9 ms·

Slab City reaches its boiling point

119 points by FeaturelessBug 4y ago

Bockit 4y ago
If it doesn’t load for you either: https://web.archive.org/web/20220813225258/https://bluedotliving.com/slab-city-reaches-its-boiling-point/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220813225258/https://bluedotli...
burlesona 4y ago
Seems to be hugged to death. Archive link: https://archive.ph/TVNNY https://archive.ph/TVNNY
boppo1 4y ago
On mobile, won't let me view till i put my email in a popover
- bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago
  I read the whole thing two sentences at a time in the tiny space under that damned popover.
- gresrun 4y ago
  FYI, any email-ish looking value works. E.g.: afdasdf@gfgs.com
- vorpalhex 4y ago
  Adblocker seem to do it on my side, not sure if ublock or pihole did it though.
- crummy 4y ago
  Seems absurd but there is an invisible x in the upper right. I tapped it and the email popup disappeared.
KerrAvon 4y ago
- quesera 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Back_to_Cali_(LL_Cool_J_song) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Back_to_Cali_(LL_Cool_J_... > They must live in San Fran Probably in SoMa, San Fran, Cali. Ugh.
- Taniwha 4y ago
  No one in San Francisco calls it "San Fran" - it's "the City"
  - dcow 4y ago
    SF is more common, generally. “The city” is used when talking to other bay area residents where context implies which city is the city. If you travel to NYC and tell people you live in the city they won’t know you mean SF. Of course, you should just call it San Francisco.
  - _hhkc 4y ago
    You missed it
  - nfkfldlsl 4y ago
  - azinman2 4y ago
    A minority do: https://sf.curbed.com/2018/1/26/16936872/san-fran-frisco-survey-nickname-francisco https://sf.curbed.com/2018/1/26/16936872/san-fran-frisco-sur... (And I get that there was a joke by the GP).
  - jesushax 4y ago
    You mean "frisco" :D
    - labster 4y ago
johnohara 4y ago
> The California Energy Commission estimates the sea [Salton Sea] might produce 600k metric tons of lithium carbonate per year. > The land under the lake is a patchwork of ownership spread across three primary entities: the federal government – mostly the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land Management, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID), and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. Should be interesting over the next 10-20 years as battery production increases and efforts are made to secure reliable sources of lithium. Hopefully, this results in an actual remediation of one of California's worst environmental disasters and not a repeat of the environmental problems caused by uranium mining on Navajo land in northeast AZ and northwest NM during the Cold War.
- exysle 4y ago
  Eh, I bet we become cozy with North Korea instead[0]. [0]: https://thediplomat.com/2014/01/north-korea-may-have-two-thirds-of-worlds-rare-earths/ https://thediplomat.com/2014/01/north-korea-may-have-two-thi...
  - throwawaylinux 4y ago
    When you say "we", do you mean China?
- labster 4y ago
  I’m not sure the drying of a man-made lake quite qualifies as an environmental disaster, though the smell certainly isn’t pleasant. But it’s definitely not the largest environmental in California. That would be the destruction of millions of acres of wetlands in the Central Valley from the dry and vanished Tulare Lake northward. Next is the desertifying low Sierra as forests are replaced by chaparral and grasslands somewhat permanently. Third is the desertification of the Owens Valley. Fourth is air pollution which continues to be quite deadly. Fifth is DDT, which is mostly gone but still poses a risk in offshore birds near an undersea dumping ground. Anyway Salton Sea doesn’t even crack the top five anthropogenic natural disasters in California.
  - 4y ago
nrclark 4y ago
Anybody here ever been to Slab City? I'd love to get the HN perspective on it.
- downrightmike 4y ago
  Creepy/sad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYe8EW7g5QM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYe8EW7g5QM
  - quickthrower2 4y ago
    A comment from that Youtube video: > It's really important to say that East Jesus Art Commune and Leonard's Mountain are not and never have been considered part of Slab City .... so it would help for you creators to actually find out about that before calling it part of The Slabs...it misleads people into believing the Slabs must be a very artistic place , which it is most certainly not... Because of a Bad Mechanic screwing us ...we had the misfortune of living there for 2 straight years ... The Real Slab City story is there is Garbage strewn everywhere , many people get attacked and bitten by very vicious Slab Dogs ...there are numerous serious fights leading to hospitalization and sometimes death ...women travelers get raped at least 3 times a year there ...Slabbers deliberately burn down peoples camps and RV's at least 11 times per year ....so if you like staying in a dangerous ghetto and can pretend that everywhere is just as trashed out as Slab City is ...you'll love that dump..
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- FeaturelessBug 4y ago
