1 April 2002 We take a look at the American pensioners who have chosen to spend their retirement on a decommissioned military compound. Produced by ABC Australia Distributed by Journeyman Pictures
lenord , insane wayne r.i.p., builder bill all the slabers, what a truly unique place in America, and something to see in these times of uncertity. love it there
This video is a fascinating. I never heard of Slab City before so I find it really interesting. The graffiti is amazing. I'm all for happiness for anyone who can find it and this place seems to have lots for everyone.
i live in a town called brawley, im like 20 minutes away from there, that places is prety awesome, theres like an old dried up olimpic pool that i go skate sometimes. Theres some nice people out there
Adolph's single 80W Solar pannel would have cost about $500 US in 1992. In Australia they were $1000 each when we bought our first solar system in 1993
the pure simple freedom and worrieless life of this place and what soome have done to get there is truely amazing my hat is off to you who go out on life on your own i only wish i could do the same
The marine base was torn down in the 40's. Teens used to go out there from Niland and Calipat to go roller skating. Those that first started living out there were having a hard time making ends meet and figured their meager income would better serve their families if it went towards the basics (food) rather than keeping up with city life. Students received their education and given every opportunity to get out. Realize the current residents do not represent the spirit of the original residents.
Camp Dunlap was was commissioned on October 15, 1942. The camp had fully functioning buildings, water, roads, and sewage collections. The base was used for three years during the war.[5] By 1949, military operations at Camp Dunlap had been greatly reduced, but a skeleton crew continued on until the base was dismantled. By 1956, all buildings had been dismantled, but the slabs remained.[5]
@BeingNobody1Reply956 Yes this place is still here. Safest place to be right now. When everything crashes it is best to be close to the ground. Fall short. Hurt way less. Good advice.
Hey - Another year has passed. Looks like this season is shaping up quite nicely. Over at the Freedom Cafe right now. Quite nice. Johnny Cash on the speakers. Dogs at the feet. Does it get any better?. Warren339 I don't have any idea what you are talking about. Just get clicking noises when I read your post.
This is amazing and bizarre, and should be documented in a feature film, not just cartoons and video clips. A truly American and Californian landmark, this Sal City and the Salvation Mountain, should be protected as an official national treasure. Something as quirky as this place has to be remembered for centuries to come. Since it;s old base land, have some kind of salvation army like crew come in and clean up the Salton Sea are and revive the little town as a state park with its mountain!
One thing that this does not get right. It is NOT a public park. The land is owned by the state of california, and people started to squat on it, and since it is in the middle of the desert and the local depressed community loves the snowbirds coming in the winter as they buy water, food, Petrol, and fuel from the local stores, no one got around to moving them off the land. However it has never been put into parkland.
I'm sure they would have devised --not a system, though more like an area(preferably down windLOL!) to dump their waste. As for where they get their water? ...I'd figure for those that live there year-round, there would be something on-site, or they'd go somewhere to do so. Though those are very good questions :)
There is/was a water boy. Most who live full time have 50+ water tanks. The water is not great. Some buy water in town or drink beer...oh my...Most have honey holes. There is some old sewage system from when it was part if Dunlap, some might use those...Most would get water and dump off site if visiting. Not sure of closets dump.
Ah! Mooseturd Pie! That's from an old New Utah Phillips story about working on the railroad way back in the Great Depression, I think. He spoke of "Gandy Dancers" who would jump up and down on the boards to set the ties in. But the pie is about the rotation of cooks. If you didn't like the food, you became the cook. So when served mooseturd pie he yelled "My God, it's Mooseturd Pie! It's good though...." New Utah Phillips was many times elected King of the Hoboes. Champion story teller.
@BeingNobody1956 yeah the place is still here. Water comes from a few sources. Two in town. Niland, CA. The gas station and a grocery store called Mae's. There is also a local guy and some pull their water from the canal covertly and sterilize using reverse osmosis and UV.
You have to have water to seep. it never rains. You bring your water from town. There is an artesian pond. Water pollution will never be a problem. Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose and then you end up in Slab City. Not a lot of Mental Health. Other than stealing everything thats not welded down, crime is mainly petty. Sunrises and sunsets are great. Its what you do in the mean time that is the shits.
