The Waretown House

When I came out of this house there was a man walking by. He asked me what I was doing. I told him I wanted to document this house cause eventually it would crumble or get torn down. He got very sad and told me he hadn't been inside for at least 40 years. 

He said the family had died off and the house became abandoned. I asked him if he knew that there was still some furniture and stuff in there. He shook his head and walked off saying, "I ain't going in there ... ".

The Salton Sea

Bombay Beach is on the Salton Sea and is a three hour drive from LAX. The closer I got, the fewer cars there were on the road. At one point, I passed an abandoned gas station, where I stopped to take pictures. It was right out of a movie, with a very tall distressed sign that simply said, “Gas” on top. There was also a sign that said, “Open 24 hours” which I found amusing.

Back on the road I passed a vacant liquor store, an abandoned café and several entrances to beach parking lots that were closed due to “budget cuts”. The road I was on, Highway 111, paralleled a railroad track. Several trains passed me going the opposite direction. Ancient telephone poles lined the way to my next stop, the North Shore of the Salton Sea. To my surprise, the former abandoned North Shore Yacht Club had been renovated (yet sits “CLOSED FOR THE SEASON”) overlooking the very peaceful and still, Salton Sea. I wandered down to the water’s edge. The Yacht Club/Museum looked colorful and quite beautiful from this vantage point. The palm trees looked picture perfect. The sea itself was breathtaking but very still. It was also much larger than I expected. Hard to get a sense of scale from maps and on-line images.

A few blocks from the sea were several abandoned buildings. I walked around quickly, snapping pics and swatting flies. Flies were everywhere. There was no sign of anyone else in this little town, but probably because of the 108º temperature. If anyone was there, they were surely indoors with the air on. 

South of the North Shore was the welcoming sign for my next stop, Bombay Beach. I drove right past the only bar in town, The Ski Inn. Realizing I had forgotten to bring any water, I pulled into the parking lot of the Bombay Market. Thru my windshield I was greeted with the words, “HE LIVES” painted on the front of the store exterior. I put on my shirt and my $14 cowboy hat, and went inside. The woman behind the counter was very down to earth and friendly. I bought some water and Gatorade. She told me that people have come from all over the world to see her little town. I asked her if it drove her crazy and she said, “oh no, not at all!”. She told me to explore the town and to park wherever I wanted. I said, "Wow, you can't park wherever you want in New Jersey!" She recommended driving over to what has become known as “the Sunken City”. 

I drove up over the dike and immediately saw the ruins of the Sunken City. It’s an area of several small houses and RV’s that have been swallowed by the sand and the Salton Sea. It was an amazing sight, even if there is not much there to see. I drove over to the water's edge and parked my rental car. I jumped out like a little kid on Christmas morning. I was hit in the face with a blast of heat and this time the horrible smell of rotting fish. There were dead fish everywhere! Long story short: apparently, high levels of salt in the water kill off many of the fish. It was gross and weird and kind of awesome. And no wonder I was the only one there. Surely, no one would want to swim in water filled with dead fish or walk along a beach buzzing with houseflies ... or sunbathe in 108° heat. It was kind of crazy. I was sweating like a pig and starting to get nauseous, but it wasn’t enough to stop me from exploring my newfound paradise. 

On the other side of the dike, many of the abandoned houses and RV’s in Bombay Beach were still full with furniture and personal possessions. I had to hit each one. I started at one end of town and walked up and down every street. I did not want to miss a thing. Interestingly enough, among the dilapidated houses and crumbling RV’s were some very well maintained houses. They were not common, but there were a few. It wasn’t long before my camera was so hot that it was burning my hand. I ended up making frequent trips to the car where I could put the air on for a bit. 

Bombay Beach is only one of several small towns on the edge of the Salton Sea. I also hit Desert Shores, Salton City, Salton Sea Beach and nearby Slab City. Each area was similar to Bombay Beach, with characteristics that made them unique. Desert Shores had its combination of abandoned buildings and debris, along with motels and gift shops that were open, even if not especially appealing. My favorite structure there was an abandoned country club near the water, across from a trailer park. 

Salton Sea Beach also had a lot of abandoned houses and trailers near the water. Lots of cool graffiti, too. Abandoned boats were scattered about, as if throw by a tornado. They were part of the landscape and after awhile I became immune to them. I guess that's what would happen if you lived there — you just get used to all the crap around sinking into the sand. 

In Salton City I found what looked like an abandoned pool club. I remember having to park and walk quite a distance to get to the buildings. While there I experienced my first "dust devil". I watched it form in the distance and wasn't sure if I was supposed to run or hide. It quickly disappeared, but I did manage to get a picture. It scared the crap out of me at the time. 

Slab City is a short drive from the Salton Sea and one of the most unique places I've ever been to. Technically, it's a campsite in the Sonoran Desert, filled with RV owners and squatters. It's named after the concrete "slabs" there, leftover from an abandoned World War II marine camp. There are thousands of campers that live there during the winter months, and only a few hundred during the summer. Oh, and there is no electricity, running water or trash pick up. There is also no charge, so it's free to live here. Definitely, another unique place! 

At the entrance to Slab City is a small hill covered in paint called "Salvation Mountain". It's also covered in Bible versus. The religious man-made mountain is 50 feet high and 150 feet wide. It was created by a man named Leonard Knight, who passed away at the age of 82, in 2014. Hopefully locals will maintain the area for future explorers. 

