Bombay Beach is a small town along the shore of the huge Salton Sea in the southeastern California desert. Popular with “urban explorers” (people who like to explore abandoned man-made structures), the town was once a thriving lakeside community.
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I can’t talk about Bombay Beach without giving a quick history lesson about the Salton Sea; so, the Salton Sea was a nasty accident.
In the early 20th century, the California government tried to divert some flow from the epic Colorado River to the Salton Sink and the surrounding desert communities. They failed horribly and through a series of unfortunate events, they made a huge lake that has gotten saltier and saltier over time.
At first the Californian people tried to capitalize on this new lakefront property by building resorts and communities. They marketed the area as a playground for those who wanted to live the lake lifestyle, and for a while the place was bustling!
Tourists visited the area and small towns popped up (including Bombay Beach), people enjoyed lakefront living, fishing, and water sports.
Talk about making lemonade from lemons! Right? Right???? Actually…no.
The chemicals from the surrounding agricultural runoff into the lake, increasing saltiness, and lack of anywhere for the water to flow caused the lake to slowly become pretty dang gross.
It got super polluted from the runoff and the salinity killed off most of the fish, and still to this day massive quantities of dead fish wash ashore from time to time. Between that and the bacteria and algae blooms, the lake stinks. Literally.
Long story long, Bombay Beach is now a shell of its former self and attracts weird people who like to explore decaying buildings (I can say that because my husband is one of those weirdos).
Bombay Beach is on the eastern shore of the Salton Sea, just about an hour southeast of Palm Springs. It’s a very small town set on a grid, so you can easily see everything there is to see in an hour or two.
And pretty much everything you’ll see is weird.
Up until recently, Bombay Beach was known for its “urban” decay. The majority of the town’s buildings sit abandoned, with broken windows, graffiti-ed interiors, and weeds growing through foundation cracks.
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The eerie vibe of abandonment envelops you as soon as you cross into town, and the lack of any normal street or resident noise is unsettling.
There are still a few people who live there, but I can imagine that it takes a certain type of person to stay in such a place.
Being right on the edge of the Salton Sea doesn’t make things any less strange. The lake is slowly drying up, revealing more and more dusty shoreline.
What once were lively marinas and boat ramps are now huge scars in the earth, sometimes overcome with the unique stench of the polluted lake.
The first time I was there, the shoreline was littered with dead and decaying fish. This most recent time spared us from that experience, I’m not sure if it’s something that happens cyclically or it has stopped altogether.
In recent years, artists have started to move into the empty, abandoned spaces. Away from many prying eyes or any type of homeowner’s association, they’ve begun to turn some of the town’s decay into art installations.
The empty buildings and piles upon piles of trash have been used to create interesting pieces of art, free for anyone to come and enjoy. Or change, or destroy, or whatever you want to do to them, I suppose.
The Bombay Beach Bienniale is a recently imagined annual event, a poor man’s Burning Man of sorts where artists, locals, volunteers, and visitors get together for a full weekend of creating and showcasing art. The website describes it as a “renegade gathering” which aims to transform Bombay Beach into “a year-round cultural destination”.
The newly added and ever-changing art doesn’t necessarily change the “weirdness” factor of the town, however. It was still pretty interesting to see all the trash arranged into art.
There’s one particular “city block” that has been taken completely over by artists, where some of the hollowed-out buildings have been painted in different colors, had things strung up from the ceilings (such as dozens of toilet brushes in a very green bathroom), and had a swimming pool of brown carpet filled with tiny plastic baby toys.
Yep, I told you it was weird.
What’s in Bombay Beach aside from empty buildings and unique art?
There is one small market in town, and 2 places to eat and drink, the Ski Inn and the American Legion.
The Ski Inn is an interesting place, you can grab a “passable” burger there and check out the walls which are decorated in dollar bills. It also claims to be the “lowest” bar in the western hemisphere, sitting at 223 feet (68 meters) below sea level.
The folks from the Bombay Beach Bienniale have been known to put up temporary art galleries and other pop-up institutions, but those change with the wind and are usually only open around the time of the event.
Who Should Visit Bombay Beach?
You should visit Bombay Beach if you love offbeat places and/or abandoned places. Also visit if you like crazy art installations.
You really have to want to see it (and possibly combine it with a trip to Salvation Mountain and Slab City), since it’s really not close to much. But if you like crazy weird places and bizarre art, Bombay Beach is for you.
How do you get to Bombay Beach?
Take the I-10 freeway east away from Palm Springs/Palm Desert for 18 miles to Indio, where you’ll get on Highway 68 South, toward El Centro. Take 68 for about 12 miles and then turn onto Highway 111. Drive 111 for 26 miles, and look for a sign that says “Welcome to Bombay Beach”, where you’ll turn right onto Avenue A.
It takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes to get there from Palm Springs.
When should you visit Bombay Beach?
You definitely want to go in the cooler months of the year! November – April are the ideal months, avoiding the heat of the summer.
Bombay Beach is below sea level, so it gets HOT!
