Desert Chapel, Hi Vista, California

Came across this small wooden chapel out in Hi Vista, just outside Lancaster in the Mojave Desert.

From a distance it looks like a real church, but it wasn’t originally built that way. It started out as a simple structure in the early 20th century, then in the 1980s it was reworked by film crews into a church for True Confessions. The façade and windows were added then, which is why it feels a bit like a set when you see it up close.

In 2002 it was used again, this time for Kill Bill: Vol. 2. The interior was stripped back and rebuilt for filming, wooden floors, exposed structure, everything laid out in a way that works on camera.

After that, it didn’t just disappear. It was actually used as a working church for a while under the name Sanctuary Adventist Church, and it’s been used for other shoots over the years too.

Inside it’s just one open room. Rows of pews, a small organ, a simple altar. Nothing elaborate. A few things have been added over time, hats on the walls, small objects left on surfaces, the kind of details you notice more because everything else is so minimal.

The whole place feels very still. Not abandoned exactly, just… left as it was.

It sits out on its own, surrounded by open desert and a few scattered houses in the distance.