Bombay Beach
Bombay Beach is located on the Salton Sea, and is the lowest community in the United States, located 223 feet below sea level. Bombay Beach features a large number of art pieces and installations around the town and along the beach.
During the 1950s, Bombay Beach was a popular beachgoing destination. Celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, and Bing Crosby frequented the luxury resorts along the Salton Sea, which was known for its fishing, boating and water skiing. The area attracted half a million tourists annually, rivaling Yosemite National Park.
Bombay Beach’s decline began around the 1970s, when the runoff (full of salty chemicals) led to a warning that the salinity of the lake would no longer sustain wildlife; that occurred by the early 1980s. Many residents around the Salton Sea, including those in Bombay Beach, were eventually driven to move out by the odor of the dying fish, the fear of health problems, and both the flooding and the draining of the Salton Sea. Many of the remaining residents are reportedly either too poor to move out or too attached to the history of the area to leave. A report by the Pacific Institute in September 2019 stated that ten years earlier, “there were some 100 million fish in the Sea. Now, more than 97 percent of those fish are gone.”
There are only two stores in the town, one of which is a convenience store. The Ski Inn bar and restaurant is the only eating and drinking establishment in the town. The “Bombay Beach Drive-In” is an art installation consisting of old, abandoned cars at a drive-in theater. A visitor in 2019 wrote that there were many “discarded homes and trailers long-since abandoned” and that many of the buildings were “windowless husks blanketed in graffiti, surrounded by broken furniture and rubble.”
The derelict “living ghost town” status of Bombay Beach has attracted many photographers, filmmakers, urban explorers, and tourists, to the point that locals tend to ask visitors if they are filmmakers that are there to shoot a documentary. The town, as well as others on the shores of the Salton Sea, is one of the lowest settlements in elevation in North America.
The population of Bombay Beach has been described as “mostly elderly residents” who “live in a grid of mobile homes and eccentric (and, sometimes, elaborate) small homes and shacks.”
Where it is:
Bombay Beach is located in Southern California’s Sonoran Desert. Bombay Beach is located on the east shore of the Salton Sea.
Maps:
Interactive Google Map
Use the map + – controls to zoom in and out, click and drag the to move the map, use the Map drop-down to change to “Map”, “Satellite”, “Hybrid”, or “Terrain” views. Drag the little man icon from the upper left corner to a map location for street level view.
GPS:
33°21’26.07″ N 115°44’2.454″ W
Cost:
There is no charge to visit Bombay Beach.
Hours:
Bombay Beach is always open.
Location Contact Information:
There is no local contact information for Bombay Beach.
Bombay Beach Photo Gallery
Click Here for full page gallery
More Photographic Destinations in California
Interactive Google Map
Use the map + – controls to zoom in and out, use the Map drop-down to change to “Map”, “Satellite”, “Hybrid”, or “Terrain” views. Drag the little man icon from the upper left corner to a map location for street level view. Click on a pushpin for more information about the Photographic Destination, then click on the title to go to the location page.
Click Here for Photographic Destinations by State
Great Places for Great Photos
Let me help you to find a great location for your next photography adventure. I will list many lesser-known destinations, as well as the famous "Icon Locations" for photography. I will provide photos (Lots of Photos), location information, consisting of what there is to photograph as well as other information about the destination. I will give costs, maps, directions, contact information, and other essential information for a successful photo trip. I will only post for locations that I have personally photographed to ensure a quality guide to great locations for photography. If you know of great places that are not posted, please send me the details, I may just decide that is a place I need to go!
Greg Disch is a freelance photographer located in Arkansas. Greg specializes in nature, scenic, wildlife, and other outdoor subjects in Arkansas and other areas of the country. Most of the images on this site are available for sale as prints, personal use, or rights managed stock photos.
Greg offers both classroom instruction and in the field hands on photographic workshops. Classroom sessions are normally held in Fort Smith Arkansas, but arrangements can be made to bring a class to your group.
All classes and workshops have small class sizes designed to provide an optimum student to instructor ratio, where you can get the personal attention, you need. Most classes and workshops are limited to a maximum of six participants and will be held with a minimum of only two.
If you are looking for a wonderful opportunity to get personal individual instruction, I do private workshops and classes at a location of your choice, whether doing a location photo shoot, coming to your home or business, traveling across the country on a road trip, or at my classroom. This is a fantastic way to learn digital workflow and be sure that your computer equipment is properly configured for optimum performance.
Leave a Reply