Theres a great documentary "Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea" (narrated by John Waters!) Definitely one of my top 10 documentaries https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TjGAWxL23c

My wife took me to Salton Sea for my birthday. Fascinating place, bizarre history, blistering heat, sobering ruins, but also strangely beautiful, and site of an ongoing ecological crisis that few Californians are probably aware of.

It's close to the Coachella Valley, but you should have seen the look on the concierge's face when we explained we weren't there to golf and shop. :-) Besides just seeing the sea itself, I recommend Salvation Mountain, Slab City, the obsidian fields, and the world-famous (?) Date Shakes in Westmorland.

I first heard about the salton sea from the 99PI episode on it: http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/sea-worth-salt

An engineering boo-boo flooded a giant depression, became an LA weekend resort boomtown in the 50's, and now a lot of is boarded up.

If you can make it during daylight, I also recommend checking out East Jesus in Slab city at the south end of the Salton Sea. It's wacky awesome weird place, the you can (safely) ask the folks at East Jesus for tips on safely checking out more of Slab City (not that there's that much more).

Yes, Slab City is a trip and I was skimming things when I posted. The region and how people live/survive and advertisements for lots/etc. is quite a trip.

Bombay Beach can be an eye-opener.

And a place one should be careful/vigilant.

I found Salton Sea just plain depressing when I was there :). Salvation Mountain is a worth a visit on the other hand.