Really, for me, it was just a random spot on the map. Hiking a ridge line at Red Rock Canyon State Park in the deserts of Southern California, I was ready for a very late lunch. Once I reached the highest point on the path and got a little bit of cell reception, I searched my phone for the nearest place to get a little grub. I wasn’t fussy—a hot dog stand, a greasy spoon, a food truck, whatever. Just as long as it was close. I was hungry. Like an oasis, I spotted a cluster of restaurants about 20 minutes away, red-pegged on the Google Map down a rod-straight road that bloomed into miles and miles of streets. Zooming in, it appeared that I had somehow discovered a lost civilization, one that left curving lines strongly resembling many typical 20th century subdivisions, all those looping crescents and cul-de-sacs, replicated …