@deaddoc .... in the lower San Joaquin Valley west of Fresno, where the region has become a near third world enclave where the state seems to have forgotten to look. My mother in law used to own some land in that area. The state of California seems to have completely abandoned it.
@deaddoc Just the cost of attempting to regulate that is all alone breaking the local and national budgets. Everyone and group is out for themselves alone and will play any card (read race, ethnic, or sexual) to gain advantage. The parasites far outnumber the host's ability to support them, so it is a sort of cannibalism. Don't agree about the larges gap ever between haves and have-nots, I can think of a lot of bigger gaps in history but the size of the two is probably something new
all this negative comments heir don't exist anymore when u see all the many new videos made about Slab-City now'a-dayz so that shows how much ppl have changed just in ten years or so when it comes to homelessness in america.
@wow06 As you correctly stated, I am a soldier, and when I go back to my foxhole It's so that men and women can live lives that they can't live anywhere else. It's for opportunity, for freedom and for quality of life. It's not for wasted opportunities.
@Alpha1Bravo1Charlie1 yeah I had a bit of an outburst there, but thanks for the thoughtful reply. I understand your point, and for all I know that could be true for many of them, but I believe for many society doesn't work. The human existence isn't simply to live a capitalist lifestyle and gain as much prosperity as possible, and I don't think you can generalise everyone who choses not to follow that as being uneducated, malnourished and living unfullfilled lives
The sense of community is definately missing. You resign yourself to live amongst others in a twisted little apartment complex with all the chatter noise and clanging that comes with urban life. For every scream, for every bang on the wall I want to answer with my .357, makes you wish you COULD get away from it all.
@WayneSMT agree, I miss my homestead, the apartment which I now reside in (which I was refering to above) seems to sap all sense of self I associated with being at home that I had before. Where you reside adds to your character in a dynamic way. While community does originate with you, connection to your residing suroundings is a part of you and influences how others in that collection are viewed and how you view them. This would be a great topic for a class, thanks for your input.
Slab city has a since of community until the weather changes and most leave. Awesome community bullshit. Thank God, they come back to see what happened to those who died.
AGREED! If living standards improved they run the risk of PROSPERING! Nah, not these unmotivated people. Besides that concept requires inviting people into their "commune" (which they dont want) w/ further education & knowledge on such subjects, setting goals & planning. Their excuse is they want to escape "MATERIALISM" when actually they just don't want to be responsible for anything or anyone. They're NOT too different from the people who live under our highway overpasses & Thats their right.
@biscuitfarmer Really? I think you assume to much. Almost all are retired RV'er. People who live in their RV's year round for the economy and freedom it brings. Slab City's population swells in the winter with way less staying year round. There are no camping or parking fees is the biggest attraction.
jamesc, No there isn't a lot of crime -- they largely police themselves, but the City is also broken down into various communities. For example, all the single women live next to each other, all the families (yes, there are kids there) live near one another, and the seniors are all together for the most part. The only real problem they seem to have is with the families that won't send their kids to school and don't home school either. They boot out the troublemakers on their own.
