Museum of Western Film History & What You See In Rocks

Boondocking in Alabama Hills, near Lone Pine, CA

Our big adventure today was going into town to visit the Museum of Western Film History.  For a $5 donation per person, there was lots to see, and included a short 15 minute movie about Lone Pine and the movie industry, and especially about all the many westerns filmed in the area, especially the Alabama Hills where we are camped right now.

With all sorts of movie and TV props, and so many posters pertaining to so many movies…it is well worth the price, that’s for sure.

    

From old movie cameras (and catch those posters behind that one on the left)…

   

…to the old projectors that they ran on at the movie house.  This place has it all.

Look at this old RKO truck that they would mount the camera on.  They shot so many of the early silent westerns…although most silent films almost always featured live music to go with the movie as it plays.

Marcia was able to walk this museum, here she is looking over a Tom Mix display, telling me that she saw many a Tom Mix matinee in her childhood…along with many other of the old stars on display.

   

   

Eventually we made it to the small movie theater, where they do show movies now and then, but have a TV set up for the 15 minute thing on Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills and Owen’s Valley area.  Good little information piece.

They do allow pictures, but no flash…I think I was able to compensate for that pretty good this time.  And as you can see, no big crowds…and all three couples (when you include us) are passing through in RVs…the other two at the local RV park, us up in the rocks.

Speaking of rocks…we have all played the “what do you see in the clouds” game.  Here, I played, “what do you see in the rocks”, right outside our motorhome.  Above, this one is easy…with the help of someone who added rocks for eyeballs.

This one here may or may not have had help, but I sure see something like Casper the Friendly Ghost in this rock.

    

This one reminded me of a dinosaur…could not find the exact one, but this one to the right is close enough.  (It’s my game, I make the rules!)

    

This one reminded me of like an Army Sergeant, but has a thicker neck than that cartoon character I found, and his helmet covers his eyes more.

    

Yes, even a rock that looks like the monster in the movie Tremors.  Principal photography took place in the Alabama Hills area in 1989. The mountains in the distance are the Sierra Nevada, and after filming was complete, the town set was completely torn down.  --OK, GAME OVER---

   

After the museum, we took a long drive down Movie Flat Road to see some more of the many rock formations.  The picture on the right is a close up of a rock hole or arch that is in the left picture.  (Remember, if you click on a picture it will get much bigger)  Marcia said that the one hole looks like a heart from this angle..got to agree, it sure does.

These rock formations go on and on…no wonder the filming industry liked filming in the Alabama Hills.  In the bottom picture you can see a couple of tents…we did see about 4 RVs and 3 tents as we went deeper along Movie Flat Road…but there seemed to be less campers today than yesterday.

I know, game is suppose to be over…but you got to admit that this looks a lot like a skull.

Finish it off with a panoramic of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Now, we just need to find some of the movies we like that were shot here to watch for the various things we have seen.