Oregon Coast, Florence & Lincoln City

Thursday, April 6th - Friday, April, 21st

Tuesday, our last day in California, Kathy drove us up to Kaweah Lake Dam which was completed in 1962 and is 250 feet high and 1,000 feet at its base.  It holds back runoff waters from high in the Sierras that is used for irrigation, hydroelectric power and recreation.  The fusegates, the large concrete boxes on the top of the dam, were built in 2005 to protect the dam in case of a flood by sacrificing themselves, breaking away leaving a gap to let water flow out of the lake much faster, preventing the water from getting too high and flowing over the top of the dam.

The yellow flowers on the side of the hill (lower left) are called fiddleneck.  

Kaweah River flowed through this narrow valley for thousands of years with several forks flowing together upstream at Three Forks.  Downstream it flows into four creeks and from time to time its waters would flow all the way to Lake Tulare, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Rockies.

Pumpkin Hollow Bridge at Three Forks.  Wednesday we drove all the way to somewhere in Oregon and finally arrived at our destination in Florence, Oregon about noon on Thursday.  We stayed at Thousand Trails South Jetty Resort and just cuddled up in the RV for a couple days while it rained and rained.  The town of Florence is famous for the exploding whale video.  In November of 1970 a dead sperm whale was blown up by the Oregon Highway Division in an attempt to dispose of the rotting carcass.  The explosion threw whale flesh over 800 feet away.  The incident became famous when humorist, Dave Barry, wrote about it in his newspaper column.  It became well-known internationally a few years later when the video circulated on the internet.

Saturday we finally ventured out in the rain for lunch at Mo's where I had their famous clam chowder that I love and John had shrimp while we looked out over the bay.  Afterwards I ambled through some of the artsy shops down on the waterfront.

These kitchy little clocks in one shop caught my eye.  The base is a small bread loaf pan.  The elephant's trunk is made out of bottle caps.  The bat's antennae and feet are made from spoons and forks.

I think the dragonfly's head might be a sardine can with numerous pans and lids for body and tail and spatulas for wings.

Monkey with bottle cap ears, spoons for hands and forks for legs.

These seal sculptures are the theme all around town.

The azaleas are gorgeous.  We huddled up in the camper on Sunday, but Monday we ventured out in the rain again to go to the buffet at Three Rivers Casino.  We had a coupon for $10.00 worth of free play, so after we ate, we decided to give it a go.  Being complete novices at this gambling stuff,  it took us a while just to figure out how to get our free credits in the machine and then we had no idea how to play.  So we just kept pushing different buttons and watching all kinds of symbols flashing around, having no idea what we were doing.  However, we could see our credit balance getting lower and lower.  All of a sudden we started seeing all kinds of lights and hearing lots of bells and such, so we figured it must be good.  When it finally stopped, we had won $47.00.  We cashed it in and left, laughing all the way at how totally stupid we were.

Tuesday more rain, but we went to the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum in town, named for the river and valley here. This is an Edison Standard Phonograph 1888 to 1892.  You placed the cylinders on the machine and cranked the handle to get music.

This is a Chinese coiffure pillow made out of porcelain to rest your head on so as not to mess up your hairdo.

Complete chamber set purchased from an estate sale in the 1930's.  Pitcher, soap dish, shaving mug, chamber pot and receiver.

And who knew?  A musical TP holder that played O DuLeiber Augustin and Bei der Blonden Kathrein.  I remember my Dad singing that first song.

This was like a shadow box, about 4 inches deep from the wall.  It is a music box about 18" x 24" that, when wound, plays music and the baby revolve's from the Padre's arms up toward the heavens and back again.  It was found in an abandoned house in California in 1945.

Down front is a Farberware table crumber, above is the silent butler, dustpans used to catch the crumbs brushed off the table cloth.  The Farberware Company was started by tinsmith S.W. Farber in his basement in The Bronx in 1900.  They were the first company to introduce a coffee percolater in 1930 and made the first electric fry pan that could be immersed in water in 1954. 

