Slab City
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Slab City California
Slab City, also called The Slabs, is an unincorporated, off-the-grid alternative lifestyle community consisting largely of snowbirds in the Salton Trough area of the Sonoran Desert, in Imperial County, California. It took its name from concrete slabs that remained after the World War II Marine Corps Camp Dunlap training camp was torn down. Slab City is known for attracting people who want to live outside mainstream society. Slab City's popularity surged after an article was printed in Trailer Life and RV Magazine around 1984. A 1988 San Diego Reader reports there were no more than 600–700 RVs around 1983, and one resident estimated there were about 2000 trailers when he was interviewed in March, 1988.
Leonard Knight, an early settler who created the Salvation Mountain art installation, was featured in Sean Penn's Into the Wild, released in 2007. An obituary of Knight stated that he "spent almost 30 years building the colorful mountain ... Built out of adobe and donated paint, Knight worked on the mountain all day, every day. He even slept at the mountain's base in the back of a pick-up truck, with no electricity or running water".
An article in Smithsonian magazine in October 2018 referred to the community as a "Squatters’ Paradise" which locals consider to be "one of America's last free places." The article said of the population: "There are clearly people there who don’t want to be found, so there’s something about disappearing, and the desert offers that kind of opportunity."
Popular Articles
The exercise at least four times more efficient than walking
Photographing Slab City, California’s off-grid drifter community
by Eve Watling 27/7/20 INDEPENDENT
British photographer Matt Stuart spent five months in Slab City, a ramshackle California desert community. His new book, ‘Into the Fire’, is an intimate portrait of life lived in ‘the last free place in America’
Will Salvation Mountain find its savior? The quest to save the desert folk-art landmark
by Chris Iovenko 27/1/17 Los Angeles Times
People call it a mountain, but it’s just 150 feet across and five stories tall, jutting skyward like a candy-colored, Jesus-inspired hallucination brought to life on the subdued pastel palette of the desert. Created in a sustained fever dream by the self-taught artist Leonard Knight over nearly three decades, Salvation Mountain rose as a monument to individual fortitude and artistic.
Life in Slab City
Located on a former military base, Slab City, California is a place on the fringe both geographically and philosophically.
The Slab City Snowbirds : On This Stretch of Desert, Modest Campers Line Up Next to the Sleekest Highway Luxury Liners
by CHRIS HODENFIELD 30/3/1986 Los Angeles Times
Just because she had to give up almost everything she owned didn’t mean that Evelyn Bartlett was going to get rid of her two poodles, 15-pound cat and one-legged parakeet. She packed them up for her new life on the road. She now has them with her in Slab City.
Portraits From Slab City: 'The Last Free Place On Earth'
by Jordan G. Teicher 3/10/12 npr
People come to Slab City, a squatter campsite in the Colorado Desert in southeastern California, for many reasons. But one sentiment seems to unite many of them: They want to avoid people like photojournalist Jessica Lum. That is: City people. Taxpayers. Media types.
SLAB CITY: This Abandoned Military Base In The Middle Of The Desert Is Home To Americans Looking To 'Get Off The Grid'
by Robert Johnson 6/2/12 BUSINESS INSIDER
There are about 150 year-round residents called "Slabbers" who brave the 120 degree summer heat, on the border of Mexico, with no electricity or running water. The number of dwellers swells in the winter as "snowbirds" arrive to take advantage of the free RV parking and laid back lifestyle.
Unlikely nomads: Senior single women take up life on the road
by Randy Dotinga 30/3/04 The CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITIR
When Charlotte Hagemann, a pumpkin decorator from New Jersey, rumbles into Slab City in her motor home each winter she sets up next to Carl Gross - a sturdy World War II veteran and her high school sweetheart.
The oasis of the Salton Sea
by Danica Creahan 1/3/17 Los Angeles Times
Miles past the glamor of Palm Springs and the comfort of well-developed civilization, there is a place that remains off the grid. What used to be a marine training camp called “Camp Dunlap” is now the “Last Free Place,” Slab City.
