PIONEERTOWN, USA
The Definitive History of Pioneertown, CA:
Where the Old West Lives Again
BY
K ENNETH B . G ENTRY
PIONEERTOWN, USA
I SBN N umber 781513633114
F IRST E DITION
B LACK & W HITE
F IRST P RINTING
M ARCH o f o18
C opyrighted o18
W RITTEN & P UBLISHED B Y
K ENNETH B . G ENTRY
www.HighDesertVarnish.com
www.VisitPioneertown.com
Foreword:
Pioneertown, California. A home of true western history, a source of great mystery and a town truly unlike any other in the USA. I have often referred to Pioneertown as "the American Dream come true" and "My slice of heaven". When I sum up the whole-story of the town's history for people, I honestly tend to feel a little jealous, excited and oddly inspired, all at the same time.
I am a California kid; born in Santa Monica and raised in the greater Los Angels County. I'm an old soul at heart and I have always felt out of place while living in the city. My Father moved to Palm Springs late in 2oo5 and I followed shortly after. I thought I was getting out of the big city.
Please note that I mean absolutely no offense to Palm Springs or the surrounding cities. I love 'em. They're all great. But I found the greater Palm Springs area to be very much like Los Angeles. It is just as heavily populated, there are lots of red traffic lights, cookie-cutter houses and the same repeating franchises. The only significant difference I found in Palm Springs was that it is a lot hotter than LA and the whole city is surrounded by the desert.
I moved back and forth between the desert cities and Los Angeles County for a few years; never really enjoying either one. Any time that I enjoyed in the desert was spent far outside of the city, in the surrounding wilderness. One night while living in Palm Springs I was ranting to a friend about how much I disliked the city when she mentioned a house up the hill in Morongo Valley that her father was helping to renovate. It was almost finished and was then going up for rent. I was sold just by the way she'd described it, well before I saw it, and I actually signed a lease within 48 hours of her mentioning it.
As it turned out, the date that I was able to move in happened to be just a couple of weeks before I turned 3o. I had experienced a hard year of very complicated medical issues when I was 29. My health was finally returning and I finally lived in a house outside of the city. Without even realizing it, I had become a resident of the High Desert. There is a big difference between the low and high deserts of southern California. I felt reborn here. I can not express to you how lucky I feel for having been blessed with that opportunity. I can honestly say that I never want to turn back.
I have always been artistic and enjoyed the outdoors, but I blossomed here. Shortly after moving, I created an art & science focused small business, staked a 2o acre mineral claim, designed numerous highly rated products and started selling art and prospected minerals around town. I quickly soaked up the local culture, entertainment and history in the area. But the fun was really just getting started.
It wasn't long before friends said that I had to meet Christy up in Pioneertown. I had been up there a couple of times before. But, like so many other people, I had only randomly passed through during the middle of the week when the town was empty. As far as I knew, it was just an isolated bar up in the hills next to a few blocks of fun looking false fronts that were mixed in with some real houses. Boy was I wrong!
I'll never forget the first time I met Christy and Roger. My friends introduced us on Mane Street while they were using a tractor to level out dirt that had been brought in to replace what a rainstorm had washed away earlier that month. They stopped working just to come hang out and talk. Everyone in town was so nice and inviting. I instantly felt right at home, just like I had in Morongo Valley. So I started volunteering to help when they had big events and then started working at the Jack Cass Saloon soon after.
My love for Pioneertown developed quickly! I started working at the Jack Cass regularly and really enjoyed the opportunity to have lots of fun, learn about local history and display some art at the same time. Some of the best memories I have were spent right here in town. Getting to see the Melvins at Pappy & Harriet's with My sister and hanging out with them afterwards.. being half of the elephant in the Shodeo Rodeo Parade.. staying up until the crazy hours of the morning out back in the campground with a bunch of friends. I literally get to meet people from all around the world every weekend!
A big part of running a shop on Mane Street is filling visitors in on the history of the town. I learned the general story quickly, both out of genuine curiosity and also so that I could recite it when people asked. Over the years I started to develop a bit of a script on Pioneertown that I updated every time I learned something new, so I could get out all the fun historical facts without talking people's heads off. But it seemed like I was learning something new about the town every day and eventually I had to start sticking to just the coolest facts, elst I'd be talking for hours every time someone was curious about Pioneertown's history.
There was a two page pamphlet on the history of Pioneertown which was written by Ernie Kester in 2o1o that we gave out when visitors wanted more information, but it was an almost decade old photocopied copy of a copy that was in dire need of an update. I like to write. So I decided I was going to rewrite and update the information and I set out to make a new Pioneertown guide. I had absolutely no idea what I was starting.
I had two pages of new information in no time at all. It was even shrunken down to size 8 font so I could fit in as much information as possible, without making it impossible to read. The history of Pioneertown is amazing! For every interesting fact that I already knew, I found ten more while doing research. I started noting some discrepancies between reports, inaccuracies and unanswered questions. I also learned some truly jaw-dropping facts that had simply been forgotten over time. I wanted to do more research, but as it was, I had already compiled way too much information for a small visitor's guide. There is a wealth of history here that had huge effects on the Hollywood Scene, the State of California and the greater United States. I felt that it should be properly documented.
My family and I went out thrifting in Old Town Yucca Valley one weekend and I came across a local book that you can find all over the High Desert. Its a simple little book; self illustrated and published. It was the last bit of inspiration and motivation that I needed. I bought the book. Well.. My sister bought it. I didn't have any cash. But I took it home, I put it next to the research that I had already compiled while writing out the new Pioneertown guide and then I started working on this book.
My goal here was to compile all of this town's history, answer those unanswered questions, settle those discrepancies, correct any inaccurate reports, highlight all the interesting facts that have faded away over time and compile everything into one neat presentation. I aim to help preserve the history of what I consider to be an amazing example of the American Dream come true. I hope you enjoy Pioneertown, USA !
Contents:
PAG E CHAPTER
V Foreword
VII Contents
