Signs of the past to help make Kingman historical today

The “Entering El Trovatore” sign has reappeared on Route 66 in Kingman. (Photo: SCOTT DUNTON)

By Hubble Ray Smith
Kingman Daily Miner

KINGMAN – For the first time since the 1940s, the “Entering El Trovatore” sign is casting a bluish glow on Route 66, one of several sign restoration projects funded by Route 66 Association of Kingman to give visitors a sense of the town’s place in history.

It once stood on Chadwick Drive, which carried traffic on the National Old Trails Highway from 1921 to 1926. The new roadway was cut through El Trovatore Hill and the sign was installed around 1936.

It’s now displayed on Andy Devine Avenue, just east of the city’s famous water tanks.

Route 66 Association of Kingman accepted the sign as a donation from the Mohave Museum of History and Arts.

It also acquired the mid-1950s Brandin’ Iron Motel sign, an old Conoco gas station sign and a Desert Drug sign from around 1935, which are next on the installation list.

The signs have been refurbished in partnership with Legacy Signs.

The Route 66 group assists local businesses with sign restoration, art projects, facade renovations and graffiti removal.

“We have done these in conjunction with property owners, the museum, the city,” said Scott Dunton, local businessman and president of Route 66 Association of Kingman. “They pay part, we pay part personally.

“The museum and city pitched in all in an effort to make Kingman beautiful and something we will all be proud of.”

Established in 1994, Route 66 Association of Kingman has more than 130 members who are passionate about leading a revitalization effort in the downtown business district and along the famous highway.

“We need a historic city, all of Kingman, not just downtown, that people want to come to weekly,” Dunton said. “And come to stay and see the wonderful things you can (see) driving to and from Kingman.”

Recent projects include refurbishment of signage and murals at Mohave Museum of History and Arts, restoration of symbols and lettering on the historic Masonic Lodge, and restoration of a circa 1914 street lamp at the 1903 Elks Lodge.

A sign designed by Scott McCoy, listing the cities noted in the song, “Get Your Kicks on Route 66,” was created and donated to the City of Kingman with assistance from Laron Engineering.

Route 66 Association of Kingman hosts a monthly mixer at member businesses in partnership with the Promote Kingman initiative.

It also sets up receptions and special events for tours led by Japanese, German, Dutch, Brazilian, Canadian and Czech Route 66 associations.

Dunton is playing up Kingman’s ties to the historic highway. His father, Roy, began working at Gold Road garage on Route 66 in 1938.

Roy Dunton’s uncle, N.R. Dunton, owned the garage and built Cool Springs in late 1926. The family established Dunton Motors, now a classic vehicle dealership and restoration business, in 1946. Roy is the “D” in Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner.

The Route 66 Chronicles: Unraveling mysteries

Camp Beale's Springs, Kingman, Arizona. Photo by D.P. Flanders, 1873. (Courtesy, Mohave Museum of History and Arts)

By Jim Hinckley
Kingman Daily Miner

History is a lot like a good pot of stew. If we merely skim the surface, we miss the meat and potatoes at the bottom. This leaves the impression that the stew is a bit thin and without a great deal of flavor. Then we tell folks that the stew wasn’t very good and the story is repeated until it becomes fact.

With the passing of time, even photos are not always enough to separate myth from fact. Recently, the Route 66 Association of Kingman initiated an ambitious plan to partner with property owners in the historic business district to restore facades, as well as historic signage.

One of these projects was the Old Trails Garage owned by the Graves family. As historic research is something I engage in regularly, I was asked to assist in determining the date of construction and to find images of the garage that would allow for a more accurate recreation.

The earliest view of the garage was a postcard from about 1918 in the possession of the Mohave Museum of History & Arts. However, something did not seem right as the garage was supposed to have been built in 1912 or 1914, and I didn’t see the Brunswick Hotel that was built in 1909. This was accredited to a bit of photo editing, common in many early post cards. Then, with assistance from Steve Rider, a prolific collector of National Old Trails Highway era postcards, a similar postcard was discovered, but this one indicated a Needles, California location.

Even though the owners have decided that the facade renovation of the Kingman garage will mimic its 1940 appearance, complete with towering neon Packard sign from about 1930, it was interesting to have a more complete photo record of the facility’s evolution.

As the association’s initiative progresses, I am confident that further adventures in historic research will take place. In fact, I am currently in search of a mystery contractor that added a unique signature to his work – the use of white quartz to frame windows and doors.

To date, I have documented this signature at the Siesta Motel, 1929; the recently razed Bell Motel, 1946; the Assembly of God church, 1939; a circa-1930 cafe, and the last remnant of the pre-1937 Richards Auto Court. Perhaps the most intriguing of these buildings is the old church, as stones with Native American petroglyphs were used in the construction!

A few days ago I delved into the new Facebook live and posted several early morning discussions. A regular morning broadcast is something I may do in the near future. To have direct interaction with followers and Route 66 enthusiasts from throughout the world was a most interesting experience.

