In Our Own Backyard

Sometimes it takes someone from out of town to show you what you are missing in your own backyard.

Esotouric (the folks who do the great crime and literary L.A. tours) did a special, one-off bus tour of the Antelope Valley and Kim and I were invited to go along. Sadly, Kim couldn't make it, being both under the weather and overworked. (I know, how is this a date when I'm missing the most important component of a date - the wife?)

The Antelope Valley Indian Museum.

The tour, in honor of Esotouric co-founder Richard Schave's birthday, was hitting the Western Hotel in Lancaster, the Indian Museum in Lake Los Angeles, and the Ripley preserve in the western AV. I was able to tag along for two of the three attractions - Ripley will wait for another day.

Let me say upfront that the Western Hotel  is not a destination attraction by any means. However, it's worth a visit if you happen to be in the area (it's located at 557 West Lancaster Blvd). It's only open on the second and fourth Friday and Saturday of each month, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

Schave described it has having a "great collection of 1900s Americana" and "being one of the most visible links Lancaster has to its heritage."

Built in the 1880s, the hotel is the oldest surviving building in Lancaster. Speculators, travelers, mule skinners and British lords are among the guests who used the hotel. Between 1905 and 1913, construction crews of the Los Angeles-Owens River Aqueduct were housed at the hotel. 

The cost to stay at the hotel was once $1 per night.

I suspect, but cannot prove, that it was also used by the crew of Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 The Ten Commandments. DeMille shot the chariot race scene on nearby Rogers dry lake bed. I saw a 1923 newspaper article that mentioned two merchants being rousted out of bed at 4 o'clock on a Sunday morning by DeMille's people seeking bread.

The hotel fell into disrepair in the 1970s, but was rescued by the Western Hotel Historical Society and other concerned residents and reopened as a museum in 1988. 

Some of the campaign items used to save the hotel.

The museum is now listed as California Historic Landmark 658.

In front of the hotel is a monument erected in 1999 to honor the Tuskegee Airmen. Also nearby is one of the granite "Aerospace Walk of Honor" monuments, honoring Edwards Air Force Base test pilots. For those unfamiliar with our humble town, there many such monuments up and down the boulevard, honoring such aviation greats as Chuck Yeager and Neil Armstrong.

Prior to the Esotouric tour, I had been at the Western Hotel once in my 25 years of living in this valley. I had no idea the Tuskegee airmen monument even existed, despite the fact I've driven by the hotel literally hundreds of times.

This was a nice gesture by the city.

The Antelope Valley Indian Museum blew my mind. I hadn't been there in over 20 years and I had forgotten what a marvel it is. 

It is a folk art wonderland inside of a Tudor-revival chalet built in and around a rock formation.The house has seven different roof elevations. The boulders of Piute Butte serve as the floor of the upper floor, a staircase, and as the walls of the rear portion of the house.

The museum was created by Indiana-born Howard Arden Edwards, a self-taught artist, anthropologist and lover of Native American culture, according to our local newspaper. Edwards was also a theatrical set painter, a college instructor, and a daredevil and circus clown.

He acquired the property under the Homestead Act and in 1928 began building a home among the boulders of Piute Butte.

One of the ceiling panels.

The upper floor was dubbed the Antelope Valley Indian Research Museum, an area where Edwards displayed his collection of prehistoric and historic American Indian artifacts. According to the museum's website, Edwards interpreted his items in a way that he thought would be instructive and entertaining for visitors. Some of his imaginative descriptions can still be seen in displays in the museum's upper gallery, now called California Hall.

California Hall.

While his collecting methods were, to be polite, controversial, Edwards did amass a remarkable collection.

You can see how the home was built on the rock cropping.

In 1939, Grace Wilcox Oliver bought the home. Oliver added to the collection and turned some of the rooms into exhibit areas. It's my understanding - and if anyone knows different, please let me know - that Edwards came back and provided additional art work for the museum during Oliver's tenure as owner. It's also my understanding that the museum was, briefly, a dude ranch at one point.

 The museum would eventually become part of the state park system in 1979. Schave credits Edra Moore, the museum's first state employee, and current curator Peggy Ronning for turning the site from "curiosity roadside attraction into a proper state museum."

"The museum really is a work of art," Schave said.

Here's how the museum's website describes its collection: "In the 1980s, the State Parks designated the museum as a regional Indian museums, representing the cultures of the western Great Basin (east and southeast of the Sierra Nevada Mountains). Material culture from local archaeological discoveries is occasionally added to the collections."

One must have the right neck wear for a wooing.

In won't be another 20 years before I go back. In fact, I might be back there on Dec. 14. The museum is hosting "Holidays on the Homestead" from 5 to 8 p.m. that evening. The museums' website says the event is an "old-time country holiday celebration" The event is expected to include a chili cook-off, a country craft boutique, homestead-era holiday décor, and cowboy songs and poetry performed around a blazing bonfire.

Again, from the website: Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for ages 6-12, and ages 5 and under are free. Only cash or checks will be accepted for event admission and boutique purchases. The event is a fundraiser for the non-profit Friends of the Antelope Valley Indian Museum, which is helping to keep the museum open.

 The museum is located in northeastern Los Angeles County. It is 17 miles east of the Antelope Valley Freeway (State Highway 14), on Avenue M, between 150th and 170th Street East. Go East on Avenue K or Palmdale Boulevard and follow the signs to the museum. Or exit Pearblossom Highway (138) at 165th Street East and travel North.

(as you're going down 150th, you might notice a gas station and cafe that kind of looks familiar. That's Club Ed, a film set that's been used in scores of TV shows, movies, and commercials)

The Antelope Valley Indian Museum is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Admission is $3 for adults (cash or checks only).