Twentynine Palms is a city in San Bernardino County, California, set in the southern Mojave Desert within the Morongo Basin. With a population of about 28,000, it is the largest community in this stretch of the high desert and the regional hub for both Joshua Tree National Park and the United States Marine Corps. The city's name comes from a desert oasis discovered in 1885, whose palm trees were counted at twenty-nine by early visitors, and the oasis long served as a watering stop in an otherwise arid landscape. Twentynine Palms has two powerful anchors. It is the home of Joshua Tree National Park's headquarters and main north entrance, putting one of the country's most distinctive desert landscapes immediately at the city's edge. It also hosts the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, the world's largest Marine Corps training installation, which covers roughly 1,100 square miles of surrounding desert and brings a substantial military population to the area. That pairing of military life and desert recreation gives the city a distinctive character. Downtown is known as the "Oasis of Murals," with dozens of outdoor murals depicting the region's history, and the town has a long-running arts community alongside its role as a service center for the base. State Route 62 runs through the city toward Yucca Valley and down to Palm Springs, connecting the high desert to the Coachella Valley. For those drawn to open desert, national-park access, and a close-knit, military-friendly community, Twentynine Palms offers a way of life unlike anywhere else in Southern California.