Yellow Sky: The Mine (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 36.130 W118 06.865)

The mine in Yellow Star: Again, everything I have shown in the past few blogs is relatively close to each other. This is the furthest out from where the house and barn were in the movie, but no more than a five minute walk. All the Alabama Hills scenes were in the same area. Most movies that were filmed here go off to different areas for their scenes. As you can see, there really wasn't a mine there after all. Most of the time a company would put in fake mine entrance like that. The thing to point out in the above picture, and maybe makes more sense by watching the video I did, is some of the tailings they used in the movie are still there from Yellow Star. That is what you see on the ground to the right. The movie picture of Gregory Peck confronting Richard Widmark and the rest of his old gang is taken just off the right side of the mine. I had thought I had a more recent picture of this, but I could not find it. The most recent time I was here I just shot the video and did not take pictures. So, I had to find a lower quality one from an older camera I did some years back. This should do to show you what it looks like these days.

One thing I have not mentioned in this blog entry that you might be wondering about is the arrastra used in the movie. I have covered that before in an older blog that I will link below. It is hard to believe it has been three years since I did that. The video covers both the mine and the arrastra.

YS: The Arrastra (Youtube Version)

The Arrastra blog entry

So, if you have not seen the movie Yellow Sky, then I hope you do. The cinematography here was really well done. Budd Boetticher once said you just can't get a bad shot filming at the Alabama Hills. That's why it was such a popular movie destination back then. Somewhere on one of those imdb message boards I read sometime back was a criticism that made me role my eyes. It was that although the movie was really good in every area it was too bad it was filmed in black and white. Have no fear since some people quickly responded and ripped him for saying that. While it might have worked in color too, the black and white really gives it a film noir western look to it. There is a certain beauty and advantages to filming in black and white.

Finally, if you are ever at the Lone Pine Film Festival, then the Yellow Sky tour is one of the basic tours you can do. The guy who does it is really good and knowledgeable about the film and the locations.

Yellow Sky: The Waterhole (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 36.005 W118 06.765)

From where the house and barn were in Yellow Sky, one just moves along to the north to get to the waterhole used in the movie. The distance away is exactly like what you see in the movie.

As you can see, this really is not a waterhole at all, but it is what they used. You can see the rock Anne Baxter is heading to. In this picture you should be able to pick it out. What I am calling the "trail" to the waterhole is on the right. This is the scene where one of the outlaws grabs Anne, but then the younger outlaw tries to stop him. This is close. The rocks to the left are the guides to this.Gregory Peck comes and gives the outlaw a nice kick. Notice Richard Widmark standing behind the tree. BTW, all the trees you see appear to be just set pieces. Just like water was added to create this waterhole for the movie.Almost like this. This should give you an idea how the waterhole area was used in the movie.

YS: The Waterhole (Youtube Version)

Yellow Sky: The House and Barn (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 35.960 W118 06.730)

Here is one I have put off for quite some time. Each time I visit I feel I can do better. Even now, with what I have, I still feel I can do better, but I am tired of waiting around on this one so here we go.

Along with the Boetticher movies filmed at the Alabama Hills, Yellow Sky (1948) is one of my favorite westerns. They made good use out of the area here. While they filmed some of the beginning of the movie in Death Valley, the rest of it was filmed in this particular area of the Alabama Hills.

Although nothing remains of the set pieces of the house and barn they used in the movie, where they were is easy to find there.

My picture from a distance. Although at first glance it may seem complicated, the rocks are easy to pick out. You can click the pictures to make them bigger and check. The scene where Gregory Peck's comes to the house and Anne Baxter confronts him.In the video I did not get it as precise as I normally might. Even here I would want to move a few more feet to the left. In any case, the conversation would have been close to here. The house would have been just to my right. Later on in the movie, Peck uses a "white flag" in order to talk to Anne Baxter and her grandfather who are hidden in "sniper position" above in the rocks. Again, here you can see where the house and barn would have been.This is where that would have been.In the movie it really does look like Anne Baxter and grandfather are really high up in those rocks. After all they had to yell out to each other, and you hear the echo when they speak. Not really. I would say it was just over 20 feet or so. A nice optical illusion they used.My video for this one:

YS: House and Barn (Youtube Version)

"The Mammoth Mountain Hike"

(N37° 37.830 W119° 01.955)

This is one that I had some curiosity about, but was never too serious about doing. Driving by on the 395 by Mammoth and seeing the mountain is not too impressive compared to the other ones around. It was a low priority on my list of things I wanted to do. This time we had some relatives with us so we decided to do it.

