Salvation Mountain and East Jesus are part of an area known as Slab City in a semi-desert area close to Niland and the Salton Sea in southern California. Originally founded by hippies back in the 1970's, Salvation Mountain itself was started in 1984 by Leonard Knight and over the years built and expanded using whatever materials he could find locally, scrounge from local dumps, or what was donated by well-wishers. He died in 2014.