A few days in the desert

Unlike the previous weekend today it's pissing down rain and as stormy as LA can get so it seems like a good time to sit here at the computer and write a bit about the few days I spent last weekend out and about in the desert.
A few of my friends from LA have re-located to various parts of the Coachella and Yucca valley's which are sections of the greater Mojave desert.
Seeing how I hadn't been out there in a while and the weather was perfect for a little bike trip. I called my friend Pat and said I wouldn't mind riding out and do a little photography so he got a hold of our mutual friend Bernie who has a great place in Pipes Canyon near Pioneertown and asked if it would be alright for us to drop by, Bernie said he'd be happy to have us come by and hang out.
So that was all the green light I needed to pack up the Harley Friday morning and head eastbound towards Palm Springs.
I decided to meet Pat at his place in Cathedral City park the bike and then from there we'd go cruse around Desert Hot Springs where I wanted to take a few pictures of some old neon signs...... then from there we'd head over to Bernie's place for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Desert Hot Springs is at the opposite side of the valley from where Palm Springs lies and is located in the foothills of the Little San Bernardino Mountain range.

The first place we stopped at was the home of the first homesteader in the area "Cabot Yerxa" and the home he built is know known as the Cabot's Pueblo Museum



Cabot Yerxa who came to this area in 1913 made his 160 acre homestead on what is now known as Miracle Hill, on this hill he discovered two natural springs one hot and one cold and this unique phenomena was due to the San Andreas Fault bisecting the hill.

Cabot started building his pueblo at the age of 57 and kept working on it over the next twenty four years till his death at age 81, the amazing thing is that he built the large four story Hopi-style pueblo complete with 35 rooms, 150 windows and 65 doors almost single handed mostly using materials he reclaimed from all over the desert

The museum now holds all kinds of art and artifacts and the other thing that you can't miss is the 40ft tall hand carved wooden Indian that was Created by artist Peter "Wolf" Toth called "Waokiye" meaning traditional helper and the sculpture was completed in 1978


After leaving the museum Pat and I found some of the active and inactive small boutique hotels and spas that had their height of popularity as a tourist destination in the 1950's ......... all of these spas are a direct result of the natural hot spring discovered by Cabot Yerxa
Many of these places are run down or closed but a few of them
are still doing a nice business.
It's a long way though from the glory days of the 50's and early
60's because much of the growth in the Coachella Valley ended
up being in the Palm Springs area..........
Here are a few images of some of the old hotel spa signs






It was time to head over to Bernie's desert Shangri La in Pipes canyon,
The great thing about Bernie's place besides the topography
(it's a lot like Joshua Tree) he has a couple of vintage 1950's trailers
on the property that he's restored so Pat had one
and I had the other to spend the night in

Bernie built a nice little covered deck for this one

And here is my cowboy palace .......

After getting settled in our trailers we cracked open the big bottle of Jim Beam and had some drinks with Bernie and his sister Lynn who was also visiting from LA.
Nothing like a nice cool libation sitting on the porch with good friends having a pleasant time conversing while waiting for the sun to go down




I always love watching the last phase of daylight and the desert sunsets at dusk
and true to form this evenings color display was no disappointment


So now it was time to get ready to go over to Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace for a good dinner and some live music.


Pioneertown is an old western movie town set from the 1940's,
along with a old motel and a bowling alley the hub of the wheel
as they say is Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace

Years ago after the filming died off this bar was a pretty notorious
biker joint in the 1970's called the "Cantina"
and in the early 80's the place became what it's known as today,
a great bar and restaurant providing top caliber live entertainment

This evening we enjoyed a superb Mesquite BBQ steak dinner along with a cool old band in from San Diego
formerly the "Beat Farmers" the band just shorted their name
to the "Farmers" after the passing of one of the original members
I've always had a great time at this place and that night was no exception ;-)
After Pappy & Harriett's we back to Bernie's where he pulled out the bottle of Jagermeister just to make sure everyone would wake up with a hangover the next morning..........
Getting up slowly the next morning the original plan was to drive the 17 miles or so along the back roads to Big Bear to have breakfast but the idea of four wheeling a bumpy back road with the way everyone was fairing didn't seem like a good idea so we opted for a local diner and a drive around Landers to some historic landmarks.

