Over the past 8 years, I’ve really enjoyed sharing links to episodes of the various shows Huell Howser created during his time at KCET in Los Angeles. And I’ve always been very happy to showcase the Chapman University Archives in doing so. But recently their page has changed one single aspect that’s making it very difficult for me to continue — for whatever reason they seemed to have removed the search function on their archives web site. This makes it extra tough for me to choose an episode and then find it in their huge collection. I can’t imagine why they would have done this, and for the moment I’m using Google’s search as a workaround. But I’m feeling so disappointed in this development that I may need to take a break from linking the new-to-me episodes.

This week, I’m featuring a Classic episode of California’s Gold that I intended to share long ago, originally aired in June 1997. Although local artist Leonard Knight is no longer with us, you can still find his creation, Salvation Mountain (listed as a Congressional National Folk-Art Treasure since 2002) out in the California desert. You’ll also still find Slab City there, home to snowbirds, nomads and assorted free spirits, although it’s difficult to tell how much longer that might be the case. And if you’d like to get a better feel for what the nomadic life is all about these days, I strongly recommend the movie Nomadland (2020), starring Frances McDormand. While it’s not a documentary, there is some serious authenticity to the film.

The California desert has always been a place filled with mystery … and surprises! When you travel through our desert you’re never sure what you’re gonna see, who you’re gonna meet, or what strange and wonderful experiences you’re gonna have. Huell Howser discovered that first hand on a recent trip to the Salton Sea community of Niland.

At first glance, Niland is a sleepy little agricultural town once known as a major grower of tomatoes. But a few miles out of town — out in the middle of nowhere — Huell discovered two honest-to-goodness, little-known pieces of “California’s Gold.”

First Huell visits with self-taught artist and desert character Leonard Knight and gets a tour of “Salvation Mountain,” a huge multicolored mosaic of scripture, flowers, trees and the American flag all sculpted into the side of a mountain with adobe, straw, and as much bright paint as Leonard can lay his hands on. “Salvation Mountain” is an on-going labor of love that Leonard started ten years ago and he shares his enthusiasm and his mountain with Huell.

About a half mile down the road, Huell next visits a town that is like no other in our state. Everyone lives rent free. There are no landlords, no official rules and there are no utilities or houses, yet over 3,000 people call it home during the winter months. It’s called “Slab City” and it sits on the site of an old abandoned Marine Base. Its citizens are a hearty bunch of independent, self-sufficient folks who have turned this desolate, yet beautiful part of the desert into an unofficial RV park. Huell spends a day touring “Slab City” in a twenty-five year old dune buggy, meets many of its colorful residents, and finds out why so many of them keep coming back year after year.

(Please click on the linked image below to see the video)