Slabbers, Class of 2013-14

To me, Slab City is all about the people. This year I photographed many

friends and acquaintances. This photo of a school bus-dwelling mother

and child is one of my favorites. The early morning light gives 

the scene a warmth that highlights the intimacy of the moment.

Crystal & Musician, Tyler Gregory, and their little dog too, from Lawrence, Kansas.

Nicole and Fredo, parasailers from British Columbia. Nicole led 

a morning yoga stretch four days a week. It helped my back a lot.

Rich & Mary, friends from my first year in Slab City.

Steve, the tower builder at his East Jesus installation.

Jake and John, a good musician and powerful performer

Musician, Neil Mallick, soon to do a European concert tour

Norman

Pepe & Sue, musician friends

I also set up a photo booth on multiple occasions. 

Here are some of the favorites of friends from those session:

Glenn, Jennaveave, Peter, Builder Bill

 

John the Bon, Ross, Randall, Chili Bob

Mary, Barry, Mike & Sober, Shannon

Nancy, Stick Man, Electric Ed, Taylor 

Dolphin, Coyote, Steve, Matthew 

Aaron, Squatch, Mike, Helen

Val & Johnathon, Sage & Hazel, RJ & Hannah

Mike & Lynn, James, Radio Mike & Andra

Dave, Peter & Shannon, Jody & Ann 

Beryl, Barry, John, Leo

Change, Matthew, Peter & Taylor, Ann

Near the Chocolate Mountains Deep in the Colorado Desert

The western sky and landscape can be just amazing. Beautiful! 

I've spent the last three, unseasonably warm months in Slab City, California.

What a place! This is my third season here and the Slabs are as amazing as ever.

It's the place of eternal Anything Can Happen Day. Tourists drive in,

see the trash and can't believe people can live like this. Frankly, I don't 

see how people can live here in the summer. It's not just the 120° heat; the

critters here are no picnic either. The ants, for example can give you a bite

worse than any bee sting and it lasts a week.

But just look at these skies:

This is Salvation Mountain, from which much of what is

Slab City has spawned. The thirty year effort of 

Leonard Knight, a visionary folk artist, the Mountain has become

a popular tourist destination. For some, like me, it is a point

of first contact with Slab City.

Leonard entered a nursing home two years ago and died this winter.

His absence from his home began a series of events that will mean big changes  

for the Slabs. The Mountain is now a protected historical site. Efforts

are being made to protect and preserve it. Here's an article 

from the local newspaper about the latest developments and controversies.

Far Far Away

I went to Ojai (or as my GPS says: Ojay) a lovely little town 

where I stayed in a much more bucolic park nearby.

Amanda flew out to LA to visit her friend Jessica, her new baby, 

Carter, and husband, Montrel. They live in Beverly Hills. So I went there. 

Here's Irv among all the other fancy rides on Rodeo Drive. There are a 

BMW, two Benzes and, almost hidden, a Bugatti. I like to 

think I brought a little class to the grim little lives of the Beverly Hillsians.

Here's a pregnant Rodeo Drive palm about to give birth.

I met Amanda and her friend in Santa Monica for lunch 

and then took a walk to the Santa Monica Pier.

They were filming a scene for something there.

And some pretty good busking going on. The sax player 

here is Carl Catron and these guys rocked!

Venice Beach is a short drive from Santa Monica so we went there too. 

This is the second time I've been to Venice and the second time I've 

been approached by a medical canabis card hawker. 

I'm not sure if I even qualify since I'm not a California 

resident. I think it was $50 for the card and then they'll dispense 

medicine right there too. One-stop existential pain management.

I'm pretty sure this guy was here the last time too.

There's always stuff going on in Venice. 

These guys were filming using a video drone.

The skateboard park is pretty amazing. Huge too.

Driving in LA is the worst! DC has bad traffic - some 

of the worst in the country - but LA is worse. DC is basically 

just a big bottleneck. LA has that but the drivers are nuts! 

Motorcyclists take advantage of the jam ups by driving between the cars. 

And when traffic does get up to speed, people are weaving in 

and out of lanes at high speeds, nobody wants to let you merge and 

road rage is rampant. I couldn't wait to get out. 

From there I went to Las Vegas to visit my friends, 

Joel and Deann. Again, Vegas is beautiful once you get out of Vegas.