The first place we stopped at was the "Integratron"

The Integratron is a geometrical dome-shaped structure built by by George Van Tassel

Van Tassel is an interesting desert character, Meditating beside Giant Rock in 1951
(which I'll talk about later) Van Tassel claimed to have been transported astrally to a huge alien space ship.
In 1952 Van Tassel reported he had been visited in the flesh by human-appearing, friendly space aliens from Venus, who suggested that he attempt to build a structure aimed at extending human life and so in 1954 he began construction on the Integratron

Not to far from the Integratron is "Giant Rock" where Van Tassel claimed to have his vision and contact with the aliens and so he hosted The Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention which was annually held beside the Rock

From 1953 to 1978 Van Tassel held these conventions which had their peak in the late 1950's with as many as 10,000 people in attendance

Giant Rock is a seven story free standing boulder and the
piece you see broken off happened in an earthquake a few years back,
it now reveals the white granite interior of the giant boulder

Here's a shot from another angle to give you a perspective of it's size


Another interesting footnote to Giant Rock is that an old prospector
named Frank Critzer lived underneath the rock during the 1930s
and early 40s where he had dug out and built himself a large room
While being investigated by by local police in 1942 he decided
to blow himself up with dynamite up rather than be taken in by the cops

needless to say there isn't much left of his room under that rock
but it sure makes for good local folklore


For any of you interested in visiting the Integratron they are open for tours and what they call "Sound Baths"

After checking out Giant Rock we headed back towards the Integatron


Now just up the street from the Integratron is the other great Landers place of interest Gubler Orchids


Gubler Orchids was started in 1956 by Hans and his wife Esther in Altandena CA
where they sold flowers out of the back of their station wagon

Over the ensuing years the orchid business kept growing at every location they were
at so by 1975 they decided to move their greenhouse operation to the Landers location
And wouldn't you know the desert climate is a perfect place to grow these amazing flowers

The folks there are really friendly and are happy to take you on
a tour of the greenhouse and explain all about the many beautiful
types of orchids they grow at the facility.







The other cool thing that I noticed at the facility was this unique
windmill that was turning quite rapidly in the desert wind providing
clean electric power to the greenhouses


After all that it seemed like everyone's bumpers were dragging a bit so we headed back to Bernie's, Pat and I packed up our things thanked our gracious host and headed back to Pat's place.
I wanted to stop and take a few pic's of the old film set at Pioneertown so Pat and I stopped there for a bit



Here's the old barn sound stage


Bank and Hotel




And another cool thing that's there is the Pioneertown Bowl
originally built by Roy Rogers and Gene Autry this small six lane
bowling alley is only open on the weekends and then only for certain months
out of the year But for a real throw back in time this saloon and bowling alley
has a rich history of all the western movie stars that spent their off camera
hours having a great time there



Real cool old Wurlitzer juke box


And the great old mural painted along the wall depicting Pioneertown
Filming History and "How the West was Once"
by artist Wallace Roland Stark

after that Pat and I drove back to his house where I packed up the Harley for the ride home and hit the road westbound

As I headed back to LA while sliding by cars and trying to find that gap in traffic where you settle in and review the flashes of images of the things you experienced and the people you interacted with the last couple of days,
it invariably seems like you did more in twenty four hours than you did the whole week prior


That thought always put's a smile on my face ......

~M

Pioneertown

So it's getting close to Christmas and I'm wondering what I'm going to do, there isn't much really to keep me anchored here at home and having a bit of wanderlust I thought about what or where I'd like to do something.
It can be that way sometimes during the holiday's if you don't have family gatherings or someone close to your heart to spend the time with, and it's this time of year when much of that comes into the fore.
All of this was in my mind when I got a phone call from my friend Pat telling me I was invited to spend the Christmas weekend out at our mutual friend Bernie's place in Pioneertown, I had to smile at the perfect timing of the invite because a little road trip was just what the doctor ordered.