Yes, in making a comment on this video about living in a van , that I've seen here on youtube , I would like to say that I have been in a van , a 91 GMC van for approximately two years now and I love it . I once lived on Beach Boulevard property for like 34 years , I sold my home, I didn't lose it, but after going through a divorce 14 years ago I had to start all over again and a van is like a steel tent on wheels, I have an inverter here, I joined the gym so a gym that I can go to 24 hours around the clock so showers and getting cleaned up and tending on to health needs have not been a problem and even before then down here in Long Beach , Mississippi you can park on the beach enjoy the beach everyday, which I do I'm usually six or seven days a week out in the Gulf of Mexico on an inner tube , enjoying the Sun and the water and if I want to take a shower without going to the gym there are free showers here on the beach and there are eating establishments across the street from the beach, a service station, Waffle House, and seafood restaurants , it is really nice down here on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and so anyway folks living in the van isn't that bad after all , see now I can live on the beach and not have to pay taxes, but when living on the beach for 34 years in the house, taxes had to be paid , so it does have its advantages and it grieves me when I hear some men's wives on some of these videos make a statement that they had told their husbands that they would divorce them before living in the trailer or probably even more so they would if living in a van, my response to that is I think you're a bit spoiled like most Americans are with all the conveniences and luxuries of life that we've been blessed with for many years and I think that everybody needs to get a different mindset and get ready for hard times because hard times are not only here but we're getting ready to face nuclear war under this president that we're under right now, the Bible does not lie , and it lets me know Americas going to be hit by nuclear bombs folks, and once an Ahab takes control over any nation just read what judgement fell on the land when Jezebel and Ahab we're in control, what when you have a Supreme Court that's in agreement to legislate that which is an abomination in the sight of God , you can look for problems and the problems are here and they're only going to get intense so America look to lose more homes and so you need to start getting ready cuz you're not going to be in your home much longer, even get a tent, even though I've got the van I've even got a tent because of something ever happens to the van I'll at least have a tent over my head and God wants us to be thankful no matter what providence brings our way because this is not our home anyway we've got a better home waiting for in heaven, thank you Jesus, Amen. Visit my youtube channel moseseseseses, free lessons in French, Spanish, and Gregg Shorthand. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
Forcing someone to pick criminal 1 or 2 is not freedom, it's trickery (Plurium Interrogationum). "Does your mother know that you're a murderer yet?" To answer yes or no is unfair, the system needs rethinking. US representative electoral democracy is something along the lines of "Chose one of the following: conservative capitalist or ultra conservative capitalist" -- what if you want freedom from exploitation and state oppression, it would be unfair (fascist) to pick a capitalist.
This is were all Americans will be head for in their retirement years except for the rich people of America. This is what the rich would call ===== the great America society.
Apathy!? Apathy is not attempting to change anything, and going alone with this warmongering system! We have no true choice, just options (usually A or B). I AM dealing with reality, I want liberty -- it's not some crazy idea. Oh, and I answered your question.
These were my friends I was young... now they have all passed and I'm still here in slabs missing my friends
Did I know you did I know JJ I know you must know Bucky
@@maxinerhynes4024 I know Buck
Your an og
@@slabcitybackofaquadturnedup you enjoyed very much in old slab city days? With your frnd
Crazy how just 14 years seems like a lifetime ago
yes there is. I am using it right now
I think Salvation Mountain is just wonderful!!!
"Would you like to eat one?"
"Noo.. no I'm alright"
"Are ye scared?"
"..yeeh.."
lenord , insane wayne r.i.p., builder bill all the slabers, what a truly unique place in America, and something to see in these times of uncertity. love it there
Real People Living Real Lives
Bo had some awesome Old School videos of the wild life there and the Old School way's
I see there are also more documentaries. Would like to visit this place someday, in an RV or something. :) Too bad I don't presently have one.
This place reminds me of my son that recently passed away....I lived there when he was a baby, heres a video.
This video is a fascinating. I never heard of Slab City before so I find it really interesting. The graffiti is amazing. I'm all for happiness for anyone who can find it and this place seems to have lots for everyone.
i live in a town called brawley, im like 20 minutes away from there, that places is prety awesome, theres like an old dried up olimpic pool that i go skate sometimes. Theres some nice people out there
Adolph's single 80W Solar pannel would have cost about $500 US in 1992. In Australia they were $1000 each when we bought our first solar system in 1993
SOUNDS AWESOME
Slab city will be a national monument
the pure simple freedom and worrieless life of this place and what soome have done to get there is truely amazing my hat is off to you who go out on life on your own i only wish i could do the same
The marine base was torn down in the 40's. Teens used to go out there from Niland and Calipat to go roller skating. Those that first started living out there were having a hard time making ends meet and figured their meager income would better serve their families if it went towards the basics (food) rather than keeping up with city life. Students received their education and given every opportunity to get out. Realize the current residents do not represent the spirit of the original residents.
Camp Dunlap was was commissioned on October 15, 1942. The camp had fully functioning buildings, water, roads, and sewage collections. The base was used for three years during the war.[5] By 1949, military operations at Camp Dunlap had been greatly reduced, but a skeleton crew continued on until the base was dismantled. By 1956, all buildings had been dismantled, but the slabs remained.[5]
@tinylittlesun "turned it into art?" "yes"
@BeingNobody1Reply956 Yes this place is still here. Safest place to be right now. When everything crashes it is best to be close to the ground. Fall short. Hurt way less. Good advice.
