On our last day in Lone Pine we visited the Film History Museum.
They have an extensive collection of real movie costumes, movie cars, props, posters, and other memorabilia. The old posters were so fun to see. We were amazed to see how many movies and TV shows had been filmed in the Alabama Hills and the Sierras near Lone Pine.
The museum tells the story of filming in the area in and around Lone Pine from the early days of the Round Up to the modern blockbusters of today such as Iron Man.
The largest production was the 1939 filming of Gunga Din. There were huge sets built depicting many places in India for the movie. Unfortunately none of them were saved.
The Alabama Hills appeared in over 300 movies in the 1920s to 1950s, mostly Westerns. As Westerns became less popular the movies changed to the distant past or sci-fi future including Star Trek V and VII, Tremors, Gladiator, and Dinosaur.
The BLM Bishop Field Office still issues about 30 to 40 film permits a year for movies, TV shows, commercials and still photo shoots in the Alabama Hills.
Walt loves the old western movies and all those old cowboy TV shows of the 50's. Seven of John Wayne's movies were made here. "The Duke" said that Lone Pine was one of his favorite places of all time.
Many of the movie props were authentic and have been preserved here at the museum.
Much of The Roy Rogers TV show was filmed here. The museum has a nice exhibit not only about the show but about his family as well. Isn't Dale Evans outfit great? Fringe and bling way back in the 50's.
I think Gene Autry was actually before my time so I never really got into "the singing cowboy." But, I do like his boots. Gene Autry made over twenty theatrical features and twelve TV episodes for his CBS television show in the Lone Pine area.
One of the biggest collection of items in the museum was Hopalong Cassidy memorabilia. Who our age doesn't recall a boy wearing a Hopalong Cassidy outfit? I do, his name was Billy and his horse was his bicycle.
Hoppy had his name on everything. In 1950, Hopalong Cassidy was featured on the first lunchbox to bear an image and think what that started.
Confession. The Lone Ranger was my favorite cowboy.
He did look good in that blue shirt and pants but I secretly had a crush on Tonto.
Silver was my favorite horse. Tonto's horse, Scout, was a close second. So much fun taking a trip down movie and TV memory lane. This is a really nice museum with a very interesting movie and the displays are very well done with so much information.
What an interesting, picturesque and unique place Lone Pine and the surrounding area is. Great visit and great sights but it is time to head back to Arizona.
We continued south on Highway 395 until we headed east on Highway 40 to Lake Havasu City, AZ.
We soon left the rugged mountains behind and drove through miles and miles of desert. The temperature rose and rose.............at one time on the trip reaching 113 degrees.
We spent a couple days in Lake Havasu.
We didn't do much sightseeing. It was too hot.
We did take a short drive to see some more of the replica lighthouses around the lake. We had seen some of them when we were in Lake Havasu in 2013. These 1/3 scale replicas are actual functioning navigational aids built to the specifications of famous East Coast, West Coast and Great Lakes lighthouses.
This charming collection of lighthouses was originally started for safety purposes. The Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club wanted to make the lake a safe place for night boating and fishing. So instead of settling on simple and ordinary lighthouses that could be cheaply produced, they took pride in their development and decided to replicate some of the greatest lighthouses in the U.S. by making copies of them in a smaller size.
Soon we will be back in Arizona for four months. Excited to see the family and share in their activities. We will have some down time to do trailer and car maintenance, Doctor and Dentist appointments, Hair cuts, and holiday preparation but we will have time for some adventures. Will be interesting to see what we find.