  I'm interested in going after reading about it, but also scared.
  - everybodyknows 4y ago
    There are several documentaries set in Slab City or nearby towns Niland and Bombay Beach -- I found all of them fascinating. Sorry, don't remember titles. A safer alternative destination might be the Fountain of Youth Spa, which has been there since at least the 1970s. But I'd check the recent reviews, and hold off until November at least.
johnny313 4y ago
I visited Slab City and the Salton sea with my family on a day trip from LA. It was a memorable experience, and I would recommend to anyone who is interested. We were inspired by this travelog [0], the history of the area is a cautionary tale. [0] http://www.wanderingboozebag.com/salton-sea-road-trip-itinerary/ http://www.wanderingboozebag.com/salton-sea-road-trip-itiner...
- wyclif 4y ago
  The Bourdain visit to Slab City and the Salton Sea from No Reservations is here: https://youtu.be/pCRlWY0qL-0 https://youtu.be/pCRlWY0qL-0
  - bumbledraven 4y ago
    He's visiting Bombay Beach, not Slab City. Still a great video, though.
    - wyclif 4y ago
      Correct, I forgot about that and just watched it again after years and realised he didn't go to visit the Slabbers. It would have been fun if he went there and ate something, though.
cratermoon 4y ago
Related? https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2022/jul/25/homeless-in-california-the-americans-forced-to-camp-in-the-desert-podcast https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2022/jul/25/homeless-...
xrd 4y ago
I'm so curious how many people from Slab City relocate to Black Rock City (Burning Man) for a week or two. Seems like a similar ethos.
- mateo411 4y ago
  The ethos is similar, but the demographic is different.
- freemanindia 4y ago
  There's overlap in travelers who work festivals in the summer, dpw at burningman and spend some of the winter in slab city. There's also digital nomads doing vanlife there. Much of the art has a distinct BRC vibe. The founder of East Jesus was a burner in the art car scene. Last winter there was a giant LED penis up at one of the camps, and spaceport 42 is a collection of 6 burned out trailer chassis planted vertically in the ground.
cconcepts 4y ago
The article has an overlay wanting me to put in my email address. Can't seem to close it with the X in the corner. S9 Android with Chrome browser. Renders the website useless unless I put in my email
- moronicalox 4y ago
  Seems like certain website elements haven't recovered from being hugged to death earlier, but the "x" is there, just not visible. Keep clicking and it will disappear.
  - Jolter 4y ago
    The X is there, but nothing happens when I tap it. Safari, IPhone.
- marssaxman 4y ago
  The element picker in uBlock Origin will let you just delete the overlay.
aaron695 4y ago
If you go to Google Earth and search 'slab city' you can view it over time. The big thing to notice is the months, the population ebbs and flows with seasons. Google maps (No time shifting ability) - https://www.google.com/maps/place/Slab+City,+CA+92233,+USA/@33.2559807,-115.4620803,63m https://www.google.com/maps/place/Slab+City,+CA+92233,+USA/@...
dang 4y ago
Related: GM has signed an agreement to extract lithium from beneath the Salton Sea - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27866965 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27866965 - July 2021 (180 comments) In California, a journey to the end of the road: the Salton Sea - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25891036 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25891036 - Jan 2021 (46 comments) Salton Sea Notes: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s California Travel Journals (1961) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10240296 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10240296 - Sept 2015 (3 comments)
CryptoBanker 4y ago
Mobile site refuses to let me close email subscription windows… orb the top and middle of he page. Running on safari
- rendall 4y ago
  Same for latest Android Chrome. Just put in anything@mailinator.com
- SOLAR_FIELDS 4y ago
  Even though there is no X in the top right corner of the window, I was able to get it to close by tapping the top right corner of the pop up. Also on mobile safari, latest iOS.
- zmpeg 4y ago
  I was able to bypass this with safari reader mode
ratg13 4y ago
I'm mostly wondering what sanitation is like in a place without running water, sanitation services, and electricity.
mellavora 4y ago
Wonder what happens when the next mega-flood hits. Science: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq0995 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq0995 cnn post from yesterday: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/12/weather/california-megaflood-study/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/12/weather/california-megafl... Last time it happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1862 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1862 search "atmospheric rivers" if you want to know more
lazlee 4y ago
Yeah, I'm old and on a mobile phone but goddamn that is some tiny, awful colored, hard to read font.

