From the Paris Review, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s journal of his 1961 visit to El Centro and the Salton Sea:
Even at the Salton Sea, the face of death has its smile. In the morning the wind is still blowing but the sun is bright, and life is stirring. Even at the bottom of a well, there’s life.
He took a bus, and seems to have left as quickly as he could, headed for San Diego. It does not sound as though he enjoyed San Diego either.
Love this post, thanks. Funny that I have never heard about his stopover at the Salton Sea until now, considering I’m a poet who loves the Beats & Ferlinghetti. Plus, I spent half my childhood near and on the Salton Sea, as my grandparents had a vacation home out there. Guess Lawrence didn’t make an impression on the locals, either!