Bombay Beach and Salton Sea (CA)

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Introduction:

What? :

Bombay Beach is a small unincorporated community that is located on the Salton Sea beach in south California. This is interesting place to visit, see the remains of once vivid community and how once the economic change and people left it decayed and crumble apart. In recent years it transform into small artist community that are presenting their art in their houses and open beach and making this place alive again.


 



 

Where? :

located on the Salton Sea, Imperial County, California.

From Indio drive 40 miles south on highway 111, you will see the sign and entrance on your right.

Google Map Link




Nearby Destinations:

When? :

Summer is very hot (~110f mid-day), so you better visit here during to colder month of the year.

 


Due note 1: There is no gas service in this place.

There is one pub and general store but not a lot more than that.

 

Due note 2: When visiting here, enjoy the art but also respect the private property and do not trespass.

 

Due note 2: When driving on the beach watch where you are driving and do not get into the mud, you will not be able to drive out if you get stuck.

 


 


My thoughts:

This was a stop on my way south to Anza-Borrego.

I spend here for about 30 minutes, driving between the houses and looking for art, sculptures, and gratuities.

Later I drove the nearby Salton Sea beach to see the open-space sculpture garden and the old dry marina.


This is interesting place to visit, see the remains of once vivid community and how once the economic change and people left it decayed and crumble apart. 



In recent years it transform into small artist community that are presenting their art in their houses and open beach and making this place alive again.

 

 



Bombay Beach:

Bombay Beach is a small unincorporated community that is located on the Salton Sea, about 15 miles east of the city of Indio, Imperial County, California.

Initially founded in the early 1900s as a resort town on the shore of Salton Sea (they even had a marina) but once Salton Sea lost all it fishes and get saltier the resorts were closed, economic activity does not exist, and it lost almost all it population.

 


Today, the small (about 200 people) Bombay Beach town is known as a forgotten crumbling town and, recently, as a destination where artists create unorganized art in their houses and on the nearby deserted and retrieving Salton Sea beach.

Today Bombay Beach has become destination for tourists and photographers that are coming to see the local art elements in the town and on the beach front.

 

They also claim that because this is the lowest community in America below sea level (223 feet (68 m) below sea level), outside Death Valley National Park, they have the lowest active bar in the western hemisphere…

 


When visiting Bombay Beach, you can see the boom-and-bust cycles that happened to many others small towns in the American West.

Vibrant town got hit by change in economic crumble and decayed into semi ghost town.

 


 

The Salton Sea:

The Salton Sea is a shallow, highly saline lake located in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys of Southern California. It is the largest lake in California by surface area, and it does not have outflow.

The Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when the Colorado River overflowed its banks and flooded the area. The flooding continued for two years, and by the time it was finally stopped, the Salton Sea had grown to be about 40 miles long and 13 miles wide.


The Salton Sea stands 227 feet below sea level and has high salt levels that many fish species cannot tolerate. As it has no outflow over the years it suffer from declining in its water levels.

 

 

www:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Beach,_California

 

 

Additional Pictures:



































 

Location: Bombay Beach, CA 92257, USA

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