This machine was for sizing eggs.

Hair holders, choker, brooch, watch fob and necklace made by Isabella Kyle from her own hair, a popular hobby trend of days gone by.

This Dictaphone was a dictating machine and transcriber used in a doctor's office in 1955.  Now we can do it all on a smart phone.

They had a bunch of campaign buttons, including one for our 6th president, John Quincy Adams.

Florence Telephone Switchboard 1940 to 1960.  This was back in the day of party lines, when people could listen in on other's calls and get all the community gossip.  Back then people resented those who listened in and spread their business around town.  Now we have Facebook where everyone just skips that middle man and puts all their personal stuff right out there for the whole world to see.  

The phones of long ago had a mouthpiece on the front and a crank on the side, which when turned, rang every telephone on the party line in the early 1920's.  Only the party with a given sequence of rings was supposed to answer, such as two longs and a short.  You rang the operator to connect to folks outside your own system.  The disadvantage was that busy bodies with little else to do, quite often carefully lifted the receiver to listen in.  If you heard someone pick up during your call, you were supposed to be courteous enough to cut your call short, so they could have a turn to make a call.

At the top of the old telephone was a big pull switch connected to the outside lines that entered the house.  When the first clap of thunder struck, the person nearest the phone dashed over and yanked the switch.  You were led to believe that if you didn't, balls of fire might shoot out of the mouthpiece and sear through the dining room table.  Most important was the line call, an uninterrupted cranking for a half minute or so.  This prolonged ringing brought everyone on the party line to the phone.  It signaled an emergency such as a fire, injury or other life-threatening situation.

Not a very good picture, but an interesting description.

Rules for Teachers 1872

1.  Teachers each day will fill lamps and clean chimneys.  (I hope that means the chimneys on the       lamps.)

2.  Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's session.

3.  Make your pens carefully.  You may whittle tips to the individual taste of the pupils.

4.  Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings if they attend church regularly.

5.  After ten hours in school, the teacher may spend the remainder of the time reading the Bible or other good books.

6.  Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.

7.  Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years, so that he will not become a burden on society.

8.  Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will have good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.

9.  The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves. 

Dolls through the 1700's and 1800's were usually wood combined with leather, wax and porcelain.  In the 20th century doll making shifted to plastics and polymers, so they could be mass-produced at lower prices.  Brown was the dominant eye color until the Victorian Era, when blue eyes became popular, inspired by Queen Victoria.  Raggedy Ann was created by American writer Johnny Gruelle in a series of books he wrote and illustrated.  He received a patent for his doll in 1915 and introduced her to the public in his 1918 book Raggedy Ann Stories.  The sequel Raggedy Andy Stories in 1920 introduced her brother in his sailor suit and hat.

These are unique.  I had never seen them before.  The Apple Doll is a North American cultural phenomenon where the doll's head is made from dried apples.  The apple is peeled, then carved with facial features.  Next it was left to dry for several days or weeks.  When completely dry, it was positioned on top of a wire frame which is shaped into the rest of the doll's body and covered by hand-sewn clothing.

This a 1917 Maytag washing machine that was used until electricity was available in the late 1930's.  It has a motor that runs on gas.  The person who owned it put gas in it about 20 years ago and had it running.  It was a modern marvel in its day.

The earliest fabric that has ever been found is a pair of hand-knitted woolen socks, found in a tomb in Egypt that was built in the 4th century B.C.  The oldest knitting needle is on display in a museum in England, dating from the Iron Age.  All knitting was done by hand until 1589 when English clergyman William Lee invented a machine that could knit stockings.  Queen Elizabeth refused a patent at that time on the grounds that it would put hand knitters out of work.  However, the machine was sold in other countries.

