Lawless cities, also known as ‘slabs’, have been awakening the curiosity of people in the US for decades. The last of them in America is located in California, and its unincorporated status makes it a big focus of attention for tourists and those who wonder whether an off-the-grid lifestyle is possible or just a fallacy.
However, the truth is that California’s Slab City is as real as it comes, though whether it lives up to its reputation of being ‘the last free place in America’ is still up to debate. The internet has shed some light on the real nature of Slab City, allowing everyone to get an insight into how things in this area work, how its inhabitants sustain themselves, and whether it’s as mythical as it sounds.
So what is really going on in America’s last lawless city? How did it turn out like this and who are the people living there? Keep watching to learn all the secrets about them!
Unexpected Beginnings
Why does a lawless city exist in the first place? That’s a question most people ask when they find out about Slab City, an unincorporated area in the Sonoran Desert. This means that the city’s land isn’t serviced by the government, but what happens in Slab City is far more interesting than just being a no-one’s piece of land.
To understand the origins of Slab City, we need to go back to the 1940s, when the US government built a Marine Corps base in Imperial County, California. Following the end of World War II, the base slowly began decreasing its activities, eventually resulting in the dismantlement of the buildings by the mid-1950s. The only physical proofs that remained of that base were the pieces of concrete that lay over the desert’s sand.
Those remaining pieces of architecture, or slabs, were the foundation of many activities throughout the years, becoming at some point the basis for Slab City after snowbirds found the place comfortable enough to stay for a while. Sometimes the stay became permanent and the snowbirds turned into ‘slabbies’, while those who didn’t stay long became ‘normies’.
Lifestyle
The overall lifestyle of Slab City’s inhabitants is quite simple, as they live in recreational vehicles, and have no such things as electricity and running water in the town.
Despite the lack of government control, the sheriff watches over what happens in Slab City and intervenes if necessary. The very few children who live there go to school on the bus, which goes to Slab City despite having no paved roads.
One of the most talked-about aspects of the area is the usage of drugs, and the occurrence of crimes. The slabbies’ preference for methamphetamines has been widely covered by the media, with some sources affirming that it’s because of some of their members’ Crystal Meth addiction that the police are always ready to catch individuals and stop confrontations from happening.
While it isn’t rare for tourists to visit Slab City to get a taste of the camp’s realities, others go there to hide from trouble or simply because they want to stay away from their everyday routines. As NPR reported in 2012, it’s fairly recommended for everyone who visits to ask residents for pics instead of taking them without permission, as many of them could be hiding from potential harm, or have run away from home.
It Has Touristic Attractions
Whale Slab City lacks ruling laws, electricity, water, and many modern appliances, the Slabbies turned the area into a special one by building things that eventually became tourist attractions.
The most emblematic of these constructions is the Salvation Mountain, a colorful construction made out of bricks, and all types of discarded parts including automobile bits. It was initially built in the 1980s by the Slab City resident Leonard Knight, who affirmed that God had given him the mission of constructing a mountain. Though the project collapsed in 1989, Leonard built a second mountain that is still standing, and is decorated with religious phrases and a huge ‘LOVE’ painting.
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There’s also the East Jesus, an art installation, which contrary to what its name implies, has no religious connotations. East Jesus is characterized by its habitable structure which allows slabbies and normies to enjoy live performance events there.
As seen in a report by PBS, many Slab City inhabitants and tourists enjoy art and find a safe and stress-free place to let their creativity out in the town. However, not all of them stay for long, as the extremely hot summer temperatures that Slab City experiences make it hard for most people to spend a long time there during that season. It’s highly recommended to visit during winter, despite the massive number of people who still flood Slab City during those months.
Its Future Is Unclear
Everything about Slab City sounds too different from any other place, but that is most likely meant to change in the next decade. It all comes back to the early 2010s, when the Slab City residents were informed that there were concerns about contamination in the land which came from its days as a military base.
According to Susan Connolly from Eugene Weekly, this bad news didn’t come alone, as the slabbies were also told that the California government would potentially sell the land to a private owner to avoid any liability over the contaminated ground. Of course that didn’t sit well with most of the community’s members, leading them to incorporate as the Slab City Community Group in 2015.
This move was made to prevent a sale and also to establish the community’s rights over their homes and belongings, as many of them feared that a private purchase would take away the haven in which they’d established themselves. In a 2020 Ranker article, it was revealed that the state was indeed intending to sell Slab City, turning the energy industry into the most probable purchaser, due to the complicated status of the land.
Whether slabbies’ fears turn into a reality is yet to be seen, but the potential of them losing the place they consider their refuge is lamentable. One thing for sure is that California’s Slab City is more than an eye-catching place for curious people, but a home for many others, who might otherwise be homeless.
