The Salton Sea exists by accident. In 1905, engineers diverting Colorado River water for irrigation lost control of the canal. For two years, the entire flow of the Colorado poured into the Salton Sink, a below-sea-level depression in the desert. By the time the breach was closed, a lake 45 miles long and 20 miles wide had formed - California's largest body of water, created by engineering failure. For decades, agricultural runoff kept the lake full. Fish were introduced; birds arrived; resort towns grew. Bombay Beach, on the eastern shore, became a vacation destination. By the 1970s, the Salton Sea was California's most popular recreational area.

The Salton Sea has no outlet. Water enters from agricultural runoff and evaporates, leaving minerals behind. Over decades, the sea has grown saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Agricultural chemicals have concentrated. Periodic die-offs kill millions of fish, whose rotting bodies line the shore. The smell, at times, is overpowering. As the sea shrank, shoreline resorts found themselves stranded inland. Property values collapsed. Population fled. Bombay Beach went from vacation destination to census tract with the lowest per capita income in California. The few hundred remaining residents live amid the ruins of a former resort community.

Into this decay came artists. The Bombay Beach Biennale, started in 2016, brings installations, performances, and sculptures to the abandoned town. Artists work with the existing decay - rusted cars become sculpture, abandoned buildings become galleries. Drive-in movie screens play films to empty lots. A swing set faces the retreating sea. The art doesn't prettify Bombay Beach; it amplifies its strangeness. The result is a landscape that functions as both environmental warning and aesthetic experience. Photographers and filmmakers come constantly, drawn by the ready-made apocalypse. Bombay Beach has become famous for its ruin.

The Salton Sea continues to shrink. As it does, exposed lakebed releases toxic dust - arsenic, selenium, pesticides accumulated over decades. The Imperial Valley's agricultural industry depends on the sea to absorb irrigation runoff; without it, the water table rises. California has proposed various restoration plans, all expensive and politically contentious. Meanwhile, Bombay Beach persists. A handful of new residents have arrived, drawn by cheap land and creative possibilities. Art installations accumulate. The town hovers between death and transformation - too strange to abandon, too damaged to save.

Bombay Beach is located on Highway 111 on the eastern shore of the Salton Sea, about 60 miles north of the Mexican border. The town is free to explore; drive slowly through the streets to see abandoned structures and art installations. The shoreline is accessible but unpleasant - dead fish, salt crust, and smell. Salvation Mountain is 30 miles south; the International Banana Museum is nearby. El Centro (40 miles south) and Palm Springs (70 miles north) have services. The nearest commercial airports are in Palm Springs or San Diego. Visit in cooler months (October-April); summer temperatures exceed 110°F. Bring water, sunscreen, and low expectations.