savoy027

Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova " Love Jesus and keep it simple" Leonard Knight  ( November 1, 1931- February 10, 1914) Salvation mountain is an installation made of adobe, straw and thousands of gallons of paint.  It was created by late Leonard Knight, an outsider artist, who wanted to spread one simple message - "God is Love and God Loves Everyone".   Salvation Mountain located in Colorado Desert near Niland, CA. It stands by toxic water of Salton Sea  and points the entrance to a  "Trailer Park Utopia" - Slab City. "In 1966, Knight quit his job and set out to wander across the country in a 1951 Chevrolet truck as a self-proclaimed "hobo bird." Knight was sustained by deep religious convictions when his truck broke down in Nebraska, he stopped traveling and yielded to a vision of creating the world's largest hot air balloon, with the words "God Is Love" painted on the side. He spent ten years building the two hun...

Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova Bombay Beach, was established in the 1940s and 50s, as the Salton Sea region  became a playground for rich and powerful.  The  city was on course to  become Southern California’s own French Riviera, but the steady rise of salinity in  the Salton Sea led to problems,  like massive fish and wildlife deaths. In the  1970s, a series of tropical storms ruined most of the beach city, and it never  recovered.  Shorefront homes, businesses, and resorts were flooded several  times, before the water finally settled in the 1980s. Today, most of the  city stands  in ruins, making Bombay Beach visually striking and dramatic. Despite its  downfall, some residents refused to go, and still  gladly live in this semi-ghost  town.       I visited the only restaurant for miles around, the Ski Inn, owned by Bombay  Beach residents, Jane and Wendell Southw...

Salton Sea Shore Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova  We were preparing for our trip to Salton Sea area.  Our final destination was Salvation Mountain and Slab City.  But abandoned cities by salton sea  and dead sea itself certainly draw our attention to stop and investigate the area.  We decided to avoid a freeway and get to the area through Joshua Tree National Park.  We cut across Joshua Tree National  park left Mojave desert and came out in Colorado desert right by Salton Sea.  As soon as we reached the area i noticed a strange and unpleasant  smell. The area had post apocalyptic look  with the surrounding structures standing in ruins.  The sea was the dull blue of a cataract, surrounded by small volcanoes, bubbling mud pots, and ragged, blank mountains used for bombing practice by the Navy and the Marines .  It was hard to imagine that once upon the time this area was known to be a paradise , "a germ in a desert ...