Dragon fruit or pitaya is the fruit of several cactus species indigenous to the Americas.  I saw it in the grocery store, but I'm not sure how you eat it or serve it.  Wednesday we went to the movie Going in Style which was very funny.  Thursday we moved to Neskowin Creek RV Resort just a few miles north of Lincoln City, Oregon where it continued to rain.  These are pictures of some unusual plants at our campground.

  Saturday the sun finally came out, so we drove north up along the coast.  We drove through Pacific City, Oceanside, and did the Three Capes Drive, ending up in Tillamook for some of their famous ice cream and some cheese to take home.

The marshy fields and pastures were covered with these pretty yellow flowers.  I found out later it is called skunk cabbage.  It is a carnivorous plant and it is edible.  These are lots of recipes on the internet for how to fix it.

It rained about 12 days out of the 14 days we were on the coast here.  Saturday we drove north on scenic Highway 101.  It is a winding drive through small coastal communities with waysides and parks for spectacular vistas.  We took the Three Capes Loop connecting Cape Kiwanda, Cape Lookout and Cape Meares.  No RVs or trucks allowed on this very narrow, winding loop. We stopped at Winema Wayfinding Point to look for whales, but didn't spot any.  Almost any pull-off along here is supposed to be good for spotting gray whales in winter and spring as they migrate north or south.

After Three Capes Drive, we came back to the main road and dairy country.  We drove into Tillamook to the factory to taste their famous cheese curds, had some of their delicious ice cream and bought some cheese to bring home.  We also bought some of their ice cream a couple days later at the grocery store when we were closer to home, so it wouldn't melt.  When the milk arrives at the Tillamook factory, it is turned into cheese or ice cream within 24 hours.  They make approximately 170,000 pounds of cheese daily, 60 million pounds per year.  Every week they package approximately one million pounds of cheese in Tillamook.  They also make cheese at a second factory in Boardman down on the Columbia River Gorge.

Monday night we met up with John's cousin and wife for fish, shrimp and clam chowder at Dory Cove.  Tuesday David and Karen took us on a little tour of the area.  Our first stop was here at Devil's Lake right in Lincoln City to look for bald eagles, but we didn't see any.

It was a cold, windy day, but at least it wasn't raining.

Then we drove south to the town of Depoe Bay, the world's smallest harbor.  It was named for Charles DePoe, a Joshua Indian from the Coast Reservation who, with family members, received allotments of land in 1894 when the reservation was closed.  The town was formed in 1927, the same year the Depoe Bay Bridge was completed.

John and David and Karen in downtown Depoe Bay.

Just behind them below the rock wall.  The central coast is a land of contrasts with coastal rain forest, beautiful beaches, dramatic capes, headlands and mountains edging the sea and waves breaking on beaches, crashing onto rocky headlands or churning in basalt chasms.

On the street next to us was this little old Porsche with a stuffed tweetie bird fastened to the suitcase on the back and TWETPIE on the license plate.  Right across the street next to the taffy shop was the Hi Cascade Premium Cannabis shop, one of many you'll spot in all the little towns along the coast.

We stopped at Boiler Bay State Park Scenic Viewpoint.  We were standing at the fence that had many signs warning you not to go past the fence, when these four young people jumped the fence and headed out on the rocks.  There is another fenced off area out there on the rocks where a huge hole goes straight down to the ocean.

They just walked right out to the very edge.  We didn't stick around for the accident that was just waiting to happen.  Spouting horns are formed by the eroding or weaker material, or the presence of lava tubes withing the coastal rock formations, causing the pulse of the sea to be released and thrown skyward.  These spectacular display vary with the power of the waves.

This is Fogarty Creek running out to the ocean.

This is a really nice beach with some nice quiet spots protected from the wind.

Only four other people here, a very quiet and secluded beach.

Wednesday we met in Lincoln City again for lunch, this time at Mo's for more fish, shrimp and their famous clam chowder.  This is the view of the bay out the window.  They have a really nice beach here, also.  Then David and Karen came back to the campground and crawled in a window for us and helped us take apart our door lock, as something had broken off inside and we couldn't get the door open to get back in.  We had to tie the door shut and stop in Portland at Camping World and get a new one when we left on Thursday.

