Search “shams”

I took this photo from the top of Salvation Mountain looking out over Slab City. It's all that's left of an old Marine training ground and is now occupied by folk in RVs, tents, and the like. At one point the state tried to evict the people living there as squatters with a bum rap about polluted soil in the area. Later tests revealed that as a sham and so the community (which can swell to some 2500, according to Mike) remains. It's eerie, though.