Found: peace and quiet
But most of the 69,000 residents choose to live in the arid High Desert communities for the same reasons their predecessors did. Here they find pristine beauty, solitude, clean air and a place to live life the way they want.
Category Development
Pioneertown was founded in 1946 by a group of Western actors who had been several plans to develop the land surrounding Pioneertown and make it a resort.
The Pittsburgh Press Sun Oct 19 1986
Pioneertown, in the "high desert" above Palm Springs, got its start as a permanent set for cowboy-western movies. About 150 were filmed there, including such classics as "Annie Oakley," "The Cisco Kid" and the Hopalong Cassidy" series.
Headed for a Showdown
Pioneertown residents can't agree whether to cling to their backwater identity or court the entertainment industry, which built and then forgot the high desert town.
Movie set, turned community, turned movie set, struggles with… Indentity
When Roy Rogers, Russ "Lucky" Hayden and other Hollywood cowboys pushed a road up to this high desert hideaway in 1946, they found an ideal Western movie-picture set complete with stout Joshua trees, jumbled granite boulders, and miles of sky.