Lone Pine is Cowboy Country

Film History Museum Remembers Western Movies

Oct 26, 2008 Betsy Husband

Everyone who watches TV has been to Lone Pine, California, but may not know. It's where Hollywood filmed all those old Hollywood westerns. And it's still used today.

Those giant boulders where cowboys and indians hid from each other, dodging bullets and arrows are in the Alabama Hills, where the filming of many westerns took place.

Lone Pine

The name conjures up visions of mountains, sagebrush, and horses. It stirs memories of John Wayne, Gene Autry, and the Lone Ranger on his legendary white stallion, Silver.Hollywood has been using the Alabama Hills, a few miles west of Lone Pine, since 1920, when Fatty Arbuckle starred in The Round Up. The most recent movie, released in May, 2008, is Iron Man, starring Robert Downey, Jr.

The Alabama Hills sit at the base of Mount Whitney, where the massive golden-granite boulders serve as the backdrop to hundreds of movies, TV episodes, and commercials. The scenes in the old westerns were always the same; barren land with enormous rounded boulders, simple farms, and dirt—lots of dust and dirt. The stories were the same; the bad-guys against the good, galloping on horses or shooting from boulders with bullets ricocheting everywhere. Off in the distance horses kicked up dust while pulling stagecoaches that were being chased by robbers.

Some gunfights were part of a bar-room scene, always with swinging doors. Dance hall girls with bare shoulders and lots of cleavage were considered risqué and teased our imaginations, and whiskey was the drink of choice. Horses tied to hitching posts nickered and snorted outside the saloon. There was no gore or blatant sex, and the endings were the always happy. It was all part of a great myth—how the West was won.

Movie Flats

Movie Flats is a short drive up the Whitney Portal Road. The movie sets are gone, but the roads remain in good enough condition that most vehicles can manage Movie Flats, an unpaved network of dirt roads. It’s marked with a bronze plaque dedicated by Roy Rogers and is now managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This is a popular place for photographers. The early morning sun illuminates the snow on top of Mt. Whitney, then makes its way down the sage-covered hills and radiates an amber hue on the boulders in the warm morning light.

A visit here stirs childhood memories of favorite weekly television programs that come alive as you travel along dirt roads built to accommodate the stagecoaches. The smell of sagebrush is a distinctive scent of California summer. Geting out of the car and meandering around building-sized boulders that have been used as the backdrop of familiar television programs stirs memories of favorite movies. Somewhere in the distance is the sound of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing Happy Trails to You as they ride their horses into the sunset.

Each fall Lone Pine celebrates its western heritage with a film festival, and with the addition of the Lone Pine Film History Museum the festival is better than ever. The museum is packed with Hollywood memorabilia: saddles, hats and boots worn by the most famous cowboys of the wild west, original photographs, a stagecoach, and many other props used by Hollywood including original soundtracks.

Mount Whitney

There's lots to do in the eastern Sierra along Highway 395, even for those who aren't movie buffs. This is a mecca for hiking, fishing and camping with nearby lakes and interesting ghost towns. Mount Whitney towers above at an elevation of 14,496 feet, the highest point in the continental United States. Death Valley, 100 miles to the east, drops to almost 300 feet below sea level, showing off spring flowers and offering warm winter sunshine. And from May through October you can visit the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, where the oldest living trees in the world live at 10,000 feet.

A trip to cowboy country makes the imagination run wild.

If you go:

Lone Pine Film History Museum Located on US 395 on the South side of Lone Pine directly across the street from Inyo National Forest Ranger Station.

Hours: 10:00 to 4:00

Closed Tuesdays

Mt. Whitney Ranger Station

760-876-6200

640 S. Main Street

Lone Pine, CA 93545

Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm

Closed Holidays

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Visitor Center - Schulman Grove

760-873-2500 Phone Information

Summer Hours: 10:00am-5:00pm, 7 days a week

Closed in winter

The copyright of the article Lone Pine is Cowboy Country in SW U.S./Hawaii Travel is owned by Betsy Husband. Permission to republish Lone Pine is Cowboy Country in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Alabama Hills