Slab City

For the unincorporated community in Wisconsin, see Slab City, Wisconsin.

Photo of the Slab City Christian Center taken in October 2007.

Slab City or The Slabs (located at 33°15′32″N 115°27′59″W) is a camp in the Colorado Desert in southeastern California, used by recreational vehicle owners and squatters from across North America. It takes its name from the concrete slabs and pylons that remain from the abandoned World War II Marine barracks Camp Dunlap there. A group of servicemen remained after the base closed, and the place has been inhabited ever since, although the number of residents has declined since the mid 1980s.

Several thousand campers, many of them retired, use the site during the winter months. These "snowbirds" stay only for the winter, before migrating north in the spring to cooler climates. The temperatures during the summer are unforgiving; nonetheless, there is a group of around 150 permanent residents who live in the Slabs all year round. Most of these "Slabbers" derive their living by way of government checks (SSI and Social Security) and have been driven to the Slabs through poverty.

The site is both decommissioned and uncontrolled, and there is no charge for parking. The camp has no electricity, no running water or other services. Many campers use generators or solar panels to generate electricity. Supplies can be purchased in nearby Niland, California, located about three miles (5 km) to the southwest of Slab City.

Located just east of State Route 111, the entrance to Slab City is easily recognized by the colorful Salvation Mountain, a small hill approximately three stories high which is entirely covered in acrylic paint, concrete and adobe and festooned with Bible verses. It is an ongoing project of over two decades by permanent resident Leonard Knight.

In popular culture

Slab City was featured in the book Into the Wild and also in the 2007 movie of the same name.

The back of the Kyuss album "and the circus leaves town" shows the members of Kyuss sitting over a painting on Salvation Mountain.

The video for "Fourth of July" by Shooter Jennings is partially set at Slab City.

Slab City is described in Marisa Silver's novel The God of War, first published in 2008, about a family which lives in Bombay Beach on the edge of the Salton Sea.

It was featured in the radio documentary program Hearing Voices episode "Small Town" the week of November 11, 2009. The segment's synopsis is "This town in California never did exist, though it’s full of folk who live there: an unofficial RV Park and home to the homeless thrives in culture and community."

Slab City figures in Sue Grafton's mystery novel, "G" Is for Gumshoe, first published in 1990, about private investigator Kinsey Millhone.

A fictional version of Slab City is featured in Hal Duncan's fantasy novel Vellum: The Book of All Hours, first published in 2005.

In the cable reality show Art Race (broadcast on Halogen TV), one of the artists attempts to stay in Slab City to sell his art but leaves soon after dark with the show's crew because of fears for his safety.^{[citation needed]}

Slab City is the main setting in the play Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter, by Julie Marie Myatt.

Slab City is featured in the novel The Slab [1] by Jeff Mariotte

Slab City is the feature in an episode of the TV series "Built to Shred" (broadcast on FUEL TV)

External links

• Slab City - A Website
• Tioga George's "Vagabonders" webpage
• Desert Dutch's Slab City webpage
• 2012 Time Magazine article.
• 2004 New York Times article, login may be required.
• 2003 UK Guardian article.
• Aerial photograph (Google Maps)
• Topographic map (TopoQuest)
• Aerial photograph (msrmaps.com)