A trip to the High Desert's Pioneertown is a step back into Hollywood's past
Pioneertown is known for its marvelous western facades, dirt main street, hitching posts, wooden sidewalks, and dozens of films, television series, and music videos that have been shot there over the decades.
From such as "The Gay Amigo" in 1949 and "The Last of the Pony Riders" in 1952 to more modern films such as "The Gambler" in 2014 and "Ingrid Goes West" in 2017, this modern-day ghost town has the perfect Old West ambiance.
Of course, two of my favorite music videos were shot there. The 2010 "I Rep That West" by Ice Cube tops the list. There is nothing better than a rapper riding into a hot, dusty western town in a beautiful convertible lowrider surrounded by horses and townsfolk. Or, the 2016 hit by Cyndi Lauper, "Funnel of Love," was filmed in and around the town with a special appearance inside Pappy and Harriet’s.
A pink-haired cowgirl with a Brooklyn accent says it all about authentic Americana.
“Hey yuz guys,” Lauper may have said when finished with the filming. “Anyone know where I can get a friggin’ cannoli in these here parts?”
Of course, one film not listed among dozens is the one Laureen, my lovely wife, and I were in nearly 10 years ago. We had bit parts about something to do with the West and a bunch of bad hombres - but when the film was completed, and in the can, it never came back out.
I called my agent. “Look, Johnny Baby, the film was so bad that it was declared a national disaster. Find another career.”
“How about writing a travel column?”
A snicker came over the phone. “I’m sure that will pan out. Lose my number.”
Recently, I pulled on my Tony Lama lizard skin two-inch heeled cowboy boots, snugged up the emerald buckled three-inch wide belt through the loops of my Wranglers, knotted the bolo tie just right around the collar of my Rockmount shirt, donned my ten-gallon Stetson, and walked down the main street in Pioneertown.
Luckily, it was very early in the morning, and no one was around, or I may not have been able to escape with that outfit on.
Nope. Pioneertown revels in the realism of what life was like in the Old West, and it did not need some big-city dandy wandering around.
Back in the day, that would be right after the ending of World War II, a man by the name of Dick Curtis had a dream.
He may have said, “I want to create a living, breathing movie set to shoot good Western movies.”
In 1946, Curtis was able to wrangle 17 cowpokes to pony up the cash to fund the purchase of 32,000 acres of land just a few miles from the small town of Yucca Valley. Some of those involved included Roy Rogers, Bud Abbott, and others who bought into Curtis’s idea, and soon, the place known as Pioneertown was founded.
But, friends of Roy Rogers wanted to name the place Rogersville.
It is rumored that Roy himself said, “Rogersville, seriously? How about Evansplace?”
To settle the matter, after a few rounds of arm wrestling and a song written by Tim Spenser called ‘Out of Pioneertown,’ the eventual name of simply Pioneertown took hold.
A French couple was walking down Main Street and smiled at me while I tried not to topple over in the high-heeled boots I had worn. I could tell they were very excited about traipsing through such a rich movie history that Pioneertown offered.
The woman looked at her male companion and said in French, “Il a l’air ridicule.”
Since my French is very limited, I am sure she was talking about how every building along Main Street was very authentic and painstakingly constructed to resemble those that would have been found around the 1880s in the west of the United States.
I smiled and said, “Oui, oui.”
The male nodded and said, “C’est un idiot.”
Which I took as meaning what idiot would not want to visit Pioneertown while on holiday from a country boasting about eating snails and attending operas written by Ravel?
Pioneertown was not just a backdrop for Western films. When completed in the late 1940s, it was a fully functioning community.
There was a grocery, a motel, the Red Dog Saloon (still in use today), restaurants, an ice cream store, a bowling alley (also still in use today), and other businesses that were functioning and making a profit - including a newspaper: the Pioneertown Gazette.
Non-movie types could purchase an acre of land with full utilities for as little as $900, which would be about a million buckaroos in today's dollars.
Soon trouble was a-brewing for Pioneertown when in 1948, Dick Curtis stepped down as President of the corporation in protest over the decision made to cater more to Hollywood than to making Pioneertown a truly independent community.
In a rather strange set of realities, land sales and movie production dropped off until Philip N. Krasne, a producer, stepped up.
He was the bigwig producing the popular television series The Cisco Kid, starring Duncan Renaldo, which ran for six seasons.
Krasne saw Pioneertown's potential so much that he signed a 25-year lease, which again put the western town back on the map for locals, tourists, and cigar-smoking Hollywood big shots.
As I teetered through the town early this morning, I was always impressed at the care each structure along Main Street gets to ensure that anyone viewing the buildings truly believes they have traveled back in time. It is hard not to imagine this town was not a rootin' tootin' cow-punching, cow-poking sort of town.
Any moment, I was expecting a drunk cowhand to exit the Red Dog Saloon, spit into the street, and grin at me.
“Hey, lookey,” he may have said. “We gots us a real live cow dude.”
Though it was early and nothing was open for visitors, there is much to offer while visiting Pioneertown.
Of course, there is the famous Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, which serves amazing food and drinks and has live music on various days of the week.
There is the Custom Leather and Saddle Shop, where I purchased a gun holster and belt in the years past. The Pottery Shop offers handmade pottery; visitors can watch as these products are produced. There is an art studio where folks can dress up in historically accurate clothing for the time period and have their photograph taken.
As mentioned, the Red Dog Saloon offers dining options and adult libations. It also has a large barn soundstage that can be rented out and occasionally hosts live performances.
The Main Street offers photo opportunities galore for those who want to immortalize their visit and share on Instagram, Facebook, X, or whatever social media a person wants to utilize to show their friends and strangers they are in Pioneertown.
There is the Bath House facade, the Jail facade, the Jack Cass Saloon facade, and many more for those picture-perfect moments. My favorite is the facade facade.
There is the Pioneertown Motel, which offers plenty of rooms for those traveling for a night or two, as well as local Airbnbs to accommodate any traveler. And camping is available in the town itself.
With the beautiful mountains and valleys nearby, there is nothing but natural wonder surrounding Pioneertown and the Joshua Tree National Park within half an hour's easy drive.
And, of course, there is always entertainment awaiting the visit to Pioneertown on the weekends with old west shootouts along Main Street.
What would be an old west town without hombres and sheriffs shooting the town up at scheduled hours for the tourists?
I’m sure my French friends in Pioneertown would have exclaimed, “Pas possible,” to that question.
John can be contacted at: beyersbyways@gmail.com