California’s most polluted lake has a post-apocalyptic beach town that refuses to die

Bombay Beach

Back in the 1950s and 60s, Bombay Beach was the hot spot of Southern California. Developers pushed it as “America’s French Riviera,” complete with yacht clubs and luxury resorts.

Stars like Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, and Bing Crosby showed up to party at the Salton Sea and at its peak, more than 1.5 million people visited each year.

Then the 1970s hit with tropical storms and rising salt levels that killed the fish and destroyed the dream, along with the environment around it.

Here’s the story of this rise and fall, plus how you can visit this eerie wasteland that now hosts an annual arts festival.

The Beginning of a Desert Paradise

In the early 1950s, developers saw the Salton Sea’s potential as a vacation spot. The California Department of Fish and Game filled the lake with fish like Sargo, Croaker, and Corvina from the Sea of Cortez.

Bombay Beach soon became known as a great fishing spot. As fishing, boating, and water skiing grew more popular, land prices shot up. New businesses opened to serve the fishermen and their families who came to catch the prized fish.

Marketing the California Riviera

Advertisers called the Salton Sea “California’s French Riviera.” They painted Bombay Beach as a special desert getaway where city folks could relax. Highway billboards showed women in swimsuits water skiing across blue waters.

Ads highlighted how visitors could enjoy both desert living and water sports in one place. The promotions promised a unique experience unlike anywhere else in Southern California.

Hollywood Comes to the Desert

Frank Sinatra often visited Bombay Beach in the 1950s, bringing attention to this desert spot. The Beach Boys spent time at the Salton Sea, adding to its fame. Other stars like Bing Crosby, Jerry Lewis, the Marx Brothers, and Desi Arnaz also vacationed here.

Sonny Bono told other celebrities about the area, bringing more famous faces to the desert. These famous visitors turned Bombay Beach from a fishing spot into a playground for the rich and famous.

Bombay Beach at its Peak

By the late 1950s, over half a million tourists came to Bombay Beach each year. In the 1960s, the Salton Sea drew 1.5 million visitors yearly—more than Yosemite National Park.

The town grew to include two marinas, four bars, a market, a hardware store, an arts and crafts store, a motel, and a church.

Fishing stayed popular, with anglers catching about two fish every hour during the 1960s. The small fishing spot had become a full-fledged resort town.

The North Shore Beach and Yacht Club

The North Shore Beach and Yacht Club opened in 1959 as Southern California’s largest marina. It became the main hangout for regular folks and celebrities alike. Visitors spent days swimming and water skiing, then partied at the Yacht Club all night.

People wrote their names on dollar bills and stuck them to the walls of places like the Ski Inn, creating a record of who had been there.

The First Signs of Trouble

As early as 1961, scientists warned that the Salton Sea would eventually die from rising salt levels. By the mid-1960s, the lake was showing signs of stress.

Unlike natural lakes, the Salton Sea had nowhere for water to flow out, so salt built up as water evaporated in the desert heat.

Runoff from nearby farms carried pesticides and fertilizers into the lake, harming the ecosystem. These problems began while tourism was still booming.

Real Estate Dreams Collapse

Developer Penn Phillips led a real estate boom in the late 1950s, buying and selling thousands of acres around the Salton Sea. Then in 1960, he suddenly left Salton City without explanation.

His departure left half-built houses, sewers, and empty roads with street signs. Streets named Sea View Avenue and Sea Mist Place led nowhere, standing as reminders of broken dreams.

This unexpected exit marked the first major business to abandon the area.

The Ecological Disaster Unfolds

By the late 1960s, fish and birds at the Salton Sea started dying as the water quality worsened. Salt levels rose from about 38 parts per thousand in the 1950s to levels that killed most water life.

Low oxygen in the water killed masses of fish that washed up on beaches and rotted in the hot sun. By the early 1970s, dead fish lined the shores, creating bad smells that drove tourists away. Beaches once full of swimmers became graveyards for fish.

The Devastating Floods of the 1970s

In the mid-1970s, heavy rains and farm runoff caused shoreline flooding. Hurricane Kathleen hit Southern California in 1976, making the Salton Sea rise eight feet in just three hours.

Another hurricane struck in 1977, destroying buildings that survived the first storm. Parts of Bombay Beach nearest to the shore went underwater as these rare tropical storms brought massive flooding.

These unexpected disasters sped up the decline already happening from ecological problems.

The Last Resort

Workers built a protective wall in the 1970s to shield western Bombay Beach from more flooding. Despite this effort, areas beyond the wall stayed underwater or buried in mud. Builders left their half-finished projects after the floods, never coming back.

What locals once called the “miracle in the desert” became known as an “ecological nightmare.” The town became almost a ghost town as plans, money, and developers disappeared.

Visiting Bombay Beach

Bombay Beach is on the eastern shore of the Salton Sea in Imperial County, California. The exact address is Bombay Beach, CA 92257.

This small community has just one main business – the Ski Inn restaurant and bar at 9596 Avenue A, known for its dollar bill-covered walls and patty melts.

The Bombay Beach Biennale art festival happens each spring, bringing new art installations to town. YThe shoreline has unique sights like the half-sunken buildings beyond the protective berm.

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