I was rather surprised with the weather in California when I awoke at the Courthouse Motel in Independence on Friday, October 10, 2008. It had dropped down to 45 degrees overnight. I knew it got chilly up in Northern California so I had my Amsterdam sweatshirt with me, but I was hoping the it would warm up during the afternoon. Bob and I headed out at a little after 7am and headed into Lone Pine which was about 15 minutes south.
Our first destination was the Alabama Hills Cafe for the breakfast that Bob had been raving about for years. It was in fact a delicious eggs benedict meal at a great price. The Cafe was ‘subtitled’ the Hard Rock Legends, so although not an official Hard Rock Cafe, I made sure to be photographed with the sign on the wall.
Outside the motel on a chilly Friday morning
Enjoying some delicious eggs benedict
The ‘celebrities’ of the Hard Rock alluded to various so-named rock formations in the Alabama Hills
After we finished up, we made our way to the center of town to the Beverly and Jim Rogers Museum of Lone Pine Film History, which included relics, collectibles, props, attire, and movie posters – all pertaining to the hundreds of films that were filmed in Lone Pine, California over the years.
In the museum with their crowning jewel, the 1937 Plymouth Coupe that was driven by Humphrey Bogart in High Sierra
So to fill you in on what Lone Pine is all about…the town is nestled between the Alabama Hills, part of the expansive Sierra Navada mountains on the west, and the Inyo Mountains on the east. Because of the scenic nature of the surrounding area, and the unbelievable amount of exotic and beautiful rock formations, movie producers discovered in the 1920’s that this would be ideal location to shoot the western films of the day. And so for years, this served as a location for many mountainous gunfights over the years…most famously in the 1937 Humphrey Bogart vehicle High Sierra. More recently the location has been featured in the films Kalifornia, Tremors, and Iron Man.
Since 1990, the Lone Pine Film Festival has been held in the Fall to celebrate the rich heritage of the town. This year it was held on October 10-12, 2008. Bob had been going for several years and had always tried to get me to attend. In fact, we had almost gone there together during my California visit in 2005, but we somehow ended up in Las Vegas instead. So this was my first year, and despite the cold and wind that wouldn’t let up, I enjoyed it immensely.
This was the 19th annual Film Festival
We started out the day by browsing the museum before our first scheduled tour began at 9am: the How Lone Pine Won the West Tour. This tour was extra special as it was hosted by Loren Janes, an incredible stuntman who played multiple roles (whenever just about anyone took a tumble) in How the West Was Won. He had also been a frequent stuntman for Steve McQueen.We began the tour by visiting the theater in the Film Museum and watching an incredible retrospective of his career, beginning with a shot of him on fire in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart.
The traditional Bob-in-the-theatre-and-ready-to-nap pose
Mr. Janes then took us out into the Alabama Hills and pointed out locations where scenes from How the West Was Won were filmed, scenes that we had just witnessed in the theater. He told us how he had accomplished many of the stunts and how he had done it without ever once breaking a bone during his decades in the business. We finished up at 11:00.
Loren Janes explains how he took one of him many tumbles at a location used in How the West Was Won
With Loren Janes in the beautiful Alabama Hills
Messing around on top of the rocks
Bob and I then headed north to an area right between Lone Pine and Independence…to the Manzanar National Historic Site. It was here that roughly 10,000 of the 110,000 Japanese-Americans, none of whom had been convicted of any sort of treason, were forced to relocate in 1942 during the height of America’s involvement in World War II. We started out with a film history of the location called Remembering Manzanar.
It was incredible to witness the travesty that befell these individuals, 2/3 of whom where even born in the United States, which was brought about by the fear that our country faced as we went to war with Japan. Although their treatment and confinement was completely unjust, I must admit that the impact of this piece of history was somewhat muted by my recent experience at the far more horrific Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany just three months earlier.
The entrance and original sentry post
Rock monument in front of the museum
146 prisoners died at Manzanar. Of the 15 who were buried there, only five of the graves now remain. The inscription on this monument placed in 1943 is translated as Soul Consoling Tower
A truly heart wrenching place
We made in back into Lone Pine by 2pm for a walking tour of the Anchor Ranch. Located on the property adjacent to the Film Museum, this ranch was owned by Russell Spainhower, who made a lucrative business out of renting horses, cattle, wagons, and the use of his property (which included a mission-style hacienda set) to filmmakers. Numerous films and TV shows were filmed on his property. The tour wasn’t all that exciting because all of the sets were now gone with the exception of the foundation of the hacienda. As we stood outside, the brief warm spell that we had felt that early afternoon suddenly ended and it began to get cold and windy.
Under Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the continental United States
Where the hacienda once stood at the Anchor Ranch. The sweatshirt came off briefly as it warmed up for a few minutes.
Bob and I headed back to the Film Museum and watched a documentary film in the museum theater called Lone Pine: Where the Real West Becomes the Reel West. This finished up in time for our4:15 tour, our final one of the weekend, simply titled the North Tour. Our friend Dick Bann, a regular at the Lone Pine film festivals, also joined us on this bus tour.
It was a nice touch that in front of any of the identifiable rock locations, there were weighted down podium displays which showed photos from films that were shot in that location. So you would look down and see photos from the film and then look up and see the same area today, completely unchanged. As someone who enjoys exploring film locations, especially ones that look virtually identical, this was quite a treat. We saw locations from many of the early B-western stars like Tim Holt, Hopalong Cassidy, the Lone Ranger, and the Cisco Kid – as well as sights from major blockbusters like Yellow Sky and Gunga Din.
A great falling rock site. Sometimes, as in the 1946 Hopalong Cassidy western The Devil’s Playground, a black sheet would be dropped behind this site and it would double as a cave entrance.
With Dick and Bob, in front of the site used for an ambush in the The Lone Ranger serial
An example of the placards used to illustrate how the area was used as a filming location, in this case in the 1941 western Dudes Are Pretty People
Snapshot of the sign showing Gun Smugglers, a 1948 western starring Tim Holt. Note the gentleman (not counting my reflection) hiding inside the rock structure.
The same structure today, housing someone equally as lazy
Unfortunately, after about an hour and a half the wind became so cold and unbearable that it was difficult to stay out in it for more than a few minutes. Bob pressed on even after Dick and I gave up and hightailed it back to the bus for the last leg of the tour. Still, it was a lot of fun to be in these locations.
As we make our may back to the film museum at about 6pm, the wind continued to howl and screech and even knocked down the fake horse in the parking lot (as seen below). Bob naturally blamed me for being “the kiss of death.”
The windblown horse. To the glue factory!
We ended the evening with dinner at the comfy Totem Cafe, a place that had been frequented by the visiting actors for many years – most of whom had autographed the walls. I had some fried chicken followed by apple pie a la mode. Heading back to our motel in Independence, we stopped at Joseph’s Bi-Rite to pick up some evening snacks. I got my favorite Little Debbie Nutty Bars, while Bob opted for the Flaky Flix (which he referred to as Fiddle Flakes).
Bob obviously enjoyed his ribs at the Totem Cafe
Now it’s on to Little Debbies and Fiddle Flakes!
It had been a fun day, and it was nice to settle in for an early cold evening with the wind howling outside our cozy motel room.
Lone Pine will continue as the “Dreams Come True” tour comes to an end…
As I recall there were two reasons we went to Vegas in 2005 instead of Lone Pine…Penn & Teller!!!
Bob
April 18th, 2009
Hello
Do you have any higher resolution images of the above photos of Loren Janes?
Regards
Spotter
Spotter
June 6th, 2018