I packed a few things and headed out to the high desert in Yucca Valley on Christmas morning which is about a two and a half hour drive from Los Angeles


Arriving in Yucca Valley there are always a couple of old motel landmarks I look for to tell me I'm getting close to Pioneertown

The Yucca Inn

And the Sands, (love that old Vegas style script)


Making a left turn onto Pioneertown road from route 62 it's a short fifteen minute drive to the old Pioneertown movie set.
I hadn't seen Bernie for about three or so years now, he had sold his business in LA and bought a unfinished house on some acreage in Pipes Canyon near Pioneertown in Yucca Valley. All of this high desert area is quite close to
Joshua Tree National Park
Which is some of the most beautiful and scenic desert in the world, the topography in and around Pioneertown is much of the same type of terrain that one would find in the national park except that it's sparsely inhabited with homes and ranches.
When Bernie first moved out to his place he had a small collection of vintage trailers and we'd all get together and ride quads during the day and hang out by the campfire at night till it was time to retire unless of course we were all at Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace getting tanked.

Driving in I could still see the effects from a 2006 wildfire that devastated much of the area, I had heard that the fire crews had managed to save Pioneertown and I was curious to see how things still looked around there.
Pioneertown started as a live-in Old West motion picture set, built in the 1940s. The movie set was designed to provide a place for the actors to live, and at the same time to have their homes used as part of the movie set.
A number of Westerns and early television shows were filmed in Pioneertown, including The Cisco Kid and Edgar Buchanan's Judge Roy Bean. Roy Rogers, Dick Curtis, and Russell Hayden were among the original developers and investors, and Gene Autry frequently taped his show at the six-lane Pioneer Bowl bowling alley
(the bowling alley is one of the oldest in continuous use in California)





Pioneertown's facade has an exceptionally realistic look, right down to actual bullet holes in the signage and functional hitching posts for horses used in filming and you can see mock gunfights staged from April through October along Pioneertown's Main Street.






I met Pat in Pioneertown and followed him the rest of the way to Bernie's
It was really good to see Bernie again and check out the amazing job he did completing the house and the various other things around the property.


One of the vintage trailers on the property

The three of us settled in on the porch with our drinks and caught up with what's been going on the last few years.

Here's the last of dusk in the western skyline with a myriad of stars in the sky

Yes, it was a great way to spend a Christmas day..........

One thing I can tell you about the high desert this time of year is that as soon as the sun goes down it get's cold......freezing cold !
So it was nice to stay inside by the fire as the temperature dropped and enjoy the company and time spent with friends.

Everyplace in the world has a sunrise and sunset and of course they all have their moments. California is the western most end of the American Southwest and like I said before the beauty of our deserts are as profound and beautiful as anywhere in the world. With this in mind I decided to get up at the crack of dawn and capture the desert sunrise.
Normally I hate getting up early but I was excited to hopefully take a nice photo so when I naturally woke at the right time I looked out the window and wasn't disappointed

Despite the the 27 degree temperature I stood outside with my camera and tripod catching the beauty that only lingers for a few moments with the dawn of a new day


The three of us headed to the Hitching Post for breakfast and because Bernie had to meet someone later in the day and our other friend Scott wasn't arriving until the afternoon Pat and I decide to take a drive over to old Route 66 and some of the small towns that dot the old east west route that was once the main highway for much of America

It was perfect weather with hardly anyone on the road, just you and the great expanse of blue sky and desert to view as the road before us stretched out it's long line of tarmac into the eastern horizon

It's the sparseness of the desert terrain that keeps you keen on the subtle changes you pass through, the valleys that used to be the bottom of a great sea or the rocks that were pushed to the surface by the shifting fault's and tectonic plates