In the most recent of these I noted that a video from the site of Camp Beale, a mid-19th century military outpost on the Beale Wagon Road and Mohave Prescott Toll Road, would be shared. Recently, I went live with this short video and in the coming days will post a more detailed video on the Jim Hinckley’s YouTube channel.

This historic site is another location where the passing of time has greatly obscured its actual location, size, and even years of operation. The Mohave Museum of History & Arts has created some superb then-and-now photos that have resolved a few of these mysteries. The area is another gem in the Kingman region as the springs, a veritable desert oasis, and the miles of trails for hiking or mountain biking in the Cerbat foothills.

In school we may have been given the impression that history is as dull and boring as a three-day insurance seminar. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unraveling mysteries, chasing ghosts, and discovering tangible links to the dreams and vision of people long passed empower us to look toward the future with eager anticipation.

Until we meet again on the road in Jim Hinckley’s America, adios mi amigos.

Earp cabin, Clyde Ranch barn among local historical vestiges lost to Blue Cut fire

The burned Clyde Ranch off Lone Pine Canyon Road. On the property was the Earp Cabin, used by Virgil Earp (brother of Wyatt Earp) and original owner Almond Davis Clyde back in the 1860s. The cabin burned during the Blue Cut fire. The fire has burned 37,000 acres, 96 homes, 213 outbuildings and was 26 percent contained as of Friday morning. (Will Lester — Staff Photographer)

By Beatriz Valenzuela
San Bernardino Sun

A pair of local landmarks — the Earp cabin and an old barn on the Clyde Ranch — can be added to the historical vestiges lost to the fast-moving Blue Cut fire, which has gobbled up more than 37,000 acres of brush and chaparral in the Cajon Pass.

The fire has devastated the West Cajon Valley, decimating more than 100 homes and more than 200 outbuildings, leaving a scarred and blackened landscape in its wake.

“It’s been an absolutely devastating fire in more ways than one,” said Nicholas R. Cataldo of San Bernardino. “We’ve lost bits of history to this fire.”

Cataldo, a Cajon Pass historian, was still dealing with news of the loss of the historic Summit Inn Cafe when he learned two of the oldest structures in San Bernardino County were devoured by the massive blaze.

Thursday, the news began to spread that the Earp Cabin, as it’s known in the community, and an old barn on the Clyde Ranch along Lone Pine Canyon Road were gone.

According to Cataldo, the cabin was built by Almon Clyde with help from Virgil Earp, brother of famous western lawman, Wyatt Earp.

“A couple of the Earp Brothers — and primarily Virgil — was good friends with Clyde,” said Cataldo. “They would go up there and hunt deer. They would be up there a week at a time. It’s a real shame it was lost. If it’s not the oldest building in San Bernardino County, it was certainly one of the oldest.”

The cabin and the barn were built using square nails, Cataldo said.

“I remember Bob Clyde said they were hoping to turn (the cabin) into a little museum but they never did.” Bob Clyde was Almon Clyde’s grandson.

In 1883, Clyde acquired the property on Lone Pine Canyon Road from a member of the Swarthout family, Mormons who settled in the Cajon Pass in 1847, according to historians. Clyde established a cattle ranch and an adjacent apple orchard that is still owned and operated by the Clyde family.

“Some of those apple trees are a century old,” said Cataldo.

The scorched earth was still smoldering Friday morning around a lone, tall chimney standing sentry above the fragments of what once was the old Earp Cabin.

Clyde Ranch before the Blue Cut fire.

The barn, also built in the 1860s, was also gone. The machinery, some of it 100 years old, was twisted by the heat of the flames.

Still standing on the property is the more modern main house where members of the Clyde family still live and the service station built by Almon Clyde.

“It’s devastating to know the cabin and barn is lost,” said Zack Earp, a descendant of the legendary lawmen. Earp, 68, of Riverside, said he was glad he was able to visit the ranch at least once before the buildings were destroyed.

News of the Clyde Ranch loss was all the chatter at Mountain Hardware in Wrightwood, only a few miles from the ranch.

“It’s a shame to see it go,” Mike Troeger, owner of the hardware store, said Friday morning as he chatted with the trickle of customers who made their way into the business. Most weren’t looking to buy anything but instead wanted to talk about the fire. “Everyone knows about the history of the place.”

Randsburg: Living ghost town is a Mojave Desert treasure

A sign hangs on a building in Randsburg, CA, Thursday, July 14, 2016. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/The Sun/SCNG)

By Michel Nolan
The San Bernardino Sun

It happens suddenly. You’re traveling along an endless stretch of the Mojave Desert, and like you’ve noticed a hundred times before, the U.S. Highway 395 road sign comes into view, pointing left at the turnoff to the town of Randsburg, a two-minute drive on an unpaved road.

The sky is a brilliant blue, the July heat hasn’t risen yet, so you decide to try it and take the path less traveled.