Severe drought marks California landscape
Views of the California landscape, dotted with artificial lakes, golf courses, shrinking water reservoirs and vast agricultural fields, amid the state's worst drought since 1977.
by Sarah Jacobs 29/3/16 BUSINESS INSIDER
For the Huey family, the rules of a road trip are simple: take the back roads, eat at local restaurants, find a good place to spend the night before dark — and of course, take a ton of photographs for their combined 900,000 Instagram followers.
The Town That Doesn’t Exist
by Sarah Holder 9/10/18 Bloomberg
Deep in the heart of California’s Colorado Desert, a few hundred nomads have carved out a quiet life amid the sand. They’re uncountable by any real census, because their population changes every season. They’re unattached—living there because they’re escaping from something, or in search of something else. What they’ve all found is a place called Slab City.
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Inside The California Desert Community Where Societal Rules Do Not Apply
by Priscilla Frank 5/11/15 HUFFPOST
Slab City is an unregulated squatter settlement in the dusty Sonoran Desert, located about 140 miles east of San Diego. In a former life, it was a Marine training base, but over the past 60 years, it's become a community for hippies, rebels and misfits of all kinds. Living in campsites made from old trailers and campers, the 150 or so residents live free of the responsibilities and burdens of contemporary life. No bills, no jobs, no tweets, no likes, no electricity, no water, no taxes and no rules. That's why the off-the-grid commune has been dubbed the "last free place in America."
Artist communities thrive along the disappearing Salton Sea
by Christopher Booker 8/7/18 PBS NEWS
California’s Salton Sea was once hailed as a miracle in the desert. Located about 40 miles south of Palm Springs, it’s the state’s largest inland body of water. But today, the sea is no longer the early 20th century fishing and recreation hotspot it once was -- it’s drying up. Instead, it has become a haven for artists. NewsHour Weekend’s Christopher Booker reports.
Villagers & Pillagers: Who Will Survive the Collapse?
by Craig Collins 19/3/21 COUNTERPUNCH
Unless you live in a state of denial you’re probably like me, troubled about the future. There’s not much left of mine, but my daughter’s generation and their children will have to survive the aftermath of fossil-fueled civilization on the ravaged, toxic planet we’ve left them.
Americans living in their cars are finding refuge in ‘safe parking lots’
by Rick Paulas 5/1/24 The Guardian
According to Google Maps photos, the space had been mostly unused since 2008. But a local non-profit, the Dorothy Day House, created the Safe Parking and Respite Kickstart (Spark) program to help “alleviate the crisis of unsheltered and encampment homeless” in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets.
Slab City
Gosh, where to start? On a trip to San Diego and Joshua Tree, our Son (Fine Art grad) requested a detour to see Slab City which he had first become aware of from watching Into The Wild. We had no idea what to expect and were somewhat concerned about safety having read some reviews exercising caution.
Slab City: Creative Homesteading in a Desert of Extremes
High & Dry surveys the legacy of human enterprise in the California desert and beyond. Together, environmental writer Jack Eidt and photographer Osceola Refetoff document human activity, past and present, in the context of future development. This Dispatch focuses on the off-Salton-Sea community known as Slab City.
SLAB CITY: The Only Place in The USA Where There is NO LAW ! - A Desert Town FULL of CRIMINALS -VLOG
In this video, we sent cameramen to the state of California in the United States. There is a town called Slab City where people who want to live away from the capitalist system and without any laws reside. People live a different life in the desert climate.
Inside Slab City, The Lawless city in the Desert | Last Free Place In America
What is Slab City? | VT
Journey into Slab City, the last free place in America. Discover the unique community, its DIY culture, and the extreme lifestyle of those who choose to live off-grid in the desert. Explore the challenges and freedoms of this American subculture.