If it doesn’t load for you either: https://web.archive.org/web/20220813225258/https://bluedotliving.com/slab-city-reaches-its-boiling-point/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220813225258/https://bluedotli...

burlesona 4y ago

Seems to be hugged to death. Archive link: https://archive.ph/TVNNY https://archive.ph/TVNNY

boppo1 4y ago

On mobile, won't let me view till i put my email in a popover

bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago
I read the whole thing two sentences at a time in the tiny space under that damned popover.
gresrun 4y ago
FYI, any email-ish looking value works. E.g.: afdasdf@gfgs.com
vorpalhex 4y ago
Adblocker seem to do it on my side, not sure if ublock or pihole did it though.
crummy 4y ago
Seems absurd but there is an invisible x in the upper right. I tapped it and the email popup disappeared.

KerrAvon 4y ago

quesera 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Back_to_Cali_(LL_Cool_J_song) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Back_to_Cali_(LL_Cool_J_... > They must live in San Fran Probably in SoMa, San Fran, Cali. Ugh.
Taniwha 4y ago
No one in San Francisco calls it "San Fran" - it's "the City"
- dcow 4y ago
  SF is more common, generally. “The city” is used when talking to other bay area residents where context implies which city is the city. If you travel to NYC and tell people you live in the city they won’t know you mean SF. Of course, you should just call it San Francisco.
- _hhkc 4y ago
  You missed it
- nfkfldlsl 4y ago
- azinman2 4y ago
  A minority do: https://sf.curbed.com/2018/1/26/16936872/san-fran-frisco-survey-nickname-francisco https://sf.curbed.com/2018/1/26/16936872/san-fran-frisco-sur... (And I get that there was a joke by the GP).
- jesushax 4y ago
  You mean "frisco" :D
  - labster 4y ago

johnohara 4y ago

> The California Energy Commission estimates the sea [Salton Sea] might produce 600k metric tons of lithium carbonate per year. > The land under the lake is a patchwork of ownership spread across three primary entities: the federal government – mostly the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land Management, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID), and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. Should be interesting over the next 10-20 years as battery production increases and efforts are made to secure reliable sources of lithium. Hopefully, this results in an actual remediation of one of California's worst environmental disasters and not a repeat of the environmental problems caused by uranium mining on Navajo land in northeast AZ and northwest NM during the Cold War.

exysle 4y ago
Eh, I bet we become cozy with North Korea instead[0]. [0]: https://thediplomat.com/2014/01/north-korea-may-have-two-thirds-of-worlds-rare-earths/ https://thediplomat.com/2014/01/north-korea-may-have-two-thi...
- throwawaylinux 4y ago
  When you say "we", do you mean China?
labster 4y ago
I’m not sure the drying of a man-made lake quite qualifies as an environmental disaster, though the smell certainly isn’t pleasant. But it’s definitely not the largest environmental in California. That would be the destruction of millions of acres of wetlands in the Central Valley from the dry and vanished Tulare Lake northward. Next is the desertifying low Sierra as forests are replaced by chaparral and grasslands somewhat permanently. Third is the desertification of the Owens Valley. Fourth is air pollution which continues to be quite deadly. Fifth is DDT, which is mostly gone but still poses a risk in offshore birds near an undersea dumping ground. Anyway Salton Sea doesn’t even crack the top five anthropogenic natural disasters in California.
- 4y ago

nrclark 4y ago

Anybody here ever been to Slab City? I'd love to get the HN perspective on it.

downrightmike 4y ago
Creepy/sad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYe8EW7g5QM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYe8EW7g5QM
- quickthrower2 4y ago
  A comment from that Youtube video: > It's really important to say that East Jesus Art Commune and Leonard's Mountain are not and never have been considered part of Slab City .... so it would help for you creators to actually find out about that before calling it part of The Slabs...it misleads people into believing the Slabs must be a very artistic place , which it is most certainly not... Because of a Bad Mechanic screwing us ...we had the misfortune of living there for 2 straight years ... The Real Slab City story is there is Garbage strewn everywhere , many people get attacked and bitten by very vicious Slab Dogs ...there are numerous serious fights leading to hospitalization and sometimes death ...women travelers get raped at least 3 times a year there ...Slabbers deliberately burn down peoples camps and RV's at least 11 times per year ....so if you like staying in a dangerous ghetto and can pretend that everywhere is just as trashed out as Slab City is ...you'll love that dump..
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
FeaturelessBug 4y ago
I'm interested in going after reading about it, but also scared.
- everybodyknows 4y ago
  There are several documentaries set in Slab City or nearby towns Niland and Bombay Beach -- I found all of them fascinating. Sorry, don't remember titles. A safer alternative destination might be the Fountain of Youth Spa, which has been there since at least the 1970s. But I'd check the recent reviews, and hold off until November at least.