Not a ton of places to eat near the Salton Sea, so I decided to go into the Ski Inn — in Bombay Beach. It was about 7:45PM and there was only one car in the parking lot ... mine. The inside of the Ski Inn was pretty much how I pictured it. It’s a dark, dumpy, local bar. There were pool tables and what looked like an area for a hot buffet. There were also dollar bills all over the walls, autographed by patrons. There were three people at the bar and one of them was the lady that I talked to earlier at the Bombay Market. Small world, especially in Bombay Beach. The bartender poured me a beer and when I asked about food, he told me the kitchen was closed. I said, “Oh, no problem”. A few seconds later he offered to make me a cheeseburger. Perfect! I ended up having two drinks, a cheeseburger and some chips. Nothing special, but it was fun. Snapped a few candid shots of the local drunk at the end of the bar. It was a great way to end the day. He was animated, friendly and ... drunk.

After moving my car, I climbed the dike one more time to get some shots of the sun going down. Amazing view, not only of the sunset but also Bombay Beach. Behind me, was one trailer after another, and not a sound coming from any of them. Peaceful.

To learn about Bombay Beach and the Salton Sea and then to actually get there a year later was pretty amazing? Definitely lived up to my expectations. It was exactly as it was depicted in every documentary and YouTube video that I could find — right down to the dead fish on the beach. Not exactly a family vacation destination, for sure, but still a very special place. I'm so glad I saw it in person.

Poconos Gardens Lodge • The Last Resort

On February 22, 1996, my wife and I drove to the Poconos for a nice weekend away. We had reservations at the Pocono Gardens Lodge courtesy of my mom. We had never heard of this place but knowing the reputation of the Poconos we had a feeling it would be cheesy. We never expected it to be completely deserted. 

We found the place easily, checked in at the front desk and then went to our room. It was on the ground floor, in the very last building — in a string of buildings lined with tall bushes. As we had imagined, there was a big round bed, tacky furniture and thick dated blue carpeting. In the middle of the room was an ornate iron decorative divider that probably looked nice back in the '60's. Then again, it was probably tacky back then, as well. The room also had a large hot tub, a fireplace (with lion heads on either side) and an old TV on an old TV stand.

Once settled, we decided to do a little exploring. The first thing we noticed was that our car was the only car in the parking lot and there wasn't anyone else walking around. Not being familiar with the place, we thought maybe we were just in a secluded area and things were probably hoppin' just around the corner. No such luck. 

We found a large round indoor pool, but again, no other guests. There were plenty of statues, though. One was the Greek God, Poseidon, who looked like the devil holding a pitchfork. There was also music being pumped into this big empty space — echoing — which made it even creepier. It was right out of The Shining.

There was also a game room, all lit up with pinball machines, flashing lights and video arcade noises ... but again, no people. The gift shop was closed and had a big padlock on the door, as if it had been closed for years. There was a large restaurant with a big-screen TV that was on, but the restaurant itself was empty — other than the few people that were working there. A sign in the doorway directed guests to the sister resorts, "Mount Airy Lodge" and "Strickland's Inn."

We took a little ride down the road to Strickland's and had dinner in their restaurant. There were some people there but it was still a strange vibe. After eating we found a huge indoor recreation center. We went inside, where there was no one playing miniature golf, basketball, ping pong, shuffle board, swimming or skating. We actually had to wake up the guy working at the roller rink to get some roller skates. We skated for awhile — just the two of us.

When we went back to our room at the Pocono Gardens Lodge, we were so creeped out we propped a chair up against the door. We tried to relax and headed for the hot tub. Of course when we started to fill up the tub .. brown, dirty water came out. When was the last time someone had turned this water on? Or even stayed in this room? We tried the sink and got the same thing. We called the front desk and they said they would send someone out to look at it. We waited and waited and waited. We called the front desk again, but this time got no answer. The phone just rang and rang.

Enough was enough. We packed up our stuff and drove to Mount Airy Lodge down the street. This place looked pretty sad, too — but did have a parking lot full of cars. We went straight to the office and told the manager that we were from Pocono Gardens Lodge and no one over there was helping us. He quickly offered us a room at Mount Airy, but we said, "no." All we wanted was our money back, which he gave us. 

To add to all the weirdness, there was a freaking peacock on our car when we came out of Mount Airy Lodge. Since when do you find a peacock sitting on your car? We chased him off, got in the car and drove 80 miles home to Elmwood Park. We couldn't believe that we had driven all the way to the Poconos and then back home the same day. Not the way the weekend was supposed to go, that's for sure. 

Now, fast forward to 2004 —it gets better. I took a little drive out to the Pocono Garden Lodge. The gigantic billboard was still there at the entrance to the resort. Could that place still exist? Sure enough, only it was now abandoned, officially. It probably closed down the day after we left in 1996. Now there was plywood covering all the windows ... well, almost all the windows. How weird was it that the plywood had been ripped off of the window to the room that we stayed in eight years earlier? 

I did not have the courage to crawl inside, but I was able to stick my camera in the window and take a few shots. The whole room looked like it had been burned. The furniture was gone, but the tacky ironwork that divided the room was still there., along with the headboard from the big round bed. The fireplace with the lion heads on each side was to my right and there was an impression on the wall from the mirror that used to be there. 

Seeing our old room creeped me out so much that I left. On my way out of town I passed by the other two resorts, Mount Airy Lodge and Strickland's. Both were abandoned and tightly boarded up. There were "No Trespassing" and "Road Closed" signs everywhere ... which means I will definitely have to go back some day. 

After doing a little research, I found out Pocono Gardens Lodge was closed in 2000. Frankly, I'm surprised they stayed open that long.