Slab City: Living rent-free in the middle of the California desert (full documentary)
Meet many residents (and their dogs) from all over America with unique stories and personalities. They live in the middle of the desert with minimal utilities, but still have access to the internet, coffee, and even video games. The said the number of inhabitants is claimed to range from 300 to nearly 2,000.
What is Slab City Really Like? Is It Truly the Last Lawless City?
However, it can be found on a map and is most definitely a community, albeit not an official one. Slab City is roughly 100 miles northeast of San Diego with the nearest town being Niland, California, about four miles away.
Down And Out Escape To 'Slab' In California Desert
[https://www.npr.org/2012/01/24/145645412/down-and-out-escape-to-slab-in-california-deser by Gloria Hillard 24/1/12 npr]
There are no signs leading to Slab City. From Los Angeles you head east deep into the desert, and then south, past the Salton Sea. For years, a diverse group of people has been drawn to the abandoned Marine base, but the troubled economy has driven even more travelers to the place dubbed "The Last Free Place in America."
Slab City
This is a highly complex community that cannot really be lumped into one category besides having a few common grounds–living off the grid & as far away from the “man” as possible.
Anybody here have experience with Slab City?
I am considering making the move to Slab City. It seems like a good place for people that just want to be left alone for a bit and get away from everything for awhile. Has anyone here ever stayed in Slab City? Any suggestions?
Slab City, California: The Last Free Place on Earth
by BEYOND THE BUCKETLIST 30/10/18
Slab City, California. Hidden in the California badlands right smack in the middle of the Sonoran Desert is a little community of….well, squatters technically. Sitting just 50 miles from the border of Mexico is a community of desert dwellers. They have taken over the land previously used to house a military base in the 1940s. Here they live tax-free, completely off the grid with no power, water, or trash collection, and officially they don’t exist.
Slab City, California :: The Last Free Place in America | Bombay Beach + Salton Sea
Its name comes from the concrete slabs that this squatter city was built upon that were left behind by Marine Corps barracks of Camp Dunlap during World War II. The history runs deep. So much deeper than I had originally thought when my friend, Vero ((Golden West Club)) brought up going on a day trip from San Diego to Slab City. The more famous, Salvation Mountain, has popped up on Instagram for me once or twice so I knew a little about it, but that is perhaps the most mundane part of Slab City..
Inside Slab City: How California’s Off-Grid Desert Community Balances Freedom and Survival
Acollection of unlikely characters is standing around a fire in the middle of the California desert. There’s an older woman who introduces herself only as Tomahawk, kindly offering to give away a handful of colorful gems she bartered at a recent “trade circle.” Next to her is a bearded man—a former banker, he says—who’s currently staying at the rag-tag community’s hostel for the season.
Slab City: The Last Free Place in America
Have you ever wondered what this place is? Maybe you've seen it on TV or read about it in that book, Into the Wild like me and thought does that place really exist? Well it's definitely real and is as kooky and crazy as it looks. Often referred to as the "Last Free Place in America" Slab City, is one of those off-the road pit stops where you can't help but pull over to take a selfie, walk through the crazy art sculpture formations and think to yourself, what the heck are people doing out here?
Finding Slab City, California’s Pioneer Spirit with a Counter Culture Twist
by Carol Guttery 28/4/22 California CROSSINGS
Take a casual glance at Slab City, California and all you’ll see is a dusty, junk yard full of hippies and drop outs. But look deeper and you’ll also find a diverse community of artists, homesteaders and retirees living off the grid, on the cheap, and absolutely on their own terms.
Top 7 Things To Do In Slab City
Slab City is an off grid “community” in the Southern California desert a few hours inland from San Diego. Originally built in the 1940’s as a military base, by the 50’s it was closed and the structures torn down, leaving just the concrete slabs. In the 60’s snowbirds, nomads, and desert dwellers in RV’s migrated to Slab City where they could park their homes for free.
