For those living in the state of California, you might not know it, but you’re living near the esteemed center of the world. Don’t believe me? Then take your car for a ride and drive west of Southern California. Here in Sonoran Desert, is a small town. In that small town is a pyramid, and housed within that monument, is a bronze plate that marks the renowned “Center of the World”.

Here is the City of Felicity, a quirky town of sorts built by Jacques-Andre Istel and Felicity Istel. The mayor? Jacques-Andre Istel of course! The population? You can certainly count with both of your hands! Welcome to the Center of the World!

The mayor had built the city from scratch. Stories tell of his vision of being able to make a barren piece of land, thousands of acres wide, in to something that would contribute to humanity. He started with building the small city, using funds from his own business.

The mayor, first, had to convince people that his town “had the Center of the World”. Even the French (the Institut of Geographique National if the french-sounding name doesn’t clue you in) joined in. The spot is sheltered by a granite pyramid, and anyone stepping on the spot deserves the Mayor’s Certificate (it is an important event after all). The town also has quirks of its own, like an old rusty staircase that once belonged to the Eiffel tower. It now stands like a lonely obelisk in the parking lot.

They also have a church on top of a man made hill, made from 150,000 tons of dirt. The hill, of course, dubbed “The Hill of Prayer”. The church has no windows (probably to keep the heat away) and has a bluish-like door. It could very well survive a moderate earthquake. Sooner or later, it will become a shrine to St. Felicity, as tribute to both his city, and to his wife, to whom the city was named after.