Within three minutes, you’ve left the parched expanse and arrived more than a century back in time.

Could your eyes be playing tricks on you?

Is this a desert mirage?

You are on Butte Avenue, the main thoroughfare in an Old West town that looks like an authentic Old West town.

Welcome to Randsburg, a desert gold-mining town that struck it big more than a century ago.

On a recent Thursday, staff photographer Jennifer Maher and I set out for a Randsburg adventure and were delighted with the town and its inhabitants, who were friendly and eager to share stories of their living ghost town.

The area’s mining operation, at its peak between 1895 — when gold was discovered — and 1933, took out more than $60 million in gold profits from the earth.

There truly is “gold in them thar hills.”

As gold became scarce, however, so did the people, and the 1896 boomtown that sprang up overnight was no more.

During the area’s “Gold Rush” era, the population mushroomed to nearly 4,000, but has now dwindled to about 50 hardy souls.

Greeting us at the edge of town was the weathered wood facade of an aging Post Office, which bears the skull of a steer, along with the ominous words, “End of the Trail, Randsburg, CAL.”

The General Store, just two doors down, looked friendlier so we decided to check it out.

We were hooked. Randsburg had us, reeling us in.

Built in 1903, the Randsburg General Store/Soda Fountain/Restaurant is a purveyor of fine provisions, necessities from pancake mix to soup, Clorox to mousetraps. The store serves fresh coffee, as well as restaurant menu choices and its famous soda fountain phosphates.

The focal point of the store is the 16-foot marble-topped soda fountain with stained-glass cabinet doors.

According to one story, the soda fountain was carried from Boston on a clipper ship around Cape Horn, arriving in the desert in 1904. Another story claims it traveled from Boston via mule train and arrived about the same time.

General Store owners Brad Myers and Carol Dyer, who moved to Randsburg part time from the San Fernando Valley and took over the store on July 1 of this year, are enthusiastic entrepreneurs.

“We wanted to get out of the rat race,” said Carol, a former legal secretary who has been dirt bike riding up here for 40 years.

So, three years ago, they started a T-shirt company in Randsburg, MadInk Designs; then, they opened up the MadInk Motorcycle and Surf Shop next door and the Hole in the Wall Antique Store down the street, and finally the General Store.

They envision a thriving future in the dusty little town.

“We want to keep our history, but we want to expand to keep it alive,” Carol said.

“Randsburg is a mecca for motorcycle riding and other off-road vehicles,” said Brad, who admits he tells everybody to call him “Pitt.”

Folks don’t forget his name, he says with a smile.

Brad begins his day fixing breakfast, and then goes out and sits on the yellow line in the middle of the street to have his coffee and bagel.

Where else can you do that?

A former fabricator, Brad also rides motorcycles and he reports the influx of desert riders and campers within a 20-mile radius reaches about 190,000 during Thanksgiving weekend.

The little town is jumping.

The hospitable couple learn local history from the old timers who come in.

Randsburg has more than its share of colorful characters.

The aroma of fresh morning coffee lures Ron Bush, 75, a Randsburg resident for 30 years, and Gary Gearhart, 67, of Johannesburg, a town a few miles away.

Ron, a native of New York, worked for Wells Fargo, also working security in nearby Boron at the Borax plant and the solar fields.

Gary, who worked in Boron at the Borax plant for seven years, was a heavy equipment operator. He later spent 29 years in Mojave.

Obviously, desert lovers.

While Jenn and I sipped our lime phosphates, the old-timers talked about mining borax in the nearby mines at Boron and how the 20-mule teams, made famous in ads for borax soap, hauled the borax in old wooden-wheeled wagons through the rough terrain, across Trona Road, to California City and over to Mojave.

The trip took one month in 1872.

They talked about “the old days,” the people who have come and gone and the changes in the town, which are few because the townspeople want to keep the character of Randsburg authentic.

There is pride here.

The elementary school and high school are gone, but an elementary school still stands in Johannesburg, two miles away.

The old hospital is also gone, so locals go into Ridgecrest for medical needs.

Many of the homes that look ancient on the exterior have been remodeled and are comfortable and clean on the interior.

According to Ron, residents get their water from three wells dug at the end of town.

Air conditioning is so expensive that residents opt for swamp coolers to keep them comfortable in the summer’s brutal heat, which is usually in the triple digits.

Winter temps are the other extreme — dropping way below freezing, and occasionally blanketing the desert in snow (drought permitting).

With spring comes the wildflowers: lupines, primroses, sand verbena.

There is no cable TV service here, so residents have satellite dishes. As for Wi-Fi, there is none.

While it’s not an easy way of life, it’s somehow simpler.

The scattering of eclectic homes ranges from those built into the hills, to a few ranch homes to others patched with old wood and corrugated metal.

There is also a sprinkling of outhouses dotting the landscape.

