Every year when the leaves loose their grip in the northern deciduous forests, and the cold wind starts sucking the green from the meadows and grasslands of the northern latitudes, a place in the southern California desert, just across the border from Arizona, begins to receive travelers. Slab City is an abandoned military base just outside of Niland, California by the Salton Sea. The military razed the buildings but left the roads and the slabs that once supported the structures.
About November the population swells from a sparse few full-timers to a few thousand residents. The year round residents number less than and hundred and are considered hardcore, as it can and does reach 120 F in the summer, . There is no electric service at the slabs, save solar panels and generators. No water service except tanks and jugs, many of these filled at a gas station or grocery store in Niland.
The place is littered with burnt out campers and bus shells from previous residents. Many people describe it as an apocalyptic scene. Despite this first impression it makes on city dwellers whose sensibilities have been entrained to the frequency and order of manicured lawns, the inhabitants of this community have a depth of connection that likely exceeds most of those more refined neighborhoods. Much time is spent conversing around campfires under the stars.
The Range is an open air stage, with lights and sound system, a hodge podge of bus seats, car seats, old couches and benches for the audience, where the locals entertain each other. The slabs also has a church, and several clubs.
A good video on YouTube called Slab City-USA.
Blog post on Slab City : Mad Max Meets Good Sam at The Slabs.
Desert Dutch has a great page on Slab City at http://www.desertdutch.org/
A page or two from the Slab City Christian Center
A recourse on Slab City would not be complete with mentioning Salvation Mountain and one of the slabs more endearing residents Leonard Knight. Salvation Mountain is Leonard's testament and tribute to his love for Jesus and his fellow humans. There are quite a few YouTube videos on Leonard and his mountain. Here is one.
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