Looking toward the west, one can see the jagged Minarets to the left, Mt. Ritter, and Mt. Banner to the right.

Pulling back a little on this one you can see the clouds made things a little more powerful than it would have been. For that I was grateful. This is looking more toward the south. While it may not seem that impressive, it was interesting to look down this way. The reason being a year earlier I was looking up to here from down there. Somewhere down there is Rainbow Falls and the trail we took after visiting Devils Postpile. This is looking more to the south east. There are lots of cool things one might see in these clouds, but as Charlie Brown might say, "Well...I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie, but I changed my mind."This is looking toward the east. This looking more to the east. You can see the Mammoth Gondola in action here. Finally, looking toward the north. You might barely be able to see Mono Lake in the background which we went to afterwords as I mentioned in February. In any case, this was not really much of a hike. We walked from the parking lot to purchase tickets for the gondola. Then in about eight minutes or so we were at the summit. There is a little extra climbing to get to the official summit.

The views are good and if you are not much of a hiker, then you might want to take the gondola to the top. You can also order a sandwich at the top and eat it up there too. It was a touristy one time thing for me that I probably will not do again.

I did put together a video on this one. Originally, I was going to split it up, but decided to include the gondola ride and the views from the summit in the same video. So, it is a little longer than I normally would do. Since this is not one I took too seriously I threw on some of the latest incompetech.com music which Kevin Macleod considers influenced by the 1990's "corporate music plague."

While I do not consider it a complete throwaway video because there are some interesting parts to it, but of all the days of the year to put this up I guess April 1st fits the most:

"The Mammoth Mountain Hike" (Youtube Version)

Until next time...

Ramona Epic #8: Ramona Catches Margarita

In this video, Ramona catches one of the other girls at the ranch flirting with Alessandro. The significance is that Ramona ends up being somewhat hypocritical here.

Check RamonaEpic Youtube Channel

At this point, we are still just getting started with the story. The characters will start finding out dramatic things about each other very soon.

Ramona Epic #7: Rancho Camulos (Part 2)

(GPS: N34° 24.290 W118° 45.400)

AKA The Oldest Movie Location

This is the second part of my visit to Rancho Camulos. In this blog I will spend a little more time on the fiction involved here. As I mentioned last time Helen Hunt Jackson spent a few hours talking to some of the family members that lived here. From the way she describes the rancho in Ramona it has made many people believe that this rancho is what she had in mind for her novel. So, it is considered the "Home of Ramona."

In 1910, D.W. Griffith filmed his Ramona movie here. Mary Pickford played the part of Ramona. In the following picture Alessandro tries to talk to Ramona only to be chased off by Senora Moreno. They filmed this at the south veranda of Rancho Camulos. The window to the right is supposed to be the window to Ramona's room; that's what the fictional history says at Rancho Camulos.

In the above picture, if you head staight forward you encounter where Felipe would have been resting at the beginning of the novel. A lot of the dialogue would have happened around here. The priest's room would be the door on the other side. This is the fountain and the chapel. I mentioned Ysabel del Valle in my last blog. She was very religious. Since living out here would be too far away from attending mass or church services she had this chapel built out here. Priests would come here and stay. Ysabel also had daily prayers anyone could be apart of. In the 1910 movie, the chapel is where Alessandro is introduced to Ramona here by Felipe. Here Ramona (Mary Pickford) watches as Alessandro and Felipe walk away. The chapel 100 years later! The inside. After the Northridge quake many items were stolen from the chapel. The following is the walnut tree. Unfortunately, it died some years back. It was said to be around 150 years old. Many old pictures were taken of it. This wraps up my time at Rancho Camulos. A lot more could be said and shown here. Near the end of the year as I start to finish up this series I will be coming back here one more time. Another reason I wanted to come here and do this series was I knew I would be able to get to the oldest movie location I will probably ever experience. At this point I can't imagine finding anything earlier than 1910, so this is probably it.

Ramona Epic #7: Rancho Camulos (Youtube Version)

A few links:

Rancho Camulos (Wikipedia Article)

Rancho Camulos: a comprehensive history(Santa Clarita Valley site)

Rancho Camulos (Official Site)

Ramona Epic #7: Rancho Camulos (Part 1)

(GPS: N34° 24.400 W118° 45.420)

There are two places that are usually thought to have influenced Helen Hunt Jackson as the rancho setting for Ramona. Rancho Camulos has been the more popular and traveled to rancho as the "Home of Ramona." In this blog I will give more of the real history to the place and in the next one spend a little more time on the fictional history.

