A tight-knit community, no rules, junk fashioned into houses and wacky pieces of art and, in the summer, unbearable heat: welcome to America’s Slab City.
An eye-opening documentary takes viewers into the heart of alternative, off-grid encampment in the heart of the California desert about 100 miles northeast of San Diego, with its residents speaking out about what inspired them to make it their home.
Filmmaker Ryan Twomey said he had ‘always been interested’ in Slab City – which he describes as ‘one of the last free places in America’ – so he decided to make it the focus of one of his latest YouTube videos.
In the film, he starts by stopping off at a vibrant artwork known as Salvation Mountain, which was built by late Slab City resident Leonard Knight over the course of many years using local clay.
Filmmaker Ryan Twomey said he had ‘always been interested’ in Slab City – which he describes as ‘one of the last free places in America’ – so he decided to make it the focus of one of his latest YouTube videos. Above, speaking to a resident called Wolf
Ryan spots a structure that looks ‘like a rusty metal igloo’ and he decides to hop out and speak to the owner, a man called DNA
DNA explains that in Slab City there is lots of trash that can be used for building, and some of the materials he used to build his abode included ‘metal from burnouts,’ mattresses, a tree and pallets
DNA tells Ryan to visit another ‘Slabber’ called Dot (pictured) who lives before an area of the community known as East Jesus, as she has a bigger collection at her camp which she has christened the ‘House of Dots’
Describing the attraction, Ryan says: ‘[It is a] clay painted mountain with the message “God is love” and a giant cross on the top of it. It is pretty spectacular.’
A man he meets, called Wolf, explains he is the caretaker of the eye-catching monument and his job is to inform visitors and ensure they don’t do any damage.
He goes on to reveal that he relocated to Slab City six years ago after ‘the laws kept changing in Florida.’
Touching on what the breaking point for him was, Wolf adds: ‘[My wife and I] had a small restaurant business [but] the state passed laws saying you couldn’t feed the homeless.
‘I used to feed the homeless every Sunday out of my restaurant and one day I was delivering food to a security guard that worked in one of the banks and when I came back, I got 26 tickets handed to me.’
Quizzed on what the biggest attractions of Slab City are, Wolf replies: ‘I think the freedom brings people out here [and] the lack of bills that you have to pay.
‘If you brought an RV out here and you parked right there across the street and you made a little encampment for yourself for the winter time, it doesn’t cost you anything.
‘The only thing you have to pay for is here is your own power and your own water… and you never get bugged by no law enforcement or anything.’
After bidding Wolf farewell, Ryan hops back into his RV and drives deeper into the community.
But before he goes too far, he spots a structure that looks ‘like a rusty metal igloo’ and he decides to hop out and speak to the owner, a man called DNA.
DNA explains that in Slab City, there is lots of trash that can be used for building, and some of the materials he used to build his abode included ‘metal from burnouts,’ mattresses, a tree and pallets.
Once finished, DNA reveals that the plan for the ‘igloo’ is for it to operate as a restaurant called The Last Resort.
He reveals that he relocated to Slab City to ‘escape city life,’ and now he spends much of his free time making art and building things from discarded waste.
DNA tells Ryan to visit another ‘Slabber’ called Dot who lives before an area of the community known as East Jesus, as she has a bigger collection at her camp which she has christened the ‘House of Dots.’
On his way to meet Dot, Ryan runs into several distractions, with one including a pitstop at the local library, which he is floored by. The cameraman tells viewers: ‘Wow, a lot of books in here different sections. This place is incredible’
In one scene Ryan meets a man called Charlie who spends his time fixing bicycles
In East Jesus, Ryan discovers an outdoor art gallery where all of the artworks can be touched
Some of Dot’s wackier art installations include a ‘taxidermy dinner party,’ with several deer sat around a dining table and a fridge containing various animal bones
While Slab City – which originally started life as a military camp – has a reputation for harboring criminals, Ryan says he found the community some of the ‘friendliest and most welcoming people’ he had ‘ever met’
The alternative, off-grid encampment is in the heart of the California desert, about 100 miles northeast of San Diego
On his way to meet Dot, Ryan encounters several distractions, with one being a pitstop at the local library.
On stepping into the bookstore, Ryan is floored by what he finds, with multiple rooms lined with books from floor to ceiling. The cameraman tells viewers: ‘Wow, a lot of books in here different sections. This place is incredible.
‘It’s just so unbelievably interesting that all this stuff is just built by people who are living out here, most of which for free.
What is Slab City?
Slab City, a former military base turned alternative community in Southern California, has served as a safe space to thousands of transients, squatters, migrants and retirees since the 1940s.
Just north of the US-Mexico border in Imperial County, the 640-acre public land attracts anywhere from 100 to more than 4,000 people, depending on the season.
The majority of residents, known as snowbirds, only come for the winter months before they head back up north where the weather is cooler the remainder of the year.
Slab City is a place on the fringe, both geographically and philosophically.
Of the hundred or so permanent residents, most have been forced to live there through poverty and survive on social security. There is no electricity or running water on the land.
From the outside, it appears to be nothing more than a rag tag collection of RVs, ramshackle buildings and scruffy tents.
But Slab City has developed into a complex community with cafes and restaurants, a nightclub, a library and even a golf course.
It takes its name from the giant concrete slabs it is built on that were all that was left of the World War II training camp where a group of servicemen decided to stay put after it was decommissioned at the end of the war.
‘It almost looks like a place that you pay $10 for a coffee in a city somewhere… it is way cooler than any other library I’ve ever been in.’
After checking out one of Slab City’s internet cafes and meeting a man called Charlie who spends his time fixing bicycles, Ryan finally makes it to the House of Dots.
The inhabitant, Dot, explains that she has lived in Slab City for five years and she decided to go there so she could see her artist dreams come true.
She tells Ryan: ‘I’ve really always wanted to do some sort of crazy tourist attraction… making art… showing off my art… sharing my messages which are odd and unusual but fun for me.
‘And then… having an opportunity to do the things that I really want to do and not having anybody tell me I can’t.’
Some of Dot’s wackier art installations include a ‘taxidermy dinner party,’ with several stuffed deer sat around a dining table apparently eating human innards and a fridge containing various fish and animal bones.
The creative also has a bus at the back of her property, which she has converted into a thrift store, with rails lined with clothing donations and some of her old wardrobe pieces.
After his visit to Dot, Ryan’s final port of call at Slab City is East Jesus, where he discovers an outdoor art gallery.
A man at the gallery entrance gives Ryan a couple of rules, with these being: ‘Rule number one everything is touchable. Rule number two, if you touch it and it breaks tell them it was broke when you got here.’
As he wanders around the gallery, Ryan appears amazed by what he sees: ‘[There’s a] crazy amount of art here and unlike other art museums, the rule here is [to] touch everything.
‘Some of the stuff out here is actually so incredible, it’s like almost unbelievable.’
Summing up his visit to Slab City – where some of the other amenities include a burger joint, a basketball court and church – the filmmaker tells viewers: ‘This is the last free place on Earth if you think about it because you don’t have to pay rent, you don’t have to answer to anybody, you can claim your own land, there’s no kind of paperwork you got to go through.
‘It’s been quite the experience walking around here meeting everyone and and just seeing the the culture and the art that’s out here.’
While Slab City – which originally started life as World War II training camp – has a reputation for harboring criminals, Ryan says he found it home to some of the ‘friendliest and most welcoming people.’
He concludes: ‘You can be happy pretty much anywhere if you surround yourself with good people and everyone I met today might not be normal by your average societal standards but they were definitely good people. I really enjoyed the conversations we had.’
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