At first, this small neglected community could be mistaken for just another remote town decades past its prime; a whistle-stop on Highway 111. But crossing over a berm that separates the main town from the fickle waters of the Salton Sea, the general feeling is of stepping down into a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Most immediately gripping are the dilapidated buildings that litter the shoreline, abandoned by their owners, claimed by the sea then spat out again, broken and bent by the weather and – in a final insult – tagged with graffiti. From a distance the beach itself looks like bright sand and gravel, but it crackles oddly underfoot. Closer inspection reveals the ground to be smothered with broken fish bones and caked with salt.