There were about 30 or 40 of the cutest bunnies running wild at our campground, which was an unexpected treat for our Easter weekend there.

Our grandkids were waiting at the door to run out and see us when we arrived here in Helena about 10:30 today, Friday, April 21st.  We will be here until June 10th, so probably not much blogging until next fall.  Have a great summer everybody.  We hope to see some of you along the way this summer.

Tarra

California, Desert Palms & Soledad Canyon

Thursday, March 23rd - Wednesday, April 5th

 Thursday, March 23rd, my baby's 40th birthday, we arrived at Coast to Coast Catalina Spa and RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs.  Friday we drove over to the General Patton Memorial Museum.  The situation in North Africa was critical and America had to send its best, that meant Patton.

  February 4, 1942 Major General George S. Patton, Jr. was designated Commanding General of a Desert Training Center.  He selected an 18,000 square mile area of the California and Arizona desert, the largest military installation and maneuver area the world had ever known.  Temperatures were often 120 or more in the shade, which was seldom available.  Rainfall averaged less than 2 inches annually.  Camp Young at Chiriaco Summit east of Palm Springs was selected as Patton's base camp and headquarters.  There were 12 divisional camps of 15,000 men each.  At the height of the operation there were 190,000 men using 27,000 vehicles, including tanks and half-tracks, 1,200 artillery pieces, 100,000 tents, 400,000 cots and 300,000 gas cans.

The museum is at Camp Young where the extreme climates varied from 130 degrees in summer to below freezing in winter and included sand storms and flash floods.  The troops lived in tents with wood floors, no electricity, and none of the amenities of other stateside training installations.  Rattlesnakes and scorpions crawled into sleeping rolls and boots.  Going to the latrine at night was a daunting task, since there were frequently rattlers crawling about.  Water was rationed to one canteen per day.  It took several weeks to get used to the desert living on only a gallon of water a day.  Patton's training regime required all men to run a mile in ten minutes with full pack and rifle by the end of a month.  Men were required to take three salt tablets per day, but most actually ate dozens to fend off heat prostration, cramps and weakness.  The harsh environment taught them how to survive in North Africa.  By 13 weeks they were the best conditioned men on the front.

Rock-Ola Juke Box used by the soldiers from Camp Young in the Cafe at Chiriaco Summit.

In spite of the harsh environment and the hardness of his manner, Patton was respected, admired and even loved by most of his troops.

1st Lt. Mabel Emily Howe Cornwell (U.S. Army Nurse Corp) and Sgt. Gale Thomas Cornwell (U.S. Army Airborne) were the only mother and son to serve in combat in the European Theater of Operations during WWII.  He was 16 when he enlisted and she was 46 when this picture was taken a few days before D-Day.  Both served with Patton's 3rd Army.  He also served as a helicopter pilot in Korea and all three of his sons served in Vietnam.

"Rosie the Riveter" poster by J. Howard Miller was based on Rose Monroe, a worker at Willow Run aircraft plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  The original was done by Norman Rockwell for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post May 29, 1943.  The cover was an enormous success and stories about real life Rosies began appearing in papers across the country.  The government took advantage of the popularity of Rosie and embarked on a recruiting campaign of the same name.  It brought millions of women out of the home and into the work force and sold many war bonds.  It is still considered the most successful government advertising campaign in history.

Skeletons of Camp Young.  Canvas was used over frameworks like these mounted on a jeep to simulate tanks used for training maneuvers.

The training center was not only designed to train troops, but also for developing new techniques and testing equipment and weapons for desert warfare.  The terrain was far worse than anything in Libya or Mesopotamia.

Remains of one of the chapels from the camp.  Major General Walton H. Walker assumed command of the center upon Patton's departure Aug. 2, 1942.  Over one million men were trained before its closing April 30, 1944.

