Category Old News

Random Old Newspaper Articles from 1946 through 1996. Fifty years worth of the unique history of Pioneertown California.

‘A Preserve for Eccentricity’

September 26, 1983
The Los Angeles Times
Old News

It lies in a tranquil valley of more than 13,000 acres, ringed by sawtooth mountains, some 22 miles from Big Bear Lake. The surroundings are shrouded in both fact and fantasy, with names like Deadman’s Dry Lake, Old Woman Springs, Duncan Flats, Black Lava Butte and Devil’s Garden.

Brush fire burns 2,000 acres

A fire that may have been started by a campfire burned 2,000 acres of brush in rough terrain Tuesday before firefighters controlled it, said a California Department of Forestry captain.

Oct. 19, 1986 - the Pittsburgh Press Sun - featured image

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.

Western Images show, weekend set for October

The festival will feature an art show, chuckwagon dinner, Western dancing, mini-rodeo, several Western melodramas and related Western activities for artists, art patrons, families and the general public.

The days of Gene, Cisco and Roy live in Pioneertown

With its dirt roads, Old West-style buildings complete with horse hitching posts and quiet serenity, Pioneertown has a real western charm.

Pappy Allen’s Legacy: a master human being

A nightclub owner, contractor, country singer and all-around good guy, Allen also was a sometime member of the Tucson band Giant Sand, with whom he appeared in Tucson on several occasions.

Tiny Pioneertown shows how the West was once

November 24, 1996
News Press
Old News

Walsh is one of about 300 residents of Pioneertown proper, a square-mile community in the hills near Yucca Valley, in Southern California's high desert near Palm Springs.

Pioneertown: An Oasis of the Old West

Pioneertown: An Oasis of the Old West Constance Walsh was proud of her latest treasure: the back end of a 1951 Studebaker. She found it in a wash near her home and had a town official hail it from her…

Headed for a Showdown

May 19, 1998
The Los Angeles Times
Development, Hayden Ranch, Hollywood, Old News

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.

Call it a Draw

August 8, 1999
The Desert Sun
Old News

It's not the wild, wild west, but it sure feels like it - from the dusty dirt roads to the boarded-up saloon, the bath-house and the livery. Without the cars and the little old lady zipping down Mane Street on a three-wheeled motorized cart, a poodle on a platform at her feet, you'd think you just stepped back in time.