Hey - Another year has passed. Looks like this season is shaping up quite nicely. Over at the Freedom Cafe right now. Quite nice. Johnny Cash on the speakers. Dogs at the feet. Does it get any better?. Warren339 I don't have any idea what you are talking about. Just get clicking noises when I read your post.
This is a very old video; " One Can and David, Desert Rat" Have been dead around fifteen or twenty years now!
This is amazing and bizarre, and should be documented in a feature film, not just cartoons and video clips. A truly American and Californian landmark, this Sal City and the Salvation Mountain, should be protected as an official national treasure. Something as quirky as this place has to be remembered for centuries to come. Since it;s old base land, have some kind of salvation army like crew come in and clean up the Salton Sea are and revive the little town as a state park with its mountain!
May be the strongest city in decades to come
i am glad to see that people want to live like that
No running water? Black widows, scorpions and snakes? Oh my!
@sailingsolar Who the hell uses cententigrade as a temperature measurement? It is the USA and he should be using Fahrenheit like everyone else.
Fallout New Vegas?
Where do the tent and car campers use the bathroom?
LOL At 4:03 "In the Summer, the slab is a furnace - up to 53 degrees."
Ha! That's still pretty damn cold.
53 C is 127.4 F
I lived there for a few years..... I stayed in the summer but, lol I rented in twn....cause I had a baby then
@BADSYNE funny how that has changed over the years. For awhile it was kieffer sutherland
When you get here there will be a place for you. Just kinda works out that way.
This documentary left out the weird dinosaurs revived by the locals also.
Best place to winter
If you think this is the best place to winter you haven’t been anywhere this place is a complete shit hole
One thing that this does not get right. It is NOT a public park.
The land is owned by the state of california, and people started to squat on it, and since it is in the middle of the desert and the local depressed community loves the snowbirds coming in the winter as they buy water, food, Petrol, and fuel from the local stores, no one got around to moving them off the land. However it has never been put into parkland.
I would love to see salvation , mountain. I have an rv but am wondering....where do they fill up their water tanks and dump their holding tanks?
I'm sure they would have devised --not a system, though more like an area(preferably down windLOL!) to dump their waste. As for where they get their water? ...I'd figure for those that live there year-round, there would be something on-site, or they'd go somewhere to do so. Though those are very good questions :)
There is/was a water boy. Most who live full time have 50+ water tanks. The water is not great. Some buy water in town or drink beer...oh my...Most have honey holes. There is some old sewage system from when it was part if Dunlap, some might use those...Most would get water and dump off site if visiting. Not sure of closets dump.
If you need help finding dump sites, I can figure it out for you, have contacts.
Than k s you guys!
Sounds like a dump! Custom made for spineless retreads!
The Real Live American Dream!
bummer, this place is becoming very well known :( oh well...
I see your comment and agree
what happens when someone gets sick?
Yeah, that makes sense... He's certainly started a lot of wars...
im going here this winter!!!
evan p.b. 8 years later
SLOB CITY ?
Ah! Mooseturd Pie! That's from an old New Utah Phillips story about working on the railroad way back in the Great Depression, I think. He spoke of "Gandy Dancers" who would jump up and down on the boards to set the ties in. But the pie is about the rotation of cooks. If you didn't like the food, you became the cook. So when served mooseturd pie he yelled "My God, it's Mooseturd Pie! It's good though...." New Utah Phillips was many times elected King of the Hoboes. Champion story teller.
Sort of like moving to the outback isn't it?
@BeingNobody1956 yeah the place is still here. Water comes from a few sources. Two in town. Niland, CA. The gas station and a grocery store called Mae's. There is also a local guy and some pull their water from the canal covertly and sterilize using reverse osmosis and UV.
Hey look. It's what all of America will look like if Obama stays in power
This aged well
talk to Justin, he built the skate park
HAHA MY NANA IS SO AWESOME IN-LIFE
Is there any kind of sewer?
Lance Boil no
i love these independent people i envy them
I want to visit Slab City!
You have to have water to seep. it never rains. You bring your water from town. There is an artesian pond. Water pollution will never be a problem. Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose and then you end up in Slab City. Not a lot of Mental Health. Other than stealing everything thats not welded down, crime is mainly petty. Sunrises and sunsets are great. Its what you do in the mean time that is the shits.