Along the street are the Opera House, the White House Saloon, the Randsburg Inn (which has lodging and lots of antiques), The Joint saloon (a former bakery), the Randsburg Museum, a barbershop and the “Goat Sky Ranch,” bed and breakfast owned by Goat Brecker, an old Supercross racer from the ’70s and ’80s.

There are two churches in town — Methodist and Catholic.

Up a winding road is the original jail, last occupied (according to Brad) by two ladies who had too much to drink, got into a gunfight, and fortunately, in their inebriated state, couldn’t shoot each other.

They each had a cell in the two-cell adobe jail.

This fascinating place is real — not Hollywood — and it’s technically a ghost town, but don’t tell that to its inhabitants, who number about 51 — give or take.

If Randsburg looks like a scene from some old Western, that’s because it has been — TV commercials, movies from “Hidalgo” with Viggo Mortensen to “Chopper Chicks in Zombietown,” starring Billy Bob Thornton, have been filmed in the area.

We enjoyed our adventure and the Old West charm of the place, returning richer without even looking for gold.

Providence Town Site nominated for federal historic designation

Ruins of the Bonanza King Mine (darthjenni)

By Jose Quintero
Desert Dispatch

SAN FRANCISCO — The Providence Town Site near the defunct Bonanza King Mine and Mitchell Caverns is one of 11 nominations to be considered to the National Register of Historic Places on Monday.

The California State Historical Resources Commission will consider the nominations for federal historic designation during a quarterly meeting in San Francisco at 1 p.m. on Monday.

Providence Town Site is an 81-acre district in the Providence Mountains in the Mojave National Preserve.

California Office of Historic Preservation officials say the buildings and structures in the Providence Town Site are “almost in a state of ruin.” the buildings and structures at the site comprise a nearly intact village near the Bonanza King Mine, a former silver mine, located roughly 100 miles east of Barstow.

“Practically all of the buildings and structures dating from the period of significance remain in place and are further connected by the town’s original road and trail system. The property is significant in the areas of settlement, commerce, transportation, architecture and archaeology,” the nomination reads.

The California Office of Historic Preservation is responsible for administering federally and state mandated historic preservation programs to further the identification, evaluation, registration and protection of the state’s “irreplaceable resources.” The mission of the California Office of Historic Preservation and the California State Historical Resources Commission is to provide “leadership and promote the preservation of California's irreplaceable and diverse cultural heritage,” the website reads.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at the Golden Gate Club’s Ventana Room, located at 135 Fisher Loop in San Francisco.

Hesperia family begins cleanup effort at old Johannesburg cemetery

Alexandrea Marsh pulls weeds away from a grave site at the Rand District Cemetery in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The Kochara family from Hesperia discovered the cemetery in disrepair and began bringing a team of friends to help cleanup and care for the cemetery. (James Quigg, Daily Press)

By Paola Baker
Victor Valley Daily Press

JOHANNESBURG — For one Hesperia family, an hour and a half road trip is worth preserving a piece of history.

Eddie Kochara and his family and friends have recently made two trips to the Rand District Cemetery to undertake a cleanup effort. Dating back to the late 1800s, the cemetery, which is located off Mountain Wells Avenue in the town of Johannesburg 30 minutes north of Kramer Junction, appeared to have been abandoned when the Kocharas came across it a few weeks ago while on vacation.

“We were on our way to Lake Isabella and happened to pass by the cemetery,” Kochara’s wife Shannon said. “It was sad to see the condition it was in.”

The Daily Press joined the Kocharas and a few of their friends as they made another trip to the site Wednesday. The old cemetery, which is home to many unique graves, was overgrown with weeds and covered in dust. Many graves were barely visible due to the tangled overgrowth and dust.

Eddie Kochara said his eight children, who range from 9-year-old twins to teenagers, first came up with the idea to come back and start cleaning up the cemetery. Nine-year-old Caidyn Kochara readily agreed.

“We passed by and saw it and I just said, 'This is so sad,' ” Caidyn Kochara said. “We need to clean it up.”

The family, accompanied by a few friends, made another trip to the dusty old mining town and got to work a week after their vacation. Weeds were pulled, old gravestones were dusted and stones and flowers were rearranged in their rightful places. A large family memorial which holds 12 different graves took hours to clean, with 17-year-old Cassie Kochara undertaking most of the effort.

“It took me about four hours to get it to look like this,” Cassie Kochara said, as she carefully dusted off dirt from the memorial.

A plaque in front of the cemetery said the place was first established in December 1896 with the burial of William Davis, who was shot and killed in a gambling dispute in the neighboring town of Randsburg.

“The cemetery is the final resting place of many pioneers of the district whose headstones and the location of their graves have been lost to the ravages of time," the plaque reads. Several names of people buried can be found underneath the plaque.
Eddie and Shannon Kochara said they believed the site may have had a caretaker as recently as 15 years ago, as Eddie had come across it during an off-roading trip back then when it was in better condition. To come back years later and see the place in its current condition was “heartbreaking,” he said.