A few flowers on the desert drive back to Desert Springs.  I think the yellow ones are called Paper Daisies.

The purple ones are Sand Verbena and the other is one of the many varieties of Desert Dandelions.

We also drove through the town of Twenty-Nine Palms on our way back to camp.  They have many murals like this one with plaques telling about the history of their town.

Views from our campground.

Sunday, March 26th, we moved to Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon RV Resort at Acton, California just north of Los Angeles.

It's a huge campground with lots of big, old cottonwoods and oak trees.

They claim to have the largest swimming pool in the West, whatever that means, plus a splash park for kids, but it wasn't open yet for the season.  They also have another very nice pool and hot tub that is for adults only when this one is open.  I used the hot tub, but the pool was very cold.

Wednesday we went to the Autry Museum of the American West in Griffith Park, across the street from the Los Angeles Zoo.  Born in 1907, Gene Autry was a popular singing cowboy whose career spanned 60 years and multiple industries.  He endorsed a variety of products from guitars and cap guns to books and clothing, most marketed to adolescent boys and girls.  He appeared in 93 feature films and made 635 recordings, more than 300 of which he wrote or co-wrote.  Between 1940 and 1956 his radio show broadcast weekly over CBS Radio Network.  He was known as America's Favorite Cowboy and the museum opening in 1988 was the realization of his dream to build a museum to interpret the history and heritage of the West. 

There are murals around the main foyer.  Recognize anyone?

The Pony Express was an ultra fast, but short-lived mail service.  The 1,900 mile route began in Missouri and ran through Wyoming and Utah crossing the Sierra Nevada mountain range to Sacramento.  The riders exchanged horses at over 180 stations and the journey took between nine and ten days, for which they were paid $25 per week, compared to the going rate of $1.00 per week for skilled labor.  This sculpture "Special Delivery" depicts the critical moment when riders carried Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address from a telegraph station in Nebraska to newspapers in California in the record time of 7 days and 17 hours.  The Pony Express lasted only 18 months 1860 to 1861.

Modern art horse sculpture made from old metal parts of various machines.

This piece of art was made by Gerald Clark, Jr. from squashed beer and pop cans and was made to honor the tradition of Cahuilla basket weaving and to highlight today's problems with alcoholism and diabetes within the tribe and in the general public.

The Autry's collection of "The Handgun That Won The West" is one of the finest in the world.  Colt's Single Action Army Model Revolver was used by pioneers, peace officers, gunslingers, outlaws, cowboys and the military.  It is the most successful and recognizable revolver of all time.

The 1876 Buntline Special Model Revolver was advertised as the World's Longest Six-Shooter!  This toy sold for 69 cents, the gun used in the famous "Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" TV series on ABC Tuesday nights starring Hugh O'Brian.

This Los Angeles pattern bar was built by Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company in St. Louis, Missouri in 1900 and was used in Wibaux, Montana for nearly a century.  The carved female nudes on the back bar mirror were not commonly used, but saloons, for the most part, catered to men.  I'm sure my uncle frequently bellied up to this bar when he lived in Baker and I'm also sure my parents have been there with him on occasion. 

Tobacco and food were commonly available for saloon customers.  Cigars, cigarettes and tobacco were usually sold from a separate counter, or cigar apartment.  Fancy cigar lighters and trimmers were placed on the counter and cuspidors throughout the saloon.  The cigar counter also sold bottled wines and spirits, which sometimes were filled from barrels in the basement.  Most saloons offered free refreshments to attract customers.  Pickled eggs, crackers, sandwiches, oysters, celery and other salty foods were common.

  

According to the Topeka Daily Commonwealth in 1871, saloons had live music both day and night.  The five-piece orchestra at the Long Branch in Dodge City, Kansas was a typical band.  As high as $7 a day was paid to musicians who were accomplished on several instruments.  Coin-operated amusement devices became popular by the turn of the century.  For a nickel this Edison Multi Phone (early Juke box) offered a choice of 24 cylinder recordings simply by turning a crank.

