ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
From NPR News, it's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
And I'm Melissa Block. No street signs point to Slab City, California. From Los Angeles, you head east deep into the desert and then south past the Salton Sea. For years, the abandoned Marine base has drawn loners and outcasts.
Now, Gloria Hillard reports the troubled economy has driven other travelers to the site dubbed the last free place in America.
GLORIA HILLARD, BYLINE: If there was a speed sign posted at the entrance of Slab City, it might read: slow roll. Following the tire tracks of countless RVs, trailers, vans and campers, you pass a landscape of those vehicles that have taken root here, their tires now soft on the desert floor.
VINCE NEILL: You kind of give yourself your own address out here and we're 100 Low Road.
HILLARD: Vince Neill parked his aging brown and tan RV here a few months ago.
NEILL: And then, of course, the RV is - that's for our housing and we all live in there. Me and the wife and six of the kids.
HILLARD: His family's small RV is anchored by a long concrete slab and circled by a couple abandoned trailers and a speed boat filled with bottles and cans. They came here from the Sacramento area. A few puppies are running in circles as a teen in a pink tank top sweeps up debris from recent winds.
ALLIE NEILL: I clean up around the slab. I treat it like as if I was living in a house.
HILLARD: Eighteen year old Allie is Neill's oldest daughter.
NEILL: We're in a transition. We also came out here to experience the (unintelligible) Slab City because we've heard so much about it.
HILLARD: Slab City gets its name from the numerous concrete foundations that dot the land. The state is somewhat of an absentee landlord on this 600 acre patch. Population estimates are anywhere from several hundred to a few thousand.
A nearby RV has a generator. There's no running water, no power lines, no sewage service and no trash pickup, which can give the place a "Mad Max," post-apocalyptic feel. Rusted bicycles and box springs peek through small mountains of twisted metal.
Walking down Low Road, you'll come upon the Oasis Club where a few residents are sitting at an outdoor table rolling their own cigarettes. A camper truck piled high with belongings approaches. They look up warily.
TENNESSEE KEN FREELAND: This looks like a newbie coming in.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: A newbie coming in (unintelligible).
FREELAND: There's people - before you take anybody's picture, you want to ask them and make sure it's OK because there are people out here that are being stalked. I know a couple women.
HILLARD: Tennessee Ken Freeland is a man of undetermined age and background in a cowboy hat and plaid shirt. This is his fourth year.
FREELAND: Out here, nobody bothers you. You treat people the way you want to be treated and everybody gets along great.
HILLARD: To be a member of the Oasis Club, it'll cost you $20 a year. Coffee is served from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00. Lynne Bright pretty much runs things here. The 55 year old says some people who come to Slab City have a misconception about the place.
LYNNE BRIGHT: They think that - come to Slab City and you will be provided for and that's the furthest thing from the truth. This little piece of ground that you're standing on is free. That's all.
HILLARD: Everything you need to survive, from propane to water, you need to buy or bring with you. The former public service employee met her husband here three years ago.
BRIGHT: I like the community. I like what I do. I like being not part of the stuff out there in the world. I like being unplugged.
HILLARD: Toward the end of Low Road, the desert neighborhood starts to change. There's no trash and the motor homes are, well, more expensive. Rick Lee recently sold his house in Texas and bought one.
RICK LEE: It was better for me to just go ahead and take the loss and sell it, and since I've been out here, I've heard quite a few people that's done the same, so...
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HILLARD: Michael Depraida operates Slab City's pirate radio station out of his fully equipped 1995 polished and solar-powered Airstream. He's an artist from New York.
MICHAEL DEPRAIDA: Up until 2008, I was doing very well, and 2008, the art market collapsed for me.
HILLARD: He still does his artwork and sells custom designed t-shirts for the increasing number of tourists who drive by.
DEPRAIDA: There's a great sense of community here.
HILLARD: One of the first communities here years ago were the snowbirds, mostly retirees that flocked here in the winter. In fact, Low Road gets its name from a club called Loners on Wheels. Gas barbecues and lawn furniture take their place in front of fully equipped RVs.
Sixty-two year old Barbara Russell agrees, it doesn't look like the rest of Slab City.
BARBARA RUSSELL: A lot of those are young people who have run away from this or that. We haven't run away. We've run to.
HILLARD: The sky has turned a shade of turquoise, and in a few more weeks, the desert flowers will bloom. Come May, temperatures can reach over 120 degrees here. That's when the snowbirds will depart and only the rattlesnakes, scorpions and Slab City's most hardy residents will remain.
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HILLARD: For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard.