about the spa

The Spa at Lake Lahontan was built in 1887 in the Black Rock Desert by two powerful women as a place of relaxation and respite from the harsh elements. Situated in this vast stretch of the Great Basin Desert in northern Nevada, it became a haven for people of many backgrounds and experiences. The Spa was a locus of community and a hallowed place for storytelling. It was legendary for its raucous celebrations and renowned across the West as a sanctuary for those who didn’t fit in to the world around them. Much like the clubs of Babylon Berlin in the 1920s or Josie’s Cabaret and Juice Joint in San Francisco, if one needed a safe place to be themselves, the Spa was it.

The Spa was abandoned over 100 years ago. Construction of the Feather River Route of the Western Pacific Railroad brought great change to the desert in the form of unbridled industrialization. It was lost to time until its recent rediscovery by a few enterprising young women of an altogether different era.

These women aim to restore the Spa to its former glory and make visible the forgotten histories of the individuals, communities and forces — natural and man-made — that gave it shape. While a full restoration is scheduled to be complete in summer 2020, visitors to the Black Rock Desert in 2019 will get a preview of the Spa in its original location, now the site of the famed Golden Guy Alley.

We invite you to experience the Spa and all it has to offer. Join us for a refreshing beverage while relaxing with one of our unique treatments, or delight in a late-night performance by a wildly surprising cast of characters.

We’re certain it will be the refuge you seek in your desert journeys, and we hope it serves to show you that this life is, indeed, still capable of mystery and magic.

We’ve been waiting for you.