- Status
venusinpisces
Well-known member
I am very interested in Slab City and have given some thought to relocating there once I start generating an income online.
Maybe you could give people an idea of the types of projects going on out there, such as solar power, gardening, available shelters, etc. Are there power hook-ups or do you need to bring a generator? I would be very interested in hearing anything and everything you have to say about it. I've looked over your photos of the site and it seems to be comparable to the mesa outside of Taos, one of my most favorite places in the country. Have you been there?
One concern I have is the sign about toxic waste, which I wasn't aware of until today. Is all of Slab City a toxic waste dump? If so this would not surprise me since squatters are often swept into undesirable areas. Regardless, everything I've seen of it makes me think I would really enjoy the community of people out there. Tell us some stories, please. I've been itching to get down there for awhile now...
Maybe you could give people an idea of the types of projects going on out there, such as solar power, gardening, available shelters, etc. Are there power hook-ups or do you need to bring a generator? I would be very interested in hearing anything and everything you have to say about it. I've looked over your photos of the site and it seems to be comparable to the mesa outside of Taos, one of my most favorite places in the country. Have you been there?
One concern I have is the sign about toxic waste, which I wasn't aware of until today. Is all of Slab City a toxic waste dump? If so this would not surprise me since squatters are often swept into undesirable areas. Regardless, everything I've seen of it makes me think I would really enjoy the community of people out there. Tell us some stories, please. I've been itching to get down there for awhile now...
the slabs is a diy waste land, you must have every thing you need to survive in a desert. food water and shelter. the community out there is there but it is not a friendly place at time, but if you are a good person it can be the most awesome community in the world. there is no place to panhandle or beg for thing, no free rides or hand out. this place is how you make it. you must make or bring all your own power, there is a solar panel distributor there, and your a few miles from town, for gas and food and such. there are many different projects going on by lots of people, best as i can say is do your research before you move out there year around. what i would like to do will be hard work, and now of the faint of heart, this summer will be hot, my first full summer there. i will be trying to find a good location for base, and laying down ground work for my project. even if i am doing this alone i will be out there. where ever place i stake out in the slabs, there will be lots of cleaning and gathering of building supplies, burning of the trash that is burnable and making art out of the rest. the sign you are talking about it the warning before you enter the east jesus trash garden. untill the last few years slab city has not been a real "squatter punk" place most of the trash left behind is very old and rusty. if you have any other questions give me a call at 515-770-3224
venusinpisces
Well-known member
Ok, I just answered my own questions. Apparently there is some controversy amongst the residents because of toxic waste being left there by other residents, so my speculation was incorrect. And there are no power hook-ups, which is a plus.
Here is an article about the site:
Design for Life: Slab City: Where Freedom’s Still Free
Here is an article about the site:
Design for Life: Slab City: Where Freedom’s Still Free
venusinpisces
Well-known member
Oh, I did not even realize you had replied before I started typing!:blush:
Thanks for the info and I will definitely get in touch whenever I get down that way.
Thanks for the info and I will definitely get in touch whenever I get down that way.
venusinpisces
Well-known member
Looks like I was right the first time. From Vice Magazine:
"Set beside the Imperial Valley in southeastern California, the Salton Sea area was supposed to be Hollywood’s answer to the Riviera back in the 50s. But its developers failed to anticipate the raw sewage that would run up the New River from Mexico and make survival impossible for many aquatic species. Rotting fish guts and toxic debris soon littered the shoreline. Construction projects were abandoned, and yet another impotent vision of luxury tourism was left flaccid. Thanks again, trash!
Today the entire Imperial Valley is an apocalyptic dustbowl in the center of the California badlands. We set out to explore this fetid bouillabaisse. What we found were remnants of the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, a half-million-acre plot that was once the practice site for various governmental bombardiers. It is the place of business for the residents of a nearby compound known as Slab City—a mostly insane coterie of fun-hunting drifters, vets, addicts, artists, and crazies who subsist on sautéed snake, lukewarm Tecate, money earned from scrapping bombshell fragments, and what’s left of their wits. It’s pretty much all that remains of the Wild West."