A Bad Thing Haunts Slab City
Citizens of Slab City, aka 'America's Last Free Place,' an anarcho-republic in California, wish their bars hadn't burned to the ground. But things happen ...
Slab City Reaches Its Boiling Point
An off-grid California desert community offers refuge for the overlooked, misunderstood, and disenfranchised. But with deadly heat more frequent, residents face increasing danger.
Is Slab City, California the Last Free Place in America?
by Charlie Hailey 2/11/18 ZOCALO
When the alert pinged on my phone, I thought of Austin and his house of wooden pallets. A “wall of dust” roiled toward Slab City and other “impacted locations” in California’s Imperial County, and the National Weather Service warned: “avoid outdoor exposure.” It was an official weather bulletin for an unofficial place. An advisory with no remedy, because with pallets for walls there is no inside.
Slab City – California’s Gold (806)
The California desert has always been a place filled with mystery … and surprises! When you travel through our desert you’re never sure what you’re gonna see, who you’re gonna meet, or what strange and wonderful experiences you’re gonna have. Huell Howser discovered that first hand on a recent trip to the Salton Sea community of Niland.
The Last Free Place in America Is a Town Built Completely Off the Grid
Slab City, California, situated in the desert near the Salton Sea, is renowned for its unique status as a community that operates outside the conventional structures of government, utilities, and traditional laws. It has even earned the title "the last free place" among some of its residents and visitors.
Our Night in SLAB CITY, California | Off-Grid Living in the Desert
We've kicked off our big US road trip and our first stop is the off-grid desert community of squatters, hippies and snowbirds in Slab City, by the Salton Sea in California's Sonoran Desert. We spent a night at Slab City Hostel (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/17990088..., which we highly recommend if you're looking for a little adventure experience out of the ordinary and aren't fussy, visited the local night club/bar The Range for prom night and saw live musical performances, and of course visited the art of Salvation Mountain and East Jesus. Many people stopp by just to take a look at these but we highly recommend to spend at least a night there and get to know some of the locals to get some insights to life in the slabs and their reasons for living there.
Slab City: A Day in California’s Lawless Desert Town
Ever since I saw the movie Into the Wild, I was fascinated by Slab City. It sounded like this creative, hippiesque and slightly crazy place in the middle of the Californian desert: ultimate freedom, the chance to be yourself. I mean, I didn’t really know anything about it besides these movie scenes, but for some reason, it drew me in. So when we started traveling through California in March 2018, I knew I had to go see the place.
Slab City
Slab City, often referred to as 'The Last Free Place,' is an unincorporated, off-the-grid community located in the Sonoran Desert in California. It is situated on the site of a former World War II Marine Corps barracks, and its name comes from the concrete slabs that remain from the abandoned base. The area is known for its eclectic mix of residents, including artists, snowbirds, and those seeking an alternative lifestyle. Slab City is famous for its vibrant art installations, such as Salvation Mountain, a colorful hillside tribute to faith and love. The community operates without formal infrastructure, relying on solar power and communal resources.
Slab City: "The Last Free Place in America"
Slab City is a small anarchic community in the Sonoran desert that attracts people from all walks of life who seek independence. Situated on the former site of a now dilapidated military base, with no infrastructure, and currently in jurisdictional limbo, many of its permanent and seasonal residents feel tension between authority and a strong desire to express a level of freedom not available in modern society.
What's It Like in Slab City, the 'Last Free Place' in the U.S.?
The settlement got its name from the concrete foundations left behind when the U.S. government shut down Camp Robert H. Dunlap, a Marine Corps base located near the tiny desert outpost of Niland, California. When Camp Dunlap was in operation during World War II, there were 30 buildings, 8 miles (13 kilometers) of paved streets, water and sewage treatment plants and even a swimming pool.
