Slab City

New Year's weekend I escaped back to the desert to be with my loved ones and to continue my exploring of the Salton Sea area.

Since my last adventure at the Salton Sea I have been kind of obsessed with the area and documenting  the beauty back to Los Angeles.

As I  mentioned before I been going to the area for about four years, but I was never able to explore it the way I wanted to.If I did go on a small adventure I always went alone which was not as fun as having my good friends join me.

I read about Salvation Mountain on various websites and seen it on flickr pages while browsing about the Salton Sea, I knew this place was  a must see for my next trip. The concept is religious and shouts god and love at you, but even if you are not religious it is a wonderful piece of folk art. The work is created by a man named Leonard Knight, he started creating the mountain over 15 years ago and has been working on it since. He uses natural adobe from the local area and anything from trash and tires. All the paint is donated by people who just come by and want to help him out.

Slab City is not an official city, it  is a dreamy campsite on the outskirts of the town of Niland. It got it's name Slab City because of the concrete slabs left over from a World War II military base. Slab City is somewhat of a squatter, R.V town with no working electricity or running water. Most folks go into town to fill up on necessities. At night there is the lovely smell of  wood burning lighting up the bleak desert.
There are people that camp out for recreational purposes, but there are many people that live there year-round. It is known as the last free place, meaning you don't got to pay anybody to camp-out or live in the area. Even though it is not an official town there is still friendly people and a sense of community.

Leonard Knight

Niland

Hippie Graffiti

This part of Slab City was awesome, there were lots of young hippie, punk kids hanging out painting. I guess it is an annual tradition to come here for New Years. They had an old bus they traveled in and were stocked up with food and drinks.

Midnight Ridazz up @ Slab City

Check out the rest of the photos on my Flickr page.


 Here are a few archived blog posts about the area.
October 2008 " Vacancy" My stay at a cheap motel in Niland.
May 2008 " Desierto"  Photos from Brawley and Calipatria.
July 2008  " Desierto update" More photos from Brawley and Calipatria.
You Tube Video " Slab City" 2002