Read the rest at Vice Magazine: SLAB CITY - Life in the Pits of the California Badlands - Vice Magazine
SLAB CITY - Life in the Pits of the California Badlands - Vice Magazine
"Set beside the Imperial Valley in southeastern California, the Salton Sea area was supposed to be Hollywood’s answer to the Riviera back in the 50s. But its developers failed to anticipate the raw sewage that would run up the New River from Mexico and make survival impossible for many aquatic species. Rotting fish guts and toxic debris soon littered the shoreline. Construction projects were abandoned, and yet another impotent vision of luxury tourism was left flaccid. Thanks again, trash!
Today the entire Imperial Valley is an apocalyptic dustbowl in the center of the California badlands. We set out to explore this fetid bouillabaisse. What we found were remnants of the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, a half-million-acre plot that was once the practice site for various governmental bombardiers. It is the place of business for the residents of a nearby compound known as Slab City—a mostly insane coterie of fun-hunting drifters, vets, addicts, artists, and crazies who subsist on sautéed snake, lukewarm Tecate, money earned from scrapping bombshell fragments, and what’s left of their wits. It’s pretty much all that remains of the Wild West."
Read the rest at Vice Magazine: SLAB CITY - Life in the Pits of the California Badlands - Vice Magazine
SLAB CITY - Life in the Pits of the California Badlands - Vice Magazine
venusinpisces
Well-known member
The Vice article is snobby and mostly focused on taking pics of trash and empty beer cans, so it doesn't really give a full account of what's actually going on out there. This isn't surprising because the site is run by a right wing multi millionaire who believes in eugenics. Last night I found a much better article series that gives a more complete perspective on the more productive side of the slabs.
The Slab City Series–#2 Meet the Slabs | Adventure Blog | Travel Journal Blog | WanderingNotLost
Here is an extensive excerpt:
Over the course of the days that followed, I wandered around Slab City, talked to some people, and got to know my neighbors better. Jerry stopped by to show me the hot springs, a clothes-optional, high-traffic pool. Scot gave me a little walking tour through town. There was Bike Mike (assembles, fixes, and sells this vital form of transportation), Junkyard Joe (“He’s
totally nuts, but he’s one of my best friends.â€). Builder Bob started the Range years ago and arranges concerts there every Saturday night. (“Once the lights go out, you can’t see how trashy the place is.â€)
Everyone has a nickname at the Slabs, so a conversation might go like this: “Tell Spoon that Pigeon got her stuff.†“Moth lives in the cistern on the hill.†I never figured out if Cuervo was the guy’s name or his drink of choice, but I knew he lives in the third bunker over and has a horse, a mule, two dogs (one is half wolf, I heard), and a red truck.
The library that Peggy maintained until her death in 2003 is in a peaceful bower of palo verde trees. The place seemed forlorn, but the books were still neatly shelved. Lynn runs the Oasis Club (as a volunteer), which is the Slab City hangout. Coffee: 50 cents or free for members; a cheap meal twice a week.
Individual enterprise is alive and well. If the sun can recharge it, cook it, heat it, or move it, the Sun Works can build it. “He usually has a turkey cooking in his solar oven,†said Scot. Another guy has a water-delivery business. He’ll set you up with a 25-gallon water tank for $45 and fill it every month for $15.
Despite survival’s daily demands, art flourishes at the Slabs. Car art, fancy outhouses, and decorated trailers are everywhere. But nothing can touch Container Charlie’s place, called East Jesus because it’s east of Salvation Mountain. Container Charlie began decorating the shipping container he was living in, so the story goes, and didn’t know when to quit. Now his chunk of the Slabs is the final resting place for homeless gallery installations, most of which would never feel comfortable in a house anyway. The effect is like wandering around in a Bosch painting. I stumbled through East Jesus, dazed and amazed, encountering more weirdness than I could properly absorb. Then, when I thought things could get no more bizarre, I heard the sound of a violin wafting from behind a wall of wine bottles. In an appropriately funky and cluttered performance space a blue-haired girl was playing the violin, a red-haired guy was on piano, and Flip was on guitar and vocals. They were working on their rendition of a Tom Waits song, “Come on up to the House.â€
Well the moon is broken/and the sky is cracked. The only things that you can see/is all that you lack. Come on up to the house.
Come on up to the house/Come on up to the house. The world is not my home/I’m just passin’ thru. Come on up to the house.
Does life seem nasty, brutish, and short/Come on up to the house. The seas are stormy/And you can’t find no port. Come on up to the house.
It was sensory overload. I left all sniffy and weepy.