Slab City
Slab City, also called The Slabs, is an unincorporated, off-the-grid alternative lifestyle community consisting largely of snowbirds in the Salton Trough area of the Sonoran Desert, in Imperial County, California. It took its name from concrete slabs that remained after the World War II Marine Corps Camp Dunlap training camp was torn down. Slab City is known for attracting people who want to live outside mainstream society.
Slab City, California
Hidden in Southern California’s desert is a small squatter’s paradise affectionately known as “The Last Free Place in America”. This off-grid community is home to a handful of residents looking to get as far away from society as possible, but what's it really like to live there?
Self-Governing Off the Grid Squatters Paradise - Slab City's Story
Situated in the Sonoran Desert, Slab City sits in an unincorporated area of Imperial County, CA. For decades, Slab City has been self-proclaimed as, "the last free place on earth." A squatters encampment from it's inception, Slab City attracts a wide array of people from a variety of backgrounds. With a seasonal population that can swell into the thousands each winter, the harsh summer causes this number to dwindle to a couple hundred.
Is The Iconic Slab City In California Really The Last Lawless Destination In The US?
by Amanda Morgan 29/6/24 EXPLORE
Deep within the Sonoran Desert near the Salton Sea and hours away from the bustling metropolitan areas of Southern California, awaits a notorious community known as Slab City. It's a place full of misfits who all have one thing in common — they've made the decision to leave society behind in favor of something different. Slab City is often criticized as a dangerous place, but some view it as a hub for misunderstood creatives.
Finding Inspiration at Salvation Mountain in Slab City, California
Should you ever find yourself on Highway 8, skirting the edges of California’s border with Mexico, I’d encourage you to take a diversion onto Highway 111 and then to Niland, California where you’ll find Salvation Mountain, a wondrous display of folk art rising out of the floor of the Sonoran Desert.
Inside California’s Slab City, Where People Go To Live Way Off The Grid
Built on an abandoned military base 200 miles east of Los Angeles in the middle of California’s Sonoran Desert, Slab City doesn’t have many modern amenities. No power lines nor pipes carry electricity or fresh water to the city. Residents have to sort out their own system for disposing of sewage or trash.
Slab City, California: Last Free Place in America? (Extraordinary Place Documentary) | Real Stories
In California's poorest desert region, a colorful group of regulars and their dogs gather at Rob's internet cafe for coffee and WiFi in "the last free place in America".
A Night in Slab City, California: The Last Free Place?
Tom, Indy, and I rolled into Slab City on a painfully hot afternoon in November. The entrance was mostly deserted, aside for bits of trash blowing across the dirt road that leads into this “city”. To be honest, the entrance to Slab City has an ominous feel to it- first the giant Salvation Mountain praises Jesus in bright, frenzied colors that feel unsettling. Continue driving and you’ll pass the charred skeleton of a burnt out RV encampment.
Slab City, California
Watch reels about slab city, california from people around the world.
Slab City is America's Most Colorful Desert Community
by Josh Monthei | 14/1/22 SPACES
Slab City, famously known as "The Last Free Place in America," is a 640-acre off-grid, lawless community located on an abandoned military base in California's Sonoran Desert, just east of The Salton Sea. In recent years, Slab City has seen an influx of visitors due to media attention.
Visiting Salvation Mountain and Slab City in California
Salvation Mountain is located near Niland, California, the somewhat infamous Slab City, and not that far from the Mexican Border to the south.
Slab City, the last “lawless” city is in California, where you won’t find water, electricity or taxes, but maybe some inner peace
100 miles northeast of San Diego, you can find a community where most residents want to get lost. This “squatters paradise” is home to up to 4,000 people who just want to be left alone.
Slab City
Slab City, also called The Slabs, is an unincorporated, off-the-grid squatter community consisting largely of snowbirds in the Salton Trough area of the Sonoran Desert, in Imperial County, California. It took its name from concrete slabs that remained after the World War II Marine Corps Camp Dunlap training camp was torn down. Slab City is known for a lifestyle that contradicts ordinary, civilized lifestyles.