They had lots of miniatures that were used as salesmen's samples back in the day, including plows, hay rakes, windmills, and even coffins.

The Gold Rush effect on the population left an important legacy.  From 1848 to 1855 some 300,000 immigrants came to California from all over the world making the Golden State one of the most diverse populations in the country.  Our country's immigrant history is kind of interesting, especially our history with Mexico.

300,000 people of Mexican descent were living in the American West in 1890 and described themselves as Mexicanos.  New Mexico was home to the oldest settlements, colonized in the late 1500's.  They settled the towns of San Antonio in 1718 and Laredo in 1755, and Tubac and Tucson in 1751 and 1776.  They founded San Diego de Acala in 1769, the first of 21 mission colonies and 4 presidios (military colonies) that extended 500 miles up the California coast by 1819.  The Texas Rebellion in 1836 led to its annexation by the United States in 1845.  The American invasion of Mexico in May of 1846 began a brutal military campaign that lasted almost two years.  Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico was forced to accept the Rio Grande as its border with Texas and surrender nearly half of its territory.  The U.S. forced Mexico to sell the present-day states of California, New Mexico, Nevada and parts of Colorado, Arizona and Utah, over one million square miles, for $15 million.

The earliest Asian communities in the American West were established by emigrants from China during the California Gold Rush.  By 1890 nearly 100,000 people of Chinese descent lived throughout the West, the majority in California.  Many lived in "Chinatown" districts that were part of cities, mining camps and farming towns.

In Texas and Indian Territory, African Americans struggled to overcome a history of slavery.  In Kansas, Nebraska and the Oklahoma Territory, rural communities formed, eager to escape the legacy of the South and its racial barriers.  In such cities as El Paso, Denver, Oakland and Los Angeles, railroads provided employment and aided the formation of urban neighborhoods.

The last 25 years of the 19th century saw an explosion of settlement in the West.  The Homestead Act in 1862, the Desert Land Act in 1877 and the Timber and Stone Act of 1878 made land speculation and settlement possible.  Between 1870 and 1900, 430 million acres were settled and 225 million acres were put under cultivation by nearly one million farmers.  The new West was dominated by white males and their influence over public law and policy gave them control of the lives of other immigrants and residents.

This Concord Mail Stage Coach ca. 1855 was driven as part of the California Stage Coach fleet in the Gold Rush era.  It held 9 passengers on the inside and the top could hold baggage or as many as a dozen more passengers.  Teams of 4 to 6 horses were managed by a driver with an express guard seated next to him.  Mail and packages were carried in the leather boot in the rear.  The coaches often transported gold to banks.  In 1997, after 150 years of use and neglect had turned it almost black from darkening varnish layers,  the Autry Museum began careful removal of the varnish, revealing the original paint scheme and details.  These coaches came in a wide variety of colors.  Some of the California Stage Company coaches were yellow, others were green and a few were red.

Black Bart robbed 27 California stagecoaches from 1875 to 1882 using an unloaded shotgun.  He always left behind crude poetry signed "The Po8".  When he left behind a handkerchief as well, the laundry mark led detectives to the culprit, Charles Boles, in a San Francisco boarding house.  He served four years in prison.  The shotgun he used is in the museum and was exhibited by Wells Fargo at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.  They also have one of his hand written poems on display as follows: "Here I lay me down to sleep to wait the coming morrow.  Perhaps success, perhaps defeat and everlasting sorrow.  I've labored long and hard for bread, for honor and for riches.  But on my corns too long you've tred, you five-horned sons of bitches. Let come what will, I'll try it on, my condition can't be worse.  And if there's money in that box, tis money in my purse."

Black Bart The Po8

Basket ca. 1930 made by a Mono Lake Paiute lady from sedge root, red bud tree and bracken fern root.  Originally used for collecting, cooking and storing foods, by the 1930's native baskets had become highly desirable as art objects.  This basket is about four feet across and was four years in the making.