Rancho Camulos is located in Piru, Ca off HWY 126. It is just east of Six Flags Magic Mountain which is near Castaic, Newhall, and Santa Clarita. The day I decided to go was not a clear sunny day. That was somewhat unfortunate, but I had already planned way ahead to go on the day I did. Had it rained on that day the museum would have been closed.

Rancho Camulos is an active ranch where you can buy fruits and vegetables right out in front. To enter the museum grounds you do need to take one of the docent led tours. I got there right before 1pm on a Sunday and took the docent led tour. It was very good and I highly recommend you do too if you can ever visit here.

This is the front. HWY 126 would just be off to the right side of me.

One of the first things you see inside the museum is the winery. You will notice it has been stabilized. When the Northride earthquake of 1994 struck many of the historic buildings were damaged. Family members and others with historical interest decided something must be done to preserve the remains. That is when restoration was started. In the year 2000, the ranch was made a historical landmark.
In the above picture, one just goes along the side of the winery as you can see, then take a left, and then a right to reach the main U shaped structure of the adobe for Rancho Camulos.
The land was originally part of the San Fernando Mission. In 1839, during the Mexican period of California history, Antonio del Valle received the land as part of a land grant for his military service. Unfortunately for him, he died a few years after this and his family inherited the land. His son, Ygnacio del Valle, inherited Rancho Camulos and is credited for building the adobe.

These next three pictures show you the U shape of the adobe. On the right of the next picture is where the cooking and laundry took place.
The middle section.
The southern portion of the adobe. In the next blog I will cover the southern veranda just on the other side which is what most people that know of the connection with Ramona will identify the story with.
This is the inside of the middle section I showed above. It is interesting to note that each of these doors lead to separate rooms. In order to visit someone else in another room you would have to enter from the outside since there are no passage ways from the inside.
Up until the early 1860's, the rancho was used for raising cattle. Then a drought occurred that bankrupted many cattlemen in the area. It was at that time that the rancho transitioned into growing agricultural products where everything from olives and grapes for wine and brandy, to chili peppers, appricots, figs, corn, oranges, and almonds to name a few of the things that were grown here. You name it they grew it.

Ygnacio was over the age of 40 when he married a 15 year old Ysabel. Keep in mind that was common for the time period. Ysabel inherited the property when Ygnacio died in 1880. I will mention Ysabel again in the next blog, but it was during 1881 that Helen Hunt Jackon visited the Rancho for a few hours. She did not meet Ysabel, but talked to the del Valle children instead.

Later on in the 1920's, August and Mary Rubel family purchased the rancho. August Rubel was wealthy and educated. He served in WWI and WWII. Unfortunately, he was killed by a German land mine while driving an ambulance in Tunesia. Rubel family members are still connected with the rancho and are credited as helping to create the museum for the public today.

All of the above people have fascinating stories of their own. Much could be said of each of them. While a few of the above people will be mentioned again in the next blog as I continue this I want to transition more into the fictional history as I show the southern veranda.

Jack Palance at the Best Western in Lone Pine

Early on in the remake of the movie High Sierra, I Died a Thousand Times, Jack Palance walks in front of the Best Western Hotel in Lone Pine. I've stayed here a few times. I am not sure the trees are the same as the ones you see above in 1955, but they are close to the same place. I recently went back to the Alabama Hills. Part of my quest this time around was to do new updated videos of a lot of the "classic videos" I had done before. I had not been on Movie Rd. in quite sometime. So there was some "good news" and "bad news" about this trip. Let me give you some of what I considered the "bad" part of it.

This trip had been postponed for quite a while. I had wanted to be there last year about this time, but it did not work out. Then I wanted to do this about a month ago. Well, it turned that my only chance of doing this trip was to go "there and back again" within 24 hours. I did get parts of two days to do this since I stayed overnight, but I knew I would have to rush a bit to get a lot of what I wanted done.

The weather conditions were okay, but not great. A little too warm and cloudy. I can handle it being warm, but if the clouds are blocking out some of the mountain features it can mess things up. Don't get me wrong, clouds can create really good photo opportunities to get that Ansel Adams shot. However, when I am trying to show where some scenes from a movie took place and Mt. Whitney is completely blocked it just does not work very well.

The bugs! What the heck were those things?! They were not mosquitoes, but boy were they swarming me out there. These small things were flying all over me. No bites or anything like that, but I have never encountered bugs like this out there before.