The Slab City Series–#2 Meet the Slabs | Adventure Blog | Travel Journal Blog | WanderingNotLost
Here is an extensive excerpt:
Over the course of the days that followed, I wandered around Slab City, talked to some people, and got to know my neighbors better. Jerry stopped by to show me the hot springs, a clothes-optional, high-traffic pool. Scot gave me a little walking tour through town. There was Bike Mike (assembles, fixes, and sells this vital form of transportation), Junkyard Joe (“He’s
totally nuts, but he’s one of my best friends.â€). Builder Bob started the Range years ago and arranges concerts there every Saturday night. (“Once the lights go out, you can’t see how trashy the place is.â€)
Everyone has a nickname at the Slabs, so a conversation might go like this: “Tell Spoon that Pigeon got her stuff.†“Moth lives in the cistern on the hill.†I never figured out if Cuervo was the guy’s name or his drink of choice, but I knew he lives in the third bunker over and has a horse, a mule, two dogs (one is half wolf, I heard), and a red truck.
The library that Peggy maintained until her death in 2003 is in a peaceful bower of palo verde trees. The place seemed forlorn, but the books were still neatly shelved. Lynn runs the Oasis Club (as a volunteer), which is the Slab City hangout. Coffee: 50 cents or free for members; a cheap meal twice a week.
Individual enterprise is alive and well. If the sun can recharge it, cook it, heat it, or move it, the Sun Works can build it. “He usually has a turkey cooking in his solar oven,†said Scot. Another guy has a water-delivery business. He’ll set you up with a 25-gallon water tank for $45 and fill it every month for $15.
Despite survival’s daily demands, art flourishes at the Slabs. Car art, fancy outhouses, and decorated trailers are everywhere. But nothing can touch Container Charlie’s place, called East Jesus because it’s east of Salvation Mountain. Container Charlie began decorating the shipping container he was living in, so the story goes, and didn’t know when to quit. Now his chunk of the Slabs is the final resting place for homeless gallery installations, most of which would never feel comfortable in a house anyway. The effect is like wandering around in a Bosch painting. I stumbled through East Jesus, dazed and amazed, encountering more weirdness than I could properly absorb. Then, when I thought things could get no more bizarre, I heard the sound of a violin wafting from behind a wall of wine bottles. In an appropriately funky and cluttered performance space a blue-haired girl was playing the violin, a red-haired guy was on piano, and Flip was on guitar and vocals. They were working on their rendition of a Tom Waits song, “Come on up to the House.â€
Well the moon is broken/and the sky is cracked. The only things that you can see/is all that you lack. Come on up to the house.
Come on up to the house/Come on up to the house. The world is not my home/I’m just passin’ thru. Come on up to the house.
Does life seem nasty, brutish, and short/Come on up to the house. The seas are stormy/And you can’t find no port. Come on up to the house.
It was sensory overload. I left all sniffy and weepy.
venusinpisces
Well-known member
I don't do Facebook but I'll give you a call because I do have some questions. Thanks again!
Some fact-checking is missing up there. "Apocalyptic dustbowl?" I beg to differ. "Remnants of the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range"???? The range is as active as it ever was. What our young reporters found were the remnants of Marine Camp Dunlap, aka Slab City. The two border one another, but are not the same. There is more disinformation out there in print about Slab City than fact, and I think that's good, but sometimes it's a cause for irritation as well.
venusinpisces
Well-known member
Yeah, I thought the article seemed a bit off where it said people salvage bomb shell fragments yet it's been shut down, because how long can people keep recycling when there isn't a fresh supply of material? Clearly, the reporter had a bias against the Slab residents and did a sloppy job on the article because of that. I wonder how long he talked to the people he interviewed. probably not very long at all.
That's what happened with the documentary about the Mesa (I think it's called Off The Grid: Life on the Mesa). Basically it was some college kid who came out and bribed people to talk with malt liquor but not too many people wanted to talk to him. As a result, most of the footage he got was people shooting guns and acting crazy--but there is a lot more going out there that he missed out on because of the way he approached it. He missed the bike shop, the junkyard where you can get your car fixed, the earth domes that are built to stay cool through the summer, elaborate solar set-ups and water catchment systems, gardens, etc. Instead the movie emphasizes a bunch of shit-talking that makes it look like the whole place is made up of psychopaths shooting people all the time.