Or the black remnants of a volcano's cone


Continuing on 66 we headed toward the nearly empty ghost town of Amboy


Amboy was once a major stop along the old Route 66 but has seen much lower visitation since the opening of Interstate 40 to the north, it is also the home of the famous Roy's Motel and Cafe, a Route 66 landmark






Going further east we continued to Kelso which is a another ghost town and defunct railroad depot in the Mojave National Preserve


Starting off as what was a simple train depot in the 1920s, the town of Kelso boomed briefly to as many as 2000 residents in the 1940s, when borax and iron mines opened nearby. Gold and silver were also discovered in the nearby hills of what became known as the Kelso district. The town shrank again when the mines closed after about a decade


The depot has been restored and has a cafe and local history museum inside while also serving as the Mojave National Preserve's visitor center

Here is the old defunct Post Office


And as usual in the desert you find the deserted ramshackle remnants of someones home
this one has a rather unique shaped roof


All along the old Route 66 you find the rusting and dilapidated remains of roadside motels, gas stations, cafe's and homes........ it adds an air of mystery and sadness to what once was and will never be again as the desert elements slowly break down these edifices built by man




Pat and I decided to turn around and head back when we got to hwy 40
stopping along the way at the great Kelso Dunes one of only twenty sand dunes in the world that are also notable for the phenomenon known as singing sand


Just before Amboy we stopped at this oddity of the road
A tree of shoes........


After doing well over a hundred miles we stopped for fuel,


As the skies darkened the road ahead looked like one long blue highway


It was about this time that Scott called and said he was in Yucca Valley and would meet us at Pappy & Harriet's


Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace has a rich history as a honky tonk and it is truly one of the coolest joints you're likely to experience in the desert.......It's pretty much the center piece of Pioneertown, the hub of the wheel as they say and it's where everyone comes for a good meal(amazing bbq),live music and a good time


Here's a couple of murals on the outside of the building




Scott followed us back to Bernie's where we got right back to having a few drinks on the porch while watching the beauty of the changing light and colors of the desert and setting sun


For those of you interested and would like to experience this part of the desert a short walk and right across from Pappy & Harriet's is the Pioneertown Motel built in 1946 and it still retains that old funky western feel

Dinner at Pappy & Harriet's was amazing and so were the great bands that played that evening

It was a good finish to fun filled day........

There are certain desert scenes that seem natural to me, like this one I had looking out the window as I got up the next morning
one of Bernie's old trailers........

Bernie made breakfast and Pat and I hung out for awhile, (I guess Scott was still crashed out in the other house) Pat had to get going and I wanted to hit the road again to take some more pictures so we said our goodbyes and thanks to our gracious host and went our separate ways

My first stop was Pioneertown to take a few more photos





Heading back towards hwy 62, some of the desert rock formations


Back on interstate 10 my first stop was to get some fuel at Cabazon
and check out their roadside attractions


As many of you know I like to take photo's of old neon signs, so the first place I went through was the town of Banning

(now out of business)

Opened in 1928 the Fox Banning Theatre is still in business and running films

Of course as you roll down the old roads that used to constitute the highway before the freeway was built you find a lot of old motels





The next place I stopped was Redlands a city formed during the 1880's as several railroad lines converged there

The old Redlands train depot





I like any bar with a pink Flamingo


From Redlands the next big city is San Bernardino which is one of the oldest communities in the State of California

The San Bernardino train station and depot

The one place I really wanted to find though was the old California Theatre
Originally built as a 1928 Vaudeville and Movie Palace this amazing theater is where Will Rogers made his final stage appearance, superbly maintained it serves as the main performance arts center for the City of San Bernardino






Feeling a bit hungry it was time for me to find some tacos and hit the road again


All in all a great weekend......with moments that leave memories in your mind like a painted desert sky


The end to another short road adventure with that old Gene Autry song playing in my head as I'm homeward bound and happy


~M