SKI INN — Restaurant in Calipatria

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars – A Must Visit Dive Bar at the Bottom of the World!!! ❤️🎿👌

If you're in Southern California and craving an experience that's as raw and real as it gets, make the pilgrimage to The Ski Inn. Not only is it the lowest bar in the Western Hemisphere, sitting at an astonishing 223 feet below sea level, but it's also a living relic of Americana, defying both time and geography.

Walking into the Ski Inn feels like stepping into a parallel universe where salt crusts the land, the desert meets a forgotten sea, and locals greet you like family. It’s hard to believe you’re this far below sea level and still above ground—but that’s just part of the magic.✨️

The walls are covered in signed dollar bills, like the bar’s own quirky wallpaper of memories. The food? Delicious in that no frills, hearty, soul satisfying way. The patty melt is a must. Fries are golden perfection. The drinks are icy cold, which hits especially well after wandering nearby Salvation Mountain, East Jesus or the eerie remains of Bombay Beach.

The locals here are legends, some born storytellers, others just happy to chat about life in one of California’s weirdest and most wonderful pockets. They're what make the Ski Inn more than just a bar, it’s a community hub, an oasis in the middle of nowhere. 🌴

Even Anthony Bourdain couldn’t resist the charm, he visited while filming "No Reservations," drawn to the same offbeat beauty and humanity that pulls in every curious traveler.

Nature, too, plays its part: nearby lies the Salton Sea, a saline lake created by accident in 1905, now a surreal mirror reflecting the vast sky. Birds still migrate here in massive numbers, defying the odds, just like this bar & the Salton Sea. They should be protected at all costs.

If you're looking for somewhere weird, welcoming, and wonderfully authentic, the Ski Inn is it. A drink here is a toast to resilience, weird science, and the beautifully bizarre soul of the...

Visited the Ski Inn about a year ago. Arrived after a day of driving around the Salton Sea and recoiling in horror at the Coachella Valley. Years in the making, I had wanted to visit the Sea for over 4 years and finally arrived. Pulled into Bombay and saw the Ski Inn and its sign flashed memories from the hundreds of photos and videos I had absorbed about the Sea and Bombay Beach.

It was a welcome, purified air conditioned room plastered in bills and the smell of greasy food. Had a Patty Melt, had some beers. After many hours of drinks and chatting about local cultural norms, geological movements and the political agencies that have sway in the survival of the Salton Sea I realized I felt at home.

Steve was an amazing Bartender. Capital B bartender. Dude gets how to host and how to make people feel good and smart. Never met a Bartender who felt so much like an arbiter to his town.

Maybe he could tell I liked it there, because he used his 'cultural ambassador' sway hooked us up and we got to spend the night in a great little trailer-home in the centre of town for a deal. Amazingly furnished and with some strong air conditioning, lived a god damn dream. 80s carpeting and issues of National Geographic on the counter inside and small tremors and a vanishing salt Sea outside.

Either way, Bombay Beach is heaven incarnate in some sort of no mans land. It is a place that exists outside of your expectation of places. An Oasis by the Sea, and Ski Inn feels like...

This is obviously a very busy place that caters to the off-roading group and the locals.

I arrived tired, hungry and thirsty as the 🏜️.

I wandered around looking for a place for myself for about 5 minutes and finally found some where to sit . After sitting for a short time I realized I wouldn't be getting any service where I was so I went back inside. As I was reading the chalk board with menu choices the bartender or hostess walked passed me several times without a greeting. After making my choice I sat down at the bar. To be honest she looked like she had a long day already. I'm a pretty patient person but at the minimum I just would have been happy with a, "Hello" or "Be right with you." Even happier with a cold drink while I waited. I'm pretty comfortable with eclectic clutter so for me to say, "Too much", is something. I understand it's the desert and most of the bar is open to the elements but it just needs a little TLC and some decluttering. I would give it a 5 star rating for an interesting place to go to and I definitely want to try it again. Maybe my timing was wrong and they didn't have enough s taff or I was simply too tired and hungry so I got up and left NOT a happy camper. (sorry I left so abruptly I didn't take...