He did talk to people raising animals but, generally, it was about as superficial as the Vice article seems to be. That's why I said the second Slab article is better, because it's actually written by somebody that knows people out there.
venusinpisces
Well-known member
By the way, I don't think I could live out there year round except maybe temporarily to save money on rent. There's too much to do in the city for the time being. But kudos to those who do because you have to be very motivated and enterprising to live in that type of environment. I have a lot of respect for anyone who manages to pull it off.
I am here in slab city right now, working my ass off getting this camp set up, any one wanna come down and help with some work? Beautiful hot s
Prings and nice cold water canal, got 55 gal water drum and hand tools, need some rope maybe some shade cloth, and some good people to kick it by the fire with
[URL="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/tattooswithholes/IMG_20110319_112408.jpg"]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/tattooswithholes/IMG_20110319_112514.jpg[/URL
Prings and nice cold water canal, got 55 gal water drum and hand tools, need some rope maybe some shade cloth, and some good people to kick it by the fire with
[URL="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/tattooswithholes/IMG_20110319_112408.jpg"]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/tattooswithholes/IMG_20110319_112514.jpg[/URL
View attachment 24187
setting up to build an earthship out here in the slabs, if your coming out here and wanna check things out, of give a hand at cleaning this place up, we can offer room and some bored to non-douche bag, non drunk every day, and non-junkies type of people.
setting up to build an earthship out here in the slabs, if your coming out here and wanna check things out, of give a hand at cleaning this place up, we can offer room and some bored to non-douche bag, non drunk every day, and non-junkies type of people.
phase one clean up the "slab city junk yard"
View attachment 24188 View attachment 24190
meet the people
View attachment 24189 Ben View attachment 24191 Kat Bastard View attachment 24192 and my little dog Dharma View attachment 24193 and (girl) Kat when she is here.
working on building up solar power
View attachment 24194 View attachment 24195 View attachment 24196
to power our soon to be internet cafe and media center
View attachment 24195
things we do for fun
View attachment 24197 get tattooed View attachment 24198 View attachment 24199 View attachment 24200 rage the Range, an out door venue in slab city
View attachment 24201 float down the canal on empty space bags, and View attachment 24202 paint shit.
come check us out...
View attachment 24188 View attachment 24190
meet the people
View attachment 24189 Ben View attachment 24191 Kat Bastard View attachment 24192 and my little dog Dharma View attachment 24193 and (girl) Kat when she is here.
working on building up solar power
View attachment 24194 View attachment 24195 View attachment 24196
to power our soon to be internet cafe and media center
View attachment 24195
things we do for fun
View attachment 24197 get tattooed View attachment 24198 View attachment 24199 View attachment 24200 rage the Range, an out door venue in slab city
View attachment 24201 float down the canal on empty space bags, and View attachment 24202 paint shit.
come check us out...
Sc0ut
Well-known member
My girlfriend and I live out there when the weather's not 110F+
We live in a truck camper and just sort of move around, but, the entire reason we live like that is because we realized that every problem in our lives were, and are being created by humans.. So, the only logical way to fix that, is to remove yourself from the presence of other humans..
We're starting to socialize a bit more, it's easier in Slab City with the older hippies, they tend to respect your space, but humans are a hard beast to trust.. Seems like all anyone does these days is fuck eachother over, so watch your back..
My girlfriend and I are a bit reclusive, but I know your face, so when we head back out there, if I see you, I'll say hey.
We live in a truck camper and just sort of move around, but, the entire reason we live like that is because we realized that every problem in our lives were, and are being created by humans.. So, the only logical way to fix that, is to remove yourself from the presence of other humans..
We're starting to socialize a bit more, it's easier in Slab City with the older hippies, they tend to respect your space, but humans are a hard beast to trust.. Seems like all anyone does these days is fuck eachother over, so watch your back..
My girlfriend and I are a bit reclusive, but I know your face, so when we head back out there, if I see you, I'll say hey.
- Status
Latest Library Uploads
-
Book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never SeenBook about the Tarahumara and how we can move without pain or injury too.- JustAWanderer
- Updated:
-
Book Self Defense Manual - Self Defense That Works! [Berfwef, Ben]A variety of self-defense techniques that can be used when in a bad situation
- BlackJack
- Updated:
-
Zine Winter support mobilization2022 zine on mobilizing support for homeless individuals during cold weather.
- marymemarryme
- Updated:
-
-