The city allows people to build houses and camps everywhere without having to buy land

Slab City is the nickname of the land located in the heart of the California desert, 160 km from San Diego. Here, people can camp and build houses anywhere without having to spend money to buy land or rent a house. People who drive here from far away can choose any open space and start setting up tents, camping out for the winter or as long as they want without charge.

Slab City has full infrastructure to serve the minimum needs of people such as libraries, burger shops, Internet cafes, art galleries and solar power systems. The free life in the desert with the harsh summer sun attracts the attention of many tourists. Many people have visited this place to better understand the inner world of Slab City and call it "one of the last free places in America". Filmmaker Ryan Twomey visited Slab in late February, hoping to find out what inspired hundreds of people to make the desert their home.

“I think freedom brings people here and you don't have to pay bills except for your own electricity and water,” Wolf, a resident, responded to Twomey's question. 6 years ago Wolf and his wife owned a small restaurant in Florida and regularly gave free meals to the homeless. When the state passed a law banning feeding the homeless, Wolf was fined for violating it. Therefore they decided to move to this place.

Where people can build houses anywhere in America

Wolf said the most attractive thing about Slab city is "freedom", life has no rules but nevertheless the community lives closely. Instead of using expensive materials, people recycle trash to build houses and works of art.

The first work of art Twomey visits is Salvation Mountain, built by Leonard Knight, a late resident of the city. For many years, Knight painstakingly built the mountain out of clay with a giant Cross perched on top. Wolf said he is the caretaker of this project, providing information to visitors as well as making sure they do not cause any damage. “Pretty spectacular” is Twomey's comment on the work.

After saying goodbye to Wolf, Ryan Twomey drove deeper into the residential area and was attracted by a structure that looked like an "igloo made of rusted metal". DNA, the owner of the tent, said he moved to this place because he wanted to "escape city life". Currently, he spends most of his time creating art, building things from discarded waste.

The location that surprised the filmmaker the most was the city's bookstore, where books were lined from the ground to the ceiling and had many genres. “It's better than any other library I've ever been to,” the male tourist said. Twomey also stops by one of the city's Internet cafes and meets Charlie, the auto mechanic. Thanks to Charlie's guidance, Twomey arrived at House of Dots, a house that looked like a work of art by an amateur artist named Dot. Dot said she wanted to do some activities to attract tourists to this place and share with them quirky, unusual but interesting messages.

Some of Dot's "weird" art installations are "stuffed dinner parties" with stuffed animals sitting around the dining table, next to a refrigerator containing a variety of fish and animal bones. Leaving Dots' house, Towmey continued to visit another outdoor art gallery. This tour gave him "wonderful experiences" when walking, looking around and meeting people.

Slab City was originally intended as a World War II training camp, the inhabitants of which were criminals. Today this place has become a safe space for thousands of temporary residents, migrants and retirees who want to find a quiet place. This 2,6 square kilometer area is located just north of the US-Mexico border and is public land. Depending on the season, the population here ranges from 2 to 100 people.

Towmey said this is where the “friendliest and warmest” people are. After the trip, the male tourist realized that people can be happy anywhere, as long as they are surrounded by good people. The people Towmey meets in Slab City may not be normal by conventional social standards but are “definitely good people.” “I really enjoy the conversations with them,” he said.

Mr. Minh (Follow DM)