“When I came across it years ago, it was taken care of,” Eddie Kochara said. “When we saw it again, I decided something needed to be done.”

The family plans to make the trip every other Sunday to undertake the cleaning effort. Eddie Kochara said he’s been doing side jobs and rentals to fund the trips, but remained humble about his family’s efforts.

“It’s just who I am,” he said. “We made a dent in it, but there’s still a lot more to do.”

Shannon Kochara agreed with her husband’s sentiments.

“A lot of these graves are very old and many of these people just may not have any family living that’s able to take care of them,” she said, as she raked dust and pulled weeds from an old grave. “It’s just something I would want someone to do for me.”

Old West lives on at Pioneertown

What started as an Old West movie set built in the 1940s, Pioneertown still lives on as a getaway that recalls those days. (Photo by Trevor Summons)

By Trevor Summons
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

One of the few places that never seems to change is the small Western town of Pioneertown, or Pi’ Town as many of the locals call it.

A walk down Mane Street — only hoof and foot traffic allowed — is always interesting. If the original builders of the town were to come back they would feel right at home.

Some of these builders were the stars of the old Western movies, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. They decided to convert the sets of their films into overnight dwellings and then they put in a small 18-room motel where they could stay after a day’s shooting out in the hot sun.

The six-lane bowling barn is still there, but it’s not functioning at the moment. It’s been up for sale a few times but it’s hard to find many takers; it’s difficult to make money from occasional bowlers.

It’s a shame as the bowling alley is an original — Roy Rogers bowled the first ball back in 1947 and it was a strike (of course!) A decade later school boys and girls were replaced with automatic pin setters, but then gradually business fell off.

At the end of Mane Street, sits Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, which is a thriving bar and restaurant business with regular concerts on the weekends. Its outside walls were some of the original sets used in those early films.

Today, during the daytime, you will find lots of horse trailers unloaded as today’s modern cowboys trail their mounts over the impressive terrain. It was this scenery that attracted Rogers and Autry to film so many movies and early TV series here.

Often at night they would gather in the motel, at the rear of Pappy and Harriet’s, play cards and carouse around. Room No. 9 became known as Club Nine for the fun they had there.

Last time I was there, I met up with John Jeffries who with his partner, Gary Suppes, makes saddles and other leather goods. As I walked along in the center of town he was there again. It was good to see him.

He is one of about 400 who make up the permanent population of the town. Of course that is not just Mane Street, but several blocks on either side.

“We’ve had a very good summer,” he said. “Lots of buses with foreign tourists from all over the world.”

It was a Thursday in late October when I was there, and it was pretty quiet at that time.

“At the weekend, things begin to build up,” Jeffries continued.

They do a lot of weddings, he told me.

“We offer a particular service,” he said. “For a $50 fee, we’ll try and talk ’em out of it!” he laughed into his grizzled beard. “We haven’t had any takers yet. But it might save them a lot of money later on.”

I can never quite work out exactly how many people live on the main street there, as there are a number of places with obvious signs of habitation. Perhaps there is a resident of the shop that sells Soap and Goats, but I never saw anyone about, not even a goat.

Pioneertown is a fun place to visit, and if you want to stay over like the old movie stars, then go online to the motel and see if they’ve got room. Prices vary from $110 to $210 per night. And if you’re thinking of getting hitched, then maybe a visit to the saddle maker might be an idea first.

Con artist builds a crooked road in Death Valley

Feb. 9, 1969: Death Valley naturalist Dwight Warren checks a portion of Titus Canyon Road, which had been closed by a cloudburst. This photo by staff photographer Frank Q. Brown was published in the Feb. 21, 1969, Los Angeles Times.

Posted By: Scott Harrison
Los Angeles Times Framework

The history of Titus Canyon Road was explained in a May 22, 1977, Los Angeles Times article by staff writer Charles Hillinger:

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL MONUMENT – It is undoubtedly the longest one-way, no-other-way road in the country.

The 27-mile road winds its way west through a scenic gorge in two states – California and Nevada.

It is so narrow in spots there is barely enough room for a car to squeeze between the 500-foot-high sheer limestone walls that rise spectacularly from the canyon floor.

Titus Canyon Road is, for good reason, the least used of nine roads into Death Valley, America’s hottest and driest place.

Its 27 miles are miserable, none of it paved, strewn with dirt and rocks.

The road was built by a con artist who pushed it through the canyon in 1925 to provide access to one of the most notorious mining hoaxes of the century.

It was in Titus Canyon that Chauncey C. Julian “salted” the Grapevine Mountains and spawned a town near Bloody Gap he called Leadfield.

He proclaimed the hills in “his” canyon were alive with pockets and veins of lead, and published brochures showing ships steaming up Death Valley’s Amargosa River to the mouth of Titus Canyon to take on ore.

The Amargosa River is bone dry.