There were lots of people there. I have never seen this many people out in the hills before. I had a couple of areas that I wanted to video and people had parked right in my way. Although I did talk to a bunch of friendly people out there, this was the first time I felt that there were some "shady" people in the Hills and in Lone Pine. Like people eyeing what was in my truck when I was parked in town. Reading the Whitney Portal forum here at home I see some of what I was thinking was justified. Even with a quick stop in Red Rock Canyon while walking back to the truck there were some people doing the same thing and then took off. Very odd!

The sad thing is at the end of the day I started looking at the clips of what I had done on my laptop and realized one of the settings on the video cam were not right! Oh no!

Alright, the "good" news side. On the second day, which ended up being most of the morning, I did get back to almost every area with my cam settings right this time. The weather conditions were slightly better. It is going to take me some time to decide this, but I think most of the footage I took will work well. The video of one of the things I did I almost shot it perfectly, but I think it may have been to early in the morning for it. No big deal though, I will just go back at some other time later in the day and get it right.

What was great was right before I was leaving I was able to see a rock formation from a rare movie that I was wondering about. I had the right idea about where it should be, but could not place it. Then seeing it from the distance confirmed my intuition about where it should be. It is one of those I will have to go back to and hike into it. One of the techniques I always tell people to do is that it is important to take pictures of every area and direction so that you can analyze some of these places from home. I took pictures of it from the distance. When I have time I will go over it and prepare for next time I can visit. So, I intend to get back to posting more videos taken in the Alabama Hills. It will not be something I will do right away though.

The Snowslide of March 7, 1911 (100 Year Aniversary)

(GPS: N38° 03.260 W119° 10.485)

AKA Nature Does Not Play By Rules

The time has come. This is one I have waited some years to post about going back to the beginning of the blog. In fact, I remember thinking a few years ago that March 7, 2011 was so far away. Well, here it is. This is the anniversary of a tragic event that happened on the night of March 7, 1911.

The people of Lundy Canyon were busy mining and safe most of the year. The big problem they always had was during the winter they were vulnerable to avalanches. While we often talk about the violence in these old mining towns because of what you see in westerns, but those isolated events tended to be rare and a temporary concern compared to other environmental factors that could wipe out a whole town.

At around 12:01 AM on March 7, 1911 a series of snowslide avalanches struck near the entrance to Lundy Canyon and in Lundy Canyon as well. The most violent damage took place at the Jordan hydroelectric station. At the time it was constructed it was thought the station and the two concrete living quarters were far enough away from the nearby mountains that it was safe from the avalanches. The Lundy Canyon area had been the victim of previous avalanches, so it was well known that this could happen. It turned out that much snow had built up during the winter.

In the distance you can see the modern Jordan plant. The older plant was just to the right and Copper Mountain is further to the right slightly out of picture. The main destructive avalanche came down from the Copper Mountain and wiped out the concrete facility and homes.

From the above picture I just turned around to show you the cemetery built for this tragedy. We hiked out here from HWY 395. Most of the people buried here are from the Jordan avalanche.
The first graveside is dedicated to H.M. Wier. He was an electrician from Pasadena, CA.
D.O. Knowlton. This is the one gravesite where of a person who was killed in the avalanche in Lundy Canyon and not at the Jordan avalanche.
You will notice that during the summer it is nice and warm here for the guardians.
R.H. Mason. His wife actually survived being entombed for 60 hours before she was rescued. It is said that the family dog kept her warm.
Patrick Stromblad. There are two markers here with different spellings of his last name. At the time of his video I assumed the right marker was added with corrections, but now I am not sure about that. I will list a link below that talks about him.
There are a few more markers. In the video I briefly cover them all and probably butcher a name or two, but you will get the point. This is with my back to the cemetery gate from the other side.
I do not talk about this too much, but there are usually a few deaths each year in the High Sierra. Normally, this happens when people underestimate the snow conditions, but tragic events like this can happen at any time. Even for those with experience in the backcountry.

Part of why I like being in the backcountry is because, in one sense, there are no rules. Some people who I have experienced in the big city love to talk about their accomplishments, but if you take them out their comfort zone they would be humbled very quickly. The mountains and wilderness can be a very beautiful place, but one where humility can come and with tragic results. I usually feel safe when I go out in the backcountry, but have had my share of falls and other minor mistakes. So far so good, but all it takes is that one big mistake.

So no matter where you are, keep these things in mind. The video:

Nature Does Not Play By Rules (Youtube Version)

A few links:

The Story of Patrick Stromblad

An archive page with quotes from some newspapers

Another short old newspaper article