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
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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.
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Great Places for Great Photos
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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.
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