In March, 1926, Julian ran a 15-car “Leadville Special” train from Los Angeles to Beatty, Nev., for 340 investors – 24 of them women – to visit their diggings. The investors were driven from Beatty through the winding gorge to Leadfield in a caravan of cars.

A hotel, stores and homes were built in Leadfield. But the town lasted only two years. There was a post office from August, 1926, until February, 1927.

Then the bubble burst.

Julian skipped the country and fled to Shanghai where he committed suicide in 1934.

A handful of decaying structures still stand at Leadfield on the Titus Canyon Road, named after Morris Titus, a miner who entered the narrow canyon to do some prospecting in 1906 and never was seen again.

It gets so hot along the road that the National Park Service closes the canyon from mid-May to mid-October – so that nobody gets stranded and perishes in the scorching sun.

California Gold cameraman Luis Fuerte recalls life with Huell

Luis Fuerte, award-winning cameraman for the late Huell Howser, of the California Gold television show, recounted his travels and fond memories of his employer and friend for the San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society on Thursday, July 2. (Paul Prado Photography)

By Paul Prado
Special to Highland Community News

On Thursday, July 2, the San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society hosted a lecture by cameraman Luis Fuerte. Fuerte was the editor, lighting director, sound engineer, on air operations person, and cameraman for the late Huell Howser, who hosted KCET’s California Gold.

Fuerte spoke of his travels and times filming with the ever-curious, effervescent, and spontaneous Huell Howser.

“One day, Huell said, ‘Luis (pronounced Louie), I have an idea for a show called California Gold,’” Fuerte said. Fuerte said the format of the show came about during a four-day shoot at a train festival in Sacramento. “That is the first actual California Gold as we see it today.”

Having the privilege to work with a dynamic personality, Fuerte said, “I could tell when he (Howser) needed a break or when things weren’t working out. I could read Huell real well. We worked well as a team. I learned to read him so well, with the tone of his voice”.

Someone asked if the shows were scripted. Fuerte said, “He (Howser) always wanted to be surprised, you remember his famous, ‘Golleeey’ or ‘Reeeeally!’ He knew about the story, but not a lot. He would stop at flowers in a field, and do a story. He was easy going. He could get people to talk to him. He could do a story on a door knob (implying that Howser was that interested in what he saw). He loved working.”

In 2001, after many instances of telling Howser that he wanted to retire from the show, Fuerte gave his last notice to leave California Gold and started his own business.

Howser’s entire collection of his California Gold series was given to Chapman University. The university constructed a replica of his office and has every episode cataloged in a newly constructed building in Howser’s honor. There are pictures of Fuerte, with Howser, in the exhibit that is free to the public.

“The program was good. It was very well done,” said Charles Kiel of the Highland Area Historical Society. “It’s great to meet the guy behind the camera. He contributed a lot to the show California Gold. We’re grateful to Huell and Luis for their part in preserving history. The show was a good documentary about things.”

“We can now put a face to the name when Huell would always say, “Hey, Luis (Louie) get a shot of this!’ He brought to us things that we didn’t know about in California. Those little things; like a “door knob,” commented Kathy Toy of Highland.

Fuerte is scheduled to have a book of his memories, travels, and work experience with Howser published in the near future. The book is aptly titled, “Hey, Louie Take a Look at This!”

Talking for the Bridge

Barstow resident Ira Gwin watches vehicles traveling over the First Street Bridge on Thursday. Gwin wants that the city to conduct studies exploring the feasibility of alternate routes over the railroad yard and the Moajve River and alternate use of the old bridge. (Mike Lamb, Desert Dispatch)

By Mike Lamb
Staff Writer

BARSTOW — Ira Gwin is demanding the city conduct studies on the feasibility of protecting the old First Street bridge from the wrecking ball.

And so is fellow Mojave River Valley Museum member David Mott.

“I hates to see this history stuff go to the wayside,” Mott said. “I’m here to talk for the bridge, because it can’t talk for itself.”

The two Barstow residents showed up at Monday’s City Council meeting to speak in support of not tearing down the old bridge during the public comment period. They were reacting to the city staff report and update presented by Andrew Sanford from Kleinfelder, Inc. during the April 6 City Council meeting. The company has worked on past maintenance projects for the bridge and the project to replace the bridge. Sanford gave a detailed report on the replacement of the First Avenue Bridge and reasons for the old bridge to be removed.

Gwin wants that the city to conduct studies exploring the feasibility of alternate routes over the railroad yard and the Mojave River and alternate use of the old bridge. He reminded the City Council members he sent a letter to them and he was waiting for a response.

“The board of directors of the Mojave River Valley Museum and the Democratic club both asked me to represent them at this meeting by asking for these two studies to be done before further work proceeds on this bridge,” Guinn said. “There was not one public meeting, not one public group from the city to give its input from either museums from anyone else directly involved in the establishment of that bridge. The city did none of that. Never asked for our advice, never asked for any assistance or thoughts. You are going ahead on this extremely important project with no input from the community. I think it’s wrong. I think it’s disgraceful.”