These bison chairs were created in 1842 for Scottish Nobleman William Drummond Stewart for his family estate, Murthly Castle,following his return from a series of frontier adventures.  They included the 1837 rendezvous at the mouth of the New Fork River on the Green River in Oregon Country, an annual event that drew fur traders, Indians, French Canadians and trappers from across the Rocky Mountain west to join in "mirth, songs, dancing, racing, target shooting, yarns, frolic and all sorts of extravagances that white men or Indians could invent."

1896 silver, bronze and gold punch bowl by Tiffany with images of Native Americans, such as the figure wearing a bear claw necklace, were symbols of the wilderness that permeated the Victorian culture on many levels.  Wealthy households showed their status by entertaining with lavish serving pieces.

Both of these sculptures were made at the end of the 19th century, shortly after the U.S. Census proclaimed the frontier officially closed.  "The Bronco Buster" 1895 by Frederic Remington shows the triumphant feeling of winning the west, while "End of Trail" 1896 by James Earl Frazier  laments its cost, the utter collapse of Native America in its traditional form.

1948 Indian Chief Roadmaster motorcycle, their top model, was designed as a handsome, comfortable rival to Harley Davidson's heavyweight touring bikes, as American's took to the roads in the years following WWII.  Imagine the Indian head on the front fender with the custom-fringed leather work flying in the wind speeding toward the horizon.

Dale Evans The Queen of the West and Roy Rogers The King of the Cowboys did their first picture, "The Cowboy and the Senorita" in 1944, several years after Roy (an original member of the Sons of the Pioneers) had become a star.  They thrilled generations of matinee, radio and, by 1951, television audiences.   Most of their costumes were made by Nudie Rodeo Tailors.  These and the gun belt with Colt revolvers were donated by Roy and Dale.

Stage performance costume worn by Rex Allen, The Hawaiian Cowboy, designed by Nudie Rodeo Tailors and his Tony Lama boots and 1946 guitar.

Even Michael Jackson got into the western cowboy look.  He wore these specially designed metal cowboy boots to the White House in April of 1990 to receive the "Artist of the Decade" award from President George H.W. Bush.

He also wore this outfit on March 2, 1977 for an episode of The Jacksons.  The set of the TV variety show was decorated like a western saloon and he performed "The Cisco Kid" and "I Shot the Sheriff".

Western products for children were a mainstay of American marketing, associated with favorite film, radio and TV heroes of the fictional West.  Buck Jones, the Lone Ranger and Gene Autry were among those whose products included cowboy codes listing expectations about the behavior of the young fans.   Women and minorities were rarely reflected.

Quentin Tarantino's 2015 movie The Hateful Eight managed to both celebrate and rebel against the conventions and stock characters that define the western.  Members of the film's crew did research at the Autry Museum to ensure historical accuracy.  Some costumes and props, including the buffalo coat (left) worn by Kurt Russell were based on objects in the permanent collection.  The other costumes were worn by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Samuel L. Jackson.

Sombrero, gun belt and revolver worn by Chevy Chase and guns and gun belt worn by Martin Short in the 1986 movie, The Three Amigos.

Shirts worn by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall in the 2005 movie Brokeback Mountain, a very good movie.

Gene Autry toys that kids back then wished for.  Hopalong Cassidy bought his movie rights for television in 1948.  Gene Autry and The Lone Ranger followed soon after.  Western series ran from the 1950's through the 1970's.  There were 39 prime-time western TV shows in 1959 when there were only three stations.

After leaving the museum we drove up by Griffith Observatory on the hill overlooking the L.A. skyline.

Thursday, March 30th, we went to spend six days with John's sister, Kathy, and several of her friends.  The following Wednesday, April 5th we drove all day to somewhere in Oregon.  Thursday we arrived at our next stop, Florence, Oregon.  More about that next time.

Tarra