Slab City – The Last Free Place - Niland, California
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Slab City may be the most wonderful, weird and disturbing campsite in the country. Go with an open mind or don’t go at all.
Annual Events:
- The Range – live music and entertainment every Saturday night
* The Stage Door – live music most Friday nights.* Solar Mike’s Potluck on the last Wednesday in January- Talent Show on the last Saturday in January
- Prom Night – Last Saturday in March. All are welcome and encouraged to dress up.
- Fun Fest – Music and Skate Festival. Held in April.
Sights to see:
- Church of Broken Toys
- Salvation Mountain
- Painted Tanks
- East Jesus
- Pet Cemetery
- Lizard Tree Library
- Squirrel’s Skate and BMX Park
- Gopher Flats (18 hole golf course)
- Slab City Hot Spring
- Makeshift Community Shower
In the slabs
- Mud Pots
- Salton Sea
- Red Hill
Outside of the slabs
Social Clubs
- Karma Kitchen (feedings on Tuesdays and Fridays @ 4pm)
- Loners on Wheels (AKA LoWs)
- The Oasis Club
- Traveling Pals
- The Freedom Cafe
- Christian Center
Services Nearby
Mail Services
General Delivery can only be picked up between 10am to 4pm and is accepted for up to 30 days. If you plan on staying longer and receiving mail, you must purchase a P.O. Box. Small PO Box = $22/6mo, $44/year +$6key
US Post Office
(760) 359-3173
8108 Us Highway 111
Niland, CA 92257
Open Monday – Friday
Closed for lunch 1-2pm
Water and Sewage
Do not expect any facilities in Slab City proper. There are people who do sell and deliver water as well as those that will pump your tanks for a fee but there isn’t any infrastructure what so ever.
Niland Civic Center – $10/dump drinking water free when paying to dump.
The laundromat in Niland has a machine that will fill 5gal water containers with purified water
There is also a water machine at the store (May’s) at the corner of Beal and Hwy111.
There is a free dump station located at a rest area 7 miles south of Niland at 33.08261, -115.52146. Both rinse and drinking water are available.
Trash
Pack it in – Pack it out – Seriously! Trash is a huge issue in on the slabs. Please do not contribute to the problem.
There are dumpsters at the rest area 7 miles south on Hwy 111.
There is a recycling center at the corner of Main and Memphis in Niland. They will give you cash for aluminum, glass, and plastic.
Phone and Internet
There is an “Internet Cafe” on the slabs called the Freedom Cafe. It is located on county road south of Tank Rd. All are welcome. Please leave your dogs at home or expect to tie them up outside. This is now a club and you must become a member.
Members of the Oasis Club get to use their Internet connection.
Sprint and Verizon Signals get stronger as you move closer to the canal.
There used to be free WiFi at the library in town, but it closed in 2010.
Laundry
There is a laundromat in Niland. As of 2012/03, front loading washers(cold water only) cost $1.25 a load and driers are $0.25 for 10 minutes. The next closest is in Calipatria at the Calipatria Queen. Then, Brawley.
News Articles About Slab City
Trouble In Paradise – It’s Hot, Desolate And Ugly, But Now Slab City Is Facing A Real Problem: Progress
February 20, 1994|By Robin Clark, Knight-Ridder Newspapers.
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Noise Level: 
| Amenities: | Activities: - Fishing - ATV Trails |
More free camping in California.
Posted by Anonymous
on Apr 20, 2009
9 Comments about “Slab City – The Last Free Place”
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From Niland, take Main Street east. After 3 miles or so, you will run into Slab City. Impossible to miss. Check out Salvation Mountain, East Jesus and the Range / Stage door on Friday and Saturday nights.
The Slab City Library is a great place to swap out your book collection for ones you haven’t read. Ask around, you’ll be suprised at just how much of a community the place is.
There is also a shower. Near the first guard shack as you enter Slab City. The shower is a run off from a hot spring near by. It is basically an outdoor shower with a bit of privacy. You shower in a culvert below the ground level after climbing down a ladder. It is rather interesting and very cool.
Very interesting place, lots of nice people, watch out for the hippies, hide your beer. Hot springs are great in the morning, right after morning coffee at the oasis club.
Stayed here for close to a year. some nice people great fun and good music on Saturday night at the range with builder bill. Listen to a resident named Chance great musician. quiet and hot in off season and lively and entertaining in season. Great camping experience
The dumpstation at the rest area south of Calipatria is closed as of 12/30/2011. Your next option is to pay $10 at the Niland Civic Center, home of the Tomato Festival. City drinking water is available at no extra charge.
Rest area & dump station are open again. ->
The rest area was open but the dump station was blocked off on 04/10/2012. Vehicle accessible water facets were still functional.
This site is a total dump, literally. I call it “Slob City.” My wife calls it “Dog City.” We had a HORRIBLE time while we were there. We were attacked and vandalized by a mob of drunken maniacs. If you go to this place, which I don’t recommend, bring a gun. It’s a toxic waste zone. The perminant residents of the slabs burn their garbage and explode cans of spray-paint on nearly a daily basis. The dog situation is out of control. The constant barking is a nuisance at best. Bring spare tires. The roads will tear the ones off you have if the “Slabbers” don’t.
I recommend going to the official (un-official) website of Slab City to get updates like if the dumpstation between Calpatria and Brawley is open. (As of Sugust 21, 2012 is IS open…it was closed previously for repairs…it is called Two Rivers Rest Area off of 111 on right hand side going northbound.)
There is no one to dump RV tanks…that service is gone. Water delivery is tricky on account of a guy named “Smiley” (drives black van) reported to the cops the person who was delivering water…(he is jealous cuz he lost his “girl”). So we will see about that.
Trash…yes a problem…no services so residents do burn their paper (and we hope not their plastic). DO use the recycling center…she will take items that she does not pay for, just won’t get money…but ask her. Biggest eyesores caused by scrappers tearing apart old RVs to cash in the metal. Also vagrants come in, camp for a couple months then leave their junk behind, including clothes and toys. Sucks but also a great way for locals to get building materials, netting, etc. If you see an abandoned campsite that is trashed, go ahead and pick through take what you want or take a bag of trash out with you to help out. Thanks from a fulltime resident.