L.A. Now Live: A prickly pair -- Lancaster and Palmdale's rivalry - Los Angeles Times
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L.A. Now Live: A prickly pair -- Lancaster and Palmdale’s rivalry

Palmdale, in the foreground, with Lancaster in the distance.
(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
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Join us at 9 a.m. when we talk with Times reporter Frank Shyong about the rivalry between Lancaster and Palmdale.

For decades, some city officials have treated Avenue M as a battle line. For as long as anyone can remember, the two cities have gone to war over Wal-Marts, Costcos, car dealerships and now, a power plant. The squabbles have cost millions, launched lawsuits and, lately, tended toward the personal.

Locals have given a name to the rivalry: the Cactus Curtain.

Relations may have reached a low point last year when Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris held a Chuckie doll during an interview with a local television news channel, pretending it was Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford. For its part, Palmdale puts out a regular email newsletter that debunks what it calls Lancaster’s absurd and unsubstantiated public statements.

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All of it baffles residents, business interests and many city employees. The two cities are geographically isolated, demographically identical and economically similar. Some business leaders yearn for a merger. Together, Palmdale and Lancaster would form the third-largest city in Los Angeles County and 12th-largest in California.

But the mayors of Palmdale and Lancaster haven’t been present in the same room for years. How could they share a government?

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