johnny313 4y ago

I visited Slab City and the Salton sea with my family on a day trip from LA. It was a memorable experience, and I would recommend to anyone who is interested. We were inspired by this travelog [0], the history of the area is a cautionary tale. [0] http://www.wanderingboozebag.com/salton-sea-road-trip-itinerary/ http://www.wanderingboozebag.com/salton-sea-road-trip-itiner...

wyclif 4y ago
The Bourdain visit to Slab City and the Salton Sea from No Reservations is here: https://youtu.be/pCRlWY0qL-0 https://youtu.be/pCRlWY0qL-0
- bumbledraven 4y ago
  He's visiting Bombay Beach, not Slab City. Still a great video, though.
  - wyclif 4y ago
    Correct, I forgot about that and just watched it again after years and realised he didn't go to visit the Slabbers. It would have been fun if he went there and ate something, though.

cratermoon 4y ago

Related? https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2022/jul/25/homeless-in-california-the-americans-forced-to-camp-in-the-desert-podcast https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2022/jul/25/homeless-...

xrd 4y ago

I'm so curious how many people from Slab City relocate to Black Rock City (Burning Man) for a week or two. Seems like a similar ethos.

mateo411 4y ago
The ethos is similar, but the demographic is different.
freemanindia 4y ago
There's overlap in travelers who work festivals in the summer, dpw at burningman and spend some of the winter in slab city. There's also digital nomads doing vanlife there. Much of the art has a distinct BRC vibe. The founder of East Jesus was a burner in the art car scene. Last winter there was a giant LED penis up at one of the camps, and spaceport 42 is a collection of 6 burned out trailer chassis planted vertically in the ground.

cconcepts 4y ago

The article has an overlay wanting me to put in my email address. Can't seem to close it with the X in the corner. S9 Android with Chrome browser. Renders the website useless unless I put in my email

moronicalox 4y ago
Seems like certain website elements haven't recovered from being hugged to death earlier, but the "x" is there, just not visible. Keep clicking and it will disappear.
- Jolter 4y ago
  The X is there, but nothing happens when I tap it. Safari, IPhone.
marssaxman 4y ago
The element picker in uBlock Origin will let you just delete the overlay.

aaron695 4y ago

If you go to Google Earth and search 'slab city' you can view it over time. The big thing to notice is the months, the population ebbs and flows with seasons. Google maps (No time shifting ability) - https://www.google.com/maps/place/Slab+City,+CA+92233,+USA/@33.2559807,-115.4620803,63m https://www.google.com/maps/place/Slab+City,+CA+92233,+USA/@...

dang 4y ago

Related: GM has signed an agreement to extract lithium from beneath the Salton Sea - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27866965 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27866965 - July 2021 (180 comments) In California, a journey to the end of the road: the Salton Sea - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25891036 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25891036 - Jan 2021 (46 comments) Salton Sea Notes: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s California Travel Journals (1961) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10240296 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10240296 - Sept 2015 (3 comments)

CryptoBanker 4y ago

Mobile site refuses to let me close email subscription windows… orb the top and middle of he page. Running on safari

rendall 4y ago
Same for latest Android Chrome. Just put in anything@mailinator.com
SOLAR_FIELDS 4y ago
Even though there is no X in the top right corner of the window, I was able to get it to close by tapping the top right corner of the pop up. Also on mobile safari, latest iOS.
zmpeg 4y ago
I was able to bypass this with safari reader mode

ratg13 4y ago

I'm mostly wondering what sanitation is like in a place without running water, sanitation services, and electricity.

mellavora 4y ago

Wonder what happens when the next mega-flood hits. Science: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq0995 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq0995 cnn post from yesterday: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/12/weather/california-megaflood-study/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/12/weather/california-megafl... Last time it happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1862 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1862 search "atmospheric rivers" if you want to know more

lazlee 4y ago

Yeah, I'm old and on a mobile phone but goddamn that is some tiny, awful colored, hard to read font.