Barstow Consulting City Manager Brad Merrell said during his street report the city has completed studies on the project gong back to 1995. He also announced that a town hall meeting on the project has been scheduled for 5 p.m. on May 27 inside the City Council chambers. He said the project and studies will be presented and the public can ask questions and get answers.

Later in the meeting, Councilman Richard Harpole responded to Gwin admonishment of the city staff and City Council. Harpole referred to a photo of the bridge that was placed on one side of the City Council chambers.

“Mr. Guinn, I did get your letter. All of us did. And I read your letter not once, but four or five times,” he said. “The photograph you see on the easel over there is my photograph. I took it four or five years ago. It hangs in my house. And after reading your letter, I looked at the photo. I thought about it and kicked it around and I kept looking at the picture, and I said, ‘man it would be kind of cool if it had park benches on it and we converted that old bridge into a city park as a vista for the Harvey House and the train station.”

Harpole admitted he was sold on tearing down the old bridge during the April meeting. But he said he now has second thoughts and would like to hold a study session to discuss the possibility of converting the old bridge into a vista park.

“We can even have that as a venue for community events. I know that there is an issue we need to look at,” he said. “If that bridge came down on railroad property that would be a big problem for us.”
Mayor Hackbarth-McIntyre agreed.

“I’m not so convinced its so much a safety issue and I want to see the studies and the amount of money it would take to convert it into a park or keep it maintained and where that would lie within in our budget moving forward in the next couple years.”

Plans underway to preserve historic High Desert stretch of Route 66

A car passes through Amboy on historic U.S. Route 66., Thursday, July 31, 2014. (John Valenzuela)

By Joe Nelson
The San Bernardino Sun

America’s love affair with Route 66 endures.

Songs have been written about it. A television show was named after it. It played a prominent role in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” as the route taken by the Joad family from Oklahoma to California to escape the Dust Bowl.

And for nearly a quarter of a century, the city of San Bernardino paid tribute to it with its annual Route 66 Rendezvous, a weekend street faire for classic car enthusiasts.

And now, plans are underway to preserve and enhance a 150-mile stretch of the two-lane historic highway from Needles to Barstow, creating roadside kiosks and mobile apps, among other things, to attract visitors and keep its memory alive.

“I’m convinced the route will get busier and busier because of tourism and the baby boomers retiring,” said Albert Okura, owner of the historic roadside Roy’s Motel and Cafe in Amboy, one of the mainstay attractions along the dusty desert stretch of Historic Route 66.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the California Historic Route 66 Association released their Route 66 Draft Corridor Management Plan.

A 30-day public comment period on the plan is now underway. A webcast is scheduled for Feb. 19. The webcast, as well as a digital copy of the plan, can be accessed at http://cmp.route66ca.org.

Hard copies are also available for review at the BLM California Desert District Office in Moreno Valley, the BLM’s Barstow and Needles field offices, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce, the Barstow Public Library, the Needles Chamber of Commerce, and the Needles Public Library.

A limited number of black-and-white hard copies of the plan may be requested via email at cahistoricrt66@aol.com, with “CMP Hard Copy Request” entered in the subject line of the email.

The long-term plan includes the most comprehensive strategy to date on the preservation and marketing of the highway stretch. Once the plan is complete, the BLM and California Historic Route 66 Association will push to get it designated as a National Scenic Byway by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The targeted audience includes Route 66 enthusiasts, historians, multi-generational travelers and travel groups, photographers and railway enthusiasts.

“It represents a great chance to introduce people to the Mojave Desert,” said Jim Klein, the project’s lead planner.

He said several gateway centers with kiosks are planned for Barstow, Needles, Amboy, Essex, Goffs and Ludlow. An interactive mobile app would allow travelers to see then-and-now photos of the many stopovers and other geographic points of interest along the highway, he said.

“When you’re trying to draw people toward Barstow, you need to create something for them to see and do,” Klein said. “There are a lot of great old photographs of all these communities. Some of them are no longer there.”

Building new infrastructure along the highway stretch and refurbishing many, if not all, of the 128 timber trestle bridges dotting the historic route is also a top priority, Klein said. He said the stretch of Route 66 from Needles to Barstow has most of the antiquated wooden bridges, which were built in the 1920s during construction of the highway.

Written comments on the draft plan will be accepted through Feb. 28, and may be submitted by mail to Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects, 815 N. Royal St., Suite 200, attn: Route 66 CMP, Alexandria, VA 22314. Comments can also be sent via email to cart66cmp@lardnerklein.com.

Project examining Route 66 effect on Native Americans

A van with a tour group passes through Route 66 in San Bernardino County. (Kurt Miller)

by David Olson
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Route 66 is probably the most iconic road in the nation, but few of the tourists and other travelers who drive it likely know very much about the original residents of the land they’re passing through.

