Cafe

Fifty years ago, the Salton Sea was being marketed as the next great boom in California real estate. Real estate prices were on the rise; the area was going to be like the next Palm Springs, but on the shores of a vast recreational lake. Fishing was abundant, and water skiing was popular. Hotels and resorts sprung up along the shores. The desert was blooming.

Because the Salton Sea has no natural outlet, and unregulated sources (mostly agricultural runoff), the water level is susceptible to fluctuations. Flooding in the 1970s wiped out most of those communities, and they never rebounded.