a lifestyle of freedom and beauty, and connection to the Earth. Yet there is a trade‐off. You gotta learn how to take care of your own shit.
This year, seminars were virtual.
The inaugural RTR in 2010 started with 45 people and has grown over the years, according to the New York Times. In 2018, an estimated 3,000 nomads attended.
"The RTR is full of kindred spirits, like a non-blood family," Jessica Bruder, author of "Nomadland," told the New York Times in 2018. "People there feel heard and understood and valuable. There can be a sense of isolation out there in the world. When they get to the RTR, it melts away."
While in Quartzsite attending RTR, Fern heads to the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show, an annual event that bills itself as the largest RV gathering in the world.
The event is over 40 years old and takes place from mid to late January. In 2021, it featured 400-plus exhibitors selling products catered to nomads and those who live outdoor lifestyles.
Source: Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show
One night, Fern goes line dancing at the Quartzsite Yacht Club, a real-life, boat-themed motel made up of a bar, restaurant, and hotel rooms housed in mobile homes.
"It doesn't get delighfully quirkier" than the Quartzsite Yacht Club, one Yelp reviewer wrote. "Even in Quartzsite, which is about the quirkiest place south of bizarre."
The Quartzsite Yacht Club is one of two lodging accomodations in town. Each motel room has a ship name like SS Minnow, and karaoke was a frequent occurence before the pandemic.
The motel is temporarily closed, with plans to reopen in October.
At the conclusion of RTR, Fern watches attendees place a large cardboard van cutout into a fire. This tradition, among others, led the New York Times to dub the event the real 'Burning Man' in 2018.
Source: The New York Times
Fern decides to stay in Quartzsite after RTR, finding work at a gem and mineral show.
Quartzsite is known as a rock collectors' heaven and hosts multiple gem shows and swap-meets throughout January and February. The town even made its slogan "the rock capital of the world."
Quartzsite was home to 39 mines in its heyday, Thomas Farley wrote in a 2017 article for Rock & Gem magazine. By the mid 1960s, many had been shut down, and rockhounders came calling, he said.
Source: Desert USA, Town of Quartzsite
Fern also attends a piano performance performed by famous Quartzsite resident Paul Winer. Winer, who passed away in 2019, was the owner of Reader's Oasis Books, and was known as the "naked bookseller" for walking around mostly nude.
Quartzsite is "a tiny town by most standards, but most decidedly colorful," Russ and Tiña De Maris wrote in a post on RVtravel.com. "A big share of that color was courtesy of Paul Winer, the (in)famous 'Naked Bookseller.'"
"The attire on his scrawny frame usually consisted of a single strategically placed sock covering his naughty bits, maybe a straw hat, a necklace and sandals," M.V. Moorhead recalled in a tribute to Winer published in Phoenix Magazine.
Before Winer passed, a sign outside Reader's Oasis Books read "Public Notice - Store-owner wears only a 'thong' ... in other words - nudist on premises."
When he wasn't selling books and posing for photos with visitors, Winer performed as "boogie woogie pianist" under the name Sweet Pie.
Winer is survived by his wife Joan, who now runs Reader's Oasis.
Throughout Fern's time in Quartzsite, caravans of utility terrain vehicles (UTVs) can be seen in the background. UTVs and ATVs are a common sight in Quartzsite since it is the gateway to the Arizona Peace Trail, a 675-mile network of off-road vehicle trails.
Source: Quartzsite Tourism
Quartzside hosts an annual parade every January for ATVs called the Hi Jolly Daze Parade. Motorcyclists and classic car owners join in, and some participants build parade floats.
Source: Hi Jolly Daze Parade
The parade honors a Syrian camel trainer nicknamed "Hi Jolly" who came to the US in 1856 at the request of the government to help transport freight and people across the desert. He died in Quartzsite, and residents erected a tomb in his memory.
Source: Roadside America