Bombay Beach is a fringe community at the southeast end of the Salton Sea. It sits 230-feet below sea level, at the southern tip of an 800-mile crack in the ground that threatens to move California’s coastline to Nevada.
It has a population of less than 200 people who are predominantly old and poor. But an emerging migration of artists is quickly flipping these demographics, and with it the character and landscape of this largely deserted town.
Bombay Beach began as a lakeside resort town, its heyday dating from the late 1950’s into the early 70’s. During that time, fishing and boating activities at the Salton Sea drew people from all over Southern California, including many of the beautiful and fabled from Hollywood.
Unfortunately, the Salton Sea would prove itself to be an ecological disaster.
Resulting from a calamitous accident involving the Colorado River in 1905, this man-made lake is environmentally vulnerable to the extreme weather conditions and geography of the Sonoran Desert. It shouldn’t be there.
In an effort to make the best of this disaster, state and local officials decided to develop the area for tourism and recreation. The lake was stocked with fish, an ecosystem emerged, and resorts were built along its coast. But over time, agricultural runoff from the Imperial Valley and rising salinity levels in the lake undermined these efforts. Bird and sea life were already in jeopardy even before the town of Bombay Beach held its ribbon-cutting ceremony. Location, location, location.
As predicted by science, the sea decayed and so did the town.
Floods during the 1970’s led to property foreclosures and a mass population exodus. Current water management policies and lack of political incentive to alter its fate continue to erode the lake and the community.
Occupying less than a square mile, the town today is littered with abandoned structures, crumbling trailers, and makeshift encampments. According to the 2010 census, Bombay Beach had 449 housing units and only 175 households.
Bombay Beach has existed in a post-apocalyptic state for decades and has been used as a set location in a handful of movies. Its history and colorful residents have inspired a number of lifestyle journalists, documentary film makers, and authors.
Most recently, an elite group of art world influencers purchased many of the crumbling buildings and endowed them to local and visiting artists for self expression and experimentation. Results vary, but the overall vibe is punk junkyard.
These outdoor structures are part of the Bombay Beach Biennale, a Spring arts event began in 2016 by Stefan Ashkenazy, Tao Ruspoli, and Lily Johnson White. The threesome have been on a mission to help restore the Salton Sea back to its short-lived days of ecologic and economic viability. It could happen someday. When the planet starts to cool or humans have evolved into reptilian flesh beings. Meanwhile, there is art.
In five short years, local and international artists have transformed Bombay Beach into a 24/7 outdoor art gallery with large installations, graffiti covered structures, and dedicated arts venues peppered throughout town. Bombay Beach now appears like a wrecked barge exposed by a dying sea. Rusted, weathered, and oddly beautiful.
"Lodestar" installation by Randy Polumbo
"The Death Ship," installation by Sean Guerrero
The Biennale has attracted noted artists and their monied supporters from around the world. Michael Mikel, one of the founders of Burning Man, has been attending this exclusive event since its inception. "This is where the edge is," he would know. Permitted for up to 500 people, the event is a 72-hour celebration of art, music, movies, and performances that happen throughout the town.
Desert worn, discarded and found objects are artfully repurposed in many of the installations. These artworks remain in Bombay Beach long after the 3-day event is over. All of it exposed to the elements and easily accessible to the public.
My son sitting with a weathered evolution of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” installation by William Attaway
Many outsiders visit these abandoned structures and leave their marks, blurring the boundary between what is real and what is art.
"Naked Revelations," installation by Moranne Layani
“Museum Number Two” installation by Moral Turgeman
“Bombay Beach Drive-In” installation by Stefan Ashkenazy (one of the three founders of the Bombay Beach Biennale), Sean Dale Taylor and Arwen Byrd
With its curated collection of junked cars and a screen used by the community to show movies, Bombay Beach Drive-In is an installation that sits at the intersection of art and function. Past and present. And perhaps a future for Bombay Beach.
This once forgotten town has grown in popularity on social media, garnering more than 150,000 related hashtags. More tourists arrive every day, curiously driving through the streets of this wasteland turned wonderland.
The byproduct of an epic accident inspired the imaginations of purpose-minded madmen– the result is Bombay Beach 2.0, a boundary defying hallucination rising from the Sonoran desert heat. It’s definitely a worthwhile trip.
