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Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea | KQED Truly CA

KQED Arts
Documentaries
YouTube
4 HN users recommended this documentary4 months2017–2025 score 5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN recommends it as an engaging, funny and fascinating documentary, and cites it in threads on the Salton Sea's history and environmental decline.

A KQED Truly CA documentary narrated by John Waters about the Salton Sea, a once-glamorous California vacation spot now home to an eccentric community. It covers the area's economic, political and environmental problems and features Salvation Mountain.

“Definitely one of my top 10 documentaries” (HN, 2017)

2 strong recommendations · 2 recommendations · 2 citations · Documentaries

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@nolanpro Jun 2017 Strongly recommends
on HN thread A California Dream
Theres a great documentary "Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea" (narrated by John Waters!) Definitely one of my top 10 documentaries [this video]
Top-tier documentary on the Salton Sea narrated by John Waters
@darrenf Jul 2023 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Poisons and Perils on the Salton Sea
The similarly named Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea is one of my favourite documentaries of all time, I find it so fascinating: [this video] The video made to sell the place as a paradise in the 60s is also fascinating: [link]
Fascinating documentary about the Salton Sea
@scrose Oct 2021 Recommends
on HN thread Where have all the insects gone?
For anyone unfamiliar with the history of the Salton sea and the effect all these chemicals have had on the surrounding areas, check out this documentary: [this video] A part of me wants to visit just to fully take in the reality of it all. But I don’t think my family would be too happy.
History of the Salton Sea and effects of chemicals on the area

Citations, criticism and jokes

@TSiege Apr 2022 Cites it
on HN thread Lithium drilling advances at the Salton Sea
The salton sea is a man made disaster. I couldn't see how it could be any worse than it is now. Given the dire climate situation we're in, it seems like a no brainer [this video]
Linked alongside a remark about the Salton Sea being a man-made disaster
@TSiege Jan 2024 Cites it
on HN thread The lithium revolution has arrived at California's Salton Sea
I remember watching a documentary on the Salton Sea and it interviewed some residents who were holding out that eventually there was gonna be a turn around and kept buying real estate in the hope of that. I wonder how they're fairing now with this latest development Doc in question: Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea [this video]
Documentary featuring residents hoping for a Salton Sea turnaround

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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