Entrance to Slab City
In the cradle of democracy that is the United States of America, there is an anarchist community which has been living by its own rules for 50 years. Slab City is the mecca* for every extreme that just wants to be left alone and will give up the creature comforts of the modern home to escape expectations.
The shoe tree is a recognizable greeting shortly after entering Slab City. To permanent residents, it is also known as “The Tree of Souls (Soles).”
RV owners, artists, and squatters converge on Slab City. These “Slabbers”—which residents call themselves— come to extend retirement savings or government checks, learn to live of the grid, or just be left alone.
Along with RVs and tents, repurposed school busses are a popular living choice and, for some, a new canvas.
Only a fraction of the winter inhabitants of Slab City remain year round. Located in the Colorado Desert, near the Salton Sea, this location becomes sweltering in the heat of summer. While at it’s height of several thousand occupants, the colloquially termed “snowbirds” flee the camp to leave the 150 approximate permanent occupants.
Hand made signs dot the city as street labels, local advertisements, and public announcements.
Without conventional utilities, many “Slabbers” rely on solar panels.
There is no electricity, running water, sewer system, or trash pickup. What infrastructure that does exist has been created and shared by the city’s residents. Hand made street signs and a 24 hour library are maintained by residents along with other informational signs. Residents have also set up establishments such as an open air night club, an internet cafe, and a vacation and healing center.
The Range is an open air nightclub run by one of Slab City’s long time residents and considered one of the city’s attractions.
Sign advertising Internet cafe, announcing: “We Remember Freedom: Slab City Internet Cafe”
The Sanctuary, aka Lapa’au Healing Center & Retreat, offers a haven for visitors to stay along with with massage and assorted treatments.
Slab City’s very existence is a perilous balance. It exists on land owned by the state of California and has survived more due to a lack of effort on the part of state government than any degree of approval. Concerned Slabbers strive to manage waste—one of the main concerns that has been drawing uncomplimentary attention to the camp.
Creative “Slabbers” have created innovative structures from their limited materials.
One of Slab City’s art cars featuring paint, figurines, and assorted odds and ends.
Possibly most amusing feature of the camp is the rather dubious selection of signs espousing a variety of sentiments which converge on the shared sentiment of “Private, keep out.”
The dubious legal standing of Slab City doesn’t stop residents from asserting exclusionary ownership over plots of land.
Another common sign that pops up in the city is the “Occupied” sign posted on both homes and, essentially empty lots.
One less subtle sign walling off land.
Related Recreation Claims
View nearby recreation sites in Riverside County: [http://thefilmlocations.com/usa/california/riverside-ca065]
* Funnily, enough, Slab City was founded after an exodus of evicted people’s from a camp just outside of Mecca, California.