@deaddoc .... in the lower San Joaquin Valley west of Fresno, where the region has become a near third world enclave where the state seems to have forgotten to look. My mother in law used to own some land in that area. The state of California seems to have completely abandoned it.
It means personal freedom for those who seek it!!!
i agree 100percent
This place sickens me; reminds me of the poverty in the appalachians.
Good. Stay away and keep your opinion to yourself. 😘
@hautpre The British stole the so called Imperial measurement system from the Irish. Now they measure with a system invented by Frogs!
@ 5:57 "Whats the concept here?" , "Its old junk & garbage and I've made a beautiful piece of shit out of it"
OMFG I cant stop laughing :-D
thats 53 degrees celsius lol...
@deaddoc Just the cost of attempting to regulate that is all alone breaking the local and national budgets. Everyone and group is out for themselves alone and will play any card (read race, ethnic, or sexual) to gain advantage. The parasites far outnumber the host's ability to support them, so it is a sort of cannibalism.
Don't agree about the larges gap ever between haves and have-nots, I can think of a lot of bigger gaps in history but the size of the two is probably something new
Reminds me of Fallout: New Vegas
RIP Leonard
@hautpre no, americans frequently mistakenly think an Aussie accent is a brit accent
Does anyone know if there is a lot of crime that takes place at slab city?
Lol, not really.
Libertarians would allow people to live like this but police and infrastructure are included in any ideal libertarian society.
I'm coming your way someday,my Brothers and Sisters:)
Be safe and GOD bless you all:)
Cheers;)
WOW, this is the new America.
For sure the muslims won't want any part of Slab City. Reminds them too much of their own country.
The planet should not be considered as a commodity but as a natural god given right. :) Long live squatters.
No, The quest of knowleadge did
all this negative comments heir don't exist anymore when u see all the many new videos made about Slab-City now'a-dayz so that shows how much ppl have changed just in ten years or so when it comes to homelessness in america.
@wow06 As you correctly stated, I am a soldier, and when I go back to my foxhole It's so that men and women can live lives that they can't live anywhere else. It's for opportunity, for freedom and for quality of life. It's not for wasted opportunities.
Sounds like a very interesting place! I drove through that area many years but don't remember Slab City. When was the military base torn down?
@Alpha1Bravo1Charlie1 yeah I had a bit of an outburst there, but thanks for the thoughtful reply. I understand your point, and for all I know that could be true for many of them, but I believe for many society doesn't work. The human existence isn't simply to live a capitalist lifestyle and gain as much prosperity as possible, and I don't think you can generalise everyone who choses not to follow that as being uneducated, malnourished and living unfullfilled lives
@burnmehdown214
No it's not, I was just there last week, there are still lots of old trailers, RV's and people there.
"beautiful piece of shit"
The sense of community is definately missing. You resign yourself to live amongst others in a twisted little apartment complex with all the chatter noise and clanging that comes with urban life. For every scream, for every bang on the wall I want to answer with my .357, makes you wish you COULD get away from it all.
what's chicklets?? bubble gum??
it's slab city...not cell city.
Hey it's Fallout 3!!
@WayneSMT agree, I miss my homestead, the apartment which I now reside in (which I was refering to above) seems to sap all sense of self I associated with being at home that I had before. Where you reside adds to your character in a dynamic way. While community does originate with you, connection to your residing suroundings is a part of you and influences how others in that collection are viewed and how you view them. This would be a great topic for a class, thanks for your input.
Borderlands.
Slab city has a since of community until the weather changes and most leave. Awesome community bullshit. Thank God, they come back to see what happened to those who died.
I'd grow Marijuana.....
Dude...you can't grow a god-damned thing without water!! Maybe in your drug induced dreams! Besides growing anything means WORK!!!
AGREED!
If living standards improved they run the risk of PROSPERING! Nah, not these unmotivated people. Besides that concept requires inviting people into their "commune" (which they dont want) w/ further education & knowledge on such subjects, setting goals & planning. Their excuse is they want to escape "MATERIALISM" when actually they just don't want to be responsible for anything or anyone. They're NOT too different from the people who live under our highway overpasses &
Thats their right.
