Bombay Beach, California
2 days of waiting in southern California, before going to Yuma. We saw on the map a large lake called Salton Sea and decided to drive down and visit this place since it was on the road to Yuma. On the road we decided to turn left into this abandonne town called Bombay Beach. This place is a small town on the eastern shore of the Salton Sea which, according to Wikipedia, had a population of 295 in 2010.
In the 1950s, this town was a getaway for people who liked to go to the beach and have fun. it was a destination for around 1 million visitors a year. The era of Surf music, it would apparently not be uncommon to find celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and The Beach Boys to name but a few.
By the 1970s the sea was starting to get saltier and local farmers and big industries were dumping toxic chemicals into it, so much so that by the early 1980s 97% of the fish were dead and the smell of dead fish as well as the toxicity of the sea had forced tourists and locals to abandon this place and turn it into a ghost town. Over the years, what was once a bustling destination for many has become an abandoned and virtually destroyed place.
Nowadays, Bombay Beach attracts many photographers and young people for shootings and videos.