In the summer of 2006, while in search of the ultimate sign for my series ‘Behind the Signs’, I happened upon Southern California’s Salton Sea. 

A dried up, once fresh water lake, Salton Sea is now but a large puddle of water with sea characteristics. Bordering the former sea, is a lost in time town which reminds viewers of a scene out of a Quentine Taratino film. The nearest gas station is several miles away. Residents, therefore, resort to electric golf carts as a means of local transportation.

Judging from the looks of things, I wasn’t sure that the locals would take to kindly to an African American man roaming their town with a large 6×7 Mamiya camera strapped around his wrist. I was wrong. Some residents pleasantly waved from their desert dusted golf carts as I drove into town. One woman even let me take pictures of her while she tended to her succulent garden dressed in a pink flowered night gown (see image below).

Drive 100 miles west and you will be in the Arizona desert. Drive 100 miles south and you will be on the Mexican border. I decided that once I was done here, I would make my way to the Arizona border. Bad Idea. Way too hot. And I was afraid that I might not find a gas station close enough to fill up the rental. I turned around and headed back to Los Angeles.