@biscuitfarmer Really? I think you assume to much. Almost all are retired RV'er. People who live in their RV's year round for the economy and freedom it brings. Slab City's population swells in the winter with way less staying year round. There are no camping or parking fees is the biggest attraction.
Yeah, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt...then the Tax Payer is on the hook for these people that WON'T contribute to society,,,Sad.
I believe he did.He is my hero.
5k people and no cops or trouble......Sounds like a step in the right direction.
You probably do. look up homeless camps on the internet. slab city is basically a homeless camp. i cant wait to get my rv and go to slab city.
camping in a garbage dump.
Bit harsh, these people choose to live like this not because they have to. Each to there own do you not think?
jamesc, No there isn't a lot of crime -- they largely police themselves, but the City is also broken down into various communities. For example, all the single women live next to each other, all the families (yes, there are kids there) live near one another, and the seniors are all together for the most part. The only real problem they seem to have is with the families that won't send their kids to school and don't home school either. They boot out the troublemakers on their own.
Yes, in making a comment on this video about living in a van , that I've seen here on youtube , I would like to say that I have been in a van , a 91 GMC van for approximately two years now and I love it . I once lived on Beach Boulevard property for like 34 years , I sold my home, I didn't lose it, but after going through a divorce 14 years ago I had to start all over again and a van is like a steel tent on wheels, I have an inverter here, I joined the gym so a gym that I can go to 24 hours around the clock so showers and getting cleaned up and tending on to health needs have not been a problem and even before then down here in Long Beach , Mississippi you can park on the beach enjoy the beach everyday, which I do I'm usually six or seven days a week out in the Gulf of Mexico on an inner tube , enjoying the Sun and the water and if I want to take a shower without going to the gym there are free showers here on the beach and there are eating establishments across the street from the beach, a service station, Waffle House, and seafood restaurants , it is really nice down here on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and so anyway folks living in the van isn't that bad after all , see now I can live on the beach and not have to pay taxes, but when living on the beach for 34 years in the house, taxes had to be paid , so it does have its advantages and it grieves me when I hear some men's wives on some of these videos make a statement that they had told their husbands that they would divorce them before living in the trailer or probably even more so they would if living in a van, my response to that is I think you're a bit spoiled like most Americans are with all the conveniences and luxuries of life that we've been blessed with for many years and I think that everybody needs to get a different mindset and get ready for hard times because hard times are not only here but we're getting ready to face nuclear war under this president that we're under right now, the Bible does not lie , and it lets me know Americas going to be hit by nuclear bombs folks, and once an Ahab takes control over any nation just read what judgement fell on the land when Jezebel and Ahab we're in control, what when you have a Supreme Court that's in agreement to legislate that which is an abomination in the sight of God , you can look for problems and the problems are here and they're only going to get intense so America look to lose more homes and so you need to start getting ready cuz you're not going to be in your home much longer, even get a tent, even though I've got the van I've even got a tent because of something ever happens to the van I'll at least have a tent over my head and God wants us to be thankful no matter what providence brings our way because this is not our home anyway we've got a better home waiting for in heaven, thank you Jesus, Amen. Visit my youtube channel moseseseseses, free lessons in French, Spanish, and Gregg Shorthand.
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
Forcing someone to pick criminal 1 or 2 is not freedom, it's trickery (Plurium Interrogationum).
"Does your mother know that you're a murderer yet?"
To answer yes or no is unfair, the system needs rethinking.
US representative electoral democracy is something along the lines of "Chose one of the following: conservative capitalist or ultra conservative capitalist" -- what if you want freedom from exploitation and state oppression, it would be unfair (fascist) to pick a capitalist.
@HappyHooker83 nowhere near "city" more like self-regulating homeless collective
This is were all Americans will be head for in their retirement years except for the rich people of America. This is what the rich would call ===== the great America society.
Apathy!? Apathy is not attempting to change anything, and going alone with this warmongering system!
We have no true choice, just options (usually A or B).
I AM dealing with reality, I want liberty -- it's not some crazy idea.
Oh, and I answered your question.
@NoiseMostBeautiful sense of community is based upon perspective. Others would strongly disagree with you. Community begins with the self first.
@whatweshouldknow LOL SHE ACTUALLY IN MY GRANDMOTHER AWESOME SHE'S A STAR
Thanks for the laugh bro
the future of america is already here.
lol cool
I got skarit