Situated on the east side of Salton Sea off highway 111, 232 feet below sea level, it’s the lowest community in the US. This was once a famous night club spot where The Beach Boys and Frank Sinatra are performed. Another article I read said Sonny and Cher came here. That was before 1970’s to 80s when the flow of water ended and the salinity and chemicals in the sea killed off the wildlife. Some still survive. People fish and boat but it no longer is the glamour night spot where celebrities water skied in the day.
Storms and flooding hit the town which never recovered. The town was abandoned but on every street there is a house with all the evidence of renewal. Articles on the internet say that in the last decades ‘intellectuals, artists and hipsters’ have come back to the town. Last year I enjoyed the Beach Church Serive. There’s that sense of revival mixed in with the decay and decline. It’s been described as a living ghost town. 200 or more people are living there. There’s a market and a restaurant bar. I like the Bombay Beach Cafe best.
Today I’m just glad to be here wearing the Bombay Beach Cafe I bought last year and have worn with fond memories all year.
I drove my Thor Hurricane Class A Motorhome to Fountain of Youth RV Hotsprings Spa. Last year I just had my Ford F350 with an Adventurer camper. My Thor feels more at home at Fountain of Youth while the truck and camper felt right in Bombay Beach Townsite and on the beach itself. If Fountain of Youth Resort would be considered up town Bombay Beach is definitely down town. Asked to described this cafe I said it was the original template for Starbucks chain. Elegant with art and gentile interior and outdoor rustic tables. Conversational snd enlightenment. I’ve been in cafe’s in Instanbul and Paris and this has that sense. Starbucks homogenized the idea and frankly I prefer that to the diner cafe that preceded that in North America. Edward Hopper immortalized that with the Night Hawks painting in 1942. Bombay Beach Cafe will one day spawn something. The town could be the location for a zombie or a post apocalyptic movie. Yet in the middle of that is this incredible cafe where the art collective meets. It’s all a bit like Bombay I visited in the 80’s when high rises were going up and the local Indian businessmen were using the concrete walls to support their leantoo shops. There was that juxtaposition of old and new there too.
I love the ambience of Bombay Beach Cafe. Lots of dogs outside today. One table has a beautiful young girl reading alone. Her dog lookedlike a pirate, one eye surgically closed, the other bright and alive. . A dog’s grey beard. Laying close to its master. Loved. At another table has a few older men and women were talking art and regional politic while at another more young women well dressed with slacks and hiking boots were talking health and family. My hearing aids make it impossible not to eaves drop some . I prefer not to wear them but when I do social interaction is facilitated even if I do have to contend with a little Superman hearing compared to my normal quietude.
Bombay Beach Town it self is a mix of yards and cottage homes in disrepair and junk interspeaced with functional accommodation or motorhomes. I understand why it’s been called a living ghost town. It’s unique with these oasis about, the market and the occasional well kept cabin, the saloon. When I first rode in on my Vespa last year I had a flashback to an old acid trip. The graffiti and urban squalor in one corner looked like a site for a meth lab. But It was Vietnam era in my mind and I thought of this as a dream of what I thought would be the ultimate place to live. If only there were women who didn’t like to wear clothes too much, wine and pot and I could play guitar some. It was a fleeting memory of a time long ago when I stopped listening to The Beach Boys and tuned into Lead Zeppelin and later heavy metal. A bit of graffiti insanity. A little further along that road the pretty white mariner church anppeared. I’d later attend an inspiring community church service on the beach and give thanks. People are rebuilding the town. They are making homes. Tourists are coming through with dune buggies. It’s is an artists enclave. There’s a a bit of Mexico in America. Quite a few new 350 trucks and new Audi , lots of vehicles. Dune buggies on the beach. A unique place. Very unusual. I’m drawn to it. It appeals to the resilient. I’m glad to have come back. I’ll get another t shirt.
I like the palm trees. Great blue sky today and desert winds. More people have come into the court yard. People say hello to each other. There’s community. It’s easier to understand a place if there’s a factory. I imagine there are retired folk here. I’ve seen some vets. The Vietnam Vet Ball Cap gave one away. Soon the Gulf War folks will be following. I’ve not seen children in town but they are out on the breach. Families atop to look at the weird modern and contemporary art installation art which would be a sensation at the LACMA or Getty.
I like letting Madigan , my cockapoo, run free on the beach. Yesterday he was with six other dogs running free. Freedom comes to mind in this place where it’s in renewal and people are creating the new reality. If you stop and pay attention you can see it. This is a place out of time. Not fixed yet. Some of the junk in front of one house could be junk or a yard sale or collections of colored glass. . It’s a mystery.
Last week when I was in Hollywood I saw the Salton Sea featured in the tv Harry Bosche detective series. I like that I’m here. The cafe au lait was good. I shared the blueberry muffin with Madigan. We’ll be back. There’s a strange appeal.
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