A new initiative from the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association aims to change that with a guidebook that will steer visitors toward Native American cultural sites and educate them about Route 66’s effect on American Indian life.

Route 66 passes through San Bernardino County in its 2,400-mile journey from Chicago to Los Angeles, and a meeting with Southern California tribes on their possible involvement in the project is expected in January 2015, said Rachel Cromer, a spokeswoman for the tourism association.

“This is a part of the Route 66 story that hasn’t been told yet,” Cromer said. “We hope this will draw new visitors and allow people who have traveled Route 66 to experience it in a new way.”

The National Park Service is helping fund the project.

Many Americans and foreign tourists have a Hollywood-movie view of Indians as living in teepees, wearing headdresses and riding horses, said Virginia Salazar-Halfmoon, coordinator of the project.

Here in the Inland area, among the best-known Route 66 attractions is the Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino, which features teepee-shaped rooms.

Yet Southern California Indians did not live in teepees, which were used by some Plains Indians.

Salazar-Halfmoon said the guidebook will help dispel the teepee myth and other stereotypes and generalizations.

“There are 27-plus tribes that exist along Route 66, and many people don’t realize they have distinct cultural heritages that they hold on to tenaciously,” she said. “If people knew more about the tribes, they would be more aware of the distinct cultural heritages that exist and would probably have a more enriched experience on Route 66.”

Route 66 had a major impact on Native Americans’ lives, Salazar-Halfmoon said. For example, the road was used to transport many Native American kids to Indian boarding schools, she said. The federal government set up the schools, which were aimed not only at teaching educational basics to Indian children but also at eradicating Indian culture.

Route 66 also had positive effects on tribes, Salazar-Halfmoon said. The road created a larger market for Indian arts and crafts and exposed more people to Native American culture, she said. Artisans set up stands and trading posts at the side of Route 66 to sell their goods.

“Because of Route 66, they didn’t have to leave home” to sell their products, she said.

Protect signage in ‘Wild West’

Sharing the story of Arizona Strip history was this sign, now gone. (Hartt Wixom / The Spectrum & Daily News)

Hartt Wixom
The Spectrum

Adventurous travelers love that sign south of St. George near the Arizona border which says, “Where the West Stays Wild.”

At least it used to say that. It’s now gone. Apparently, the work of vandals. But more about that later.

That sign was a most meaningful introduction to the Arizona Strip. Fortunately, the region remains wild. We can applaud the fact it has been left as the Creator made it. True, there are a few roads — some lead to the Grand Canyon — and a great undeclared wilderness which includes the Parashant National Monument. It’s a natural wonderland of canyons and buttes harboring trophy mule deer and antelope — featuring a great deal of intriguing history.

Some of that history includes the three men who departed from Grand Canyon explorer Maj. John Wesley Powell in 1869. Brothers O. J. and Seneca Howland and James Dunn climbed up what is now called Separation Canyon and then disappeared.

A sign providing this historical lore once placed on private land has also disappeared. Maj. Powell later learned these men were killed by Shivwits Indians who mistook them for men who had abused a squaw. (Laid to rest is the old rumor that this trio was killed in Toquerville. Records now prove that the three who died in Toquerville were a man, woman and child attacked by a jealous husband.)

Another important sign gone is the one commemorating the old Spanish Trail which was sited north of Gunlock at bottom of the hill on the hairpin turn leading east to Veyo. It was another apparent victim of vandalism.

I’ve also seen signs in the high mountains deteriorate with time and fall to the ground and not replaced — causing hikers and horsemen to turn the wrong way. That once cost a friend and me a full day’s travel.

The public is missing out on a vast treasure of history because of these careless acts. Those valiant souls placing them sometimes give up, leaving all of us as losers. If a sign simply wears out after a few dozen years, I presume that one might be replaced. But when futility reigns — as it so often does on public land — agencies like the U.S. Bureau of Land Management who place them there give up.

Not only are these signs helpful to learn about our Southwest history but also to mark routes to many valuable places. In addition to the Grand Canyon, we know how to reach Bundyville, Bar Ten Lodge, Mt. Trumbull, Mt. Logan, Dellenbaugh, the Temple Trail, and other (hopeful) destinations. You could easily get lost in such country. Surely, anyone witnessing sign destruction should report it to the proper authorities.

I recall one day trying to find Hack Canyon by matching road numbers to map numbers. The road signs that should have been there were not. We explored in vain for half a day. It happens across the Arizona Strip from the Kaibab Forest to the Nevada border. One frequent visitor I know, Steve Cheuvront from Scottsdale, Ariz., spends every autumn exploring the Strip. But he told me he also relies on road signs which often are not there.

From my experience working as a volunteer for the Arizona Strip Interpretive Association, I saw the hard work the BLM in St. George puts into providing signs to that 10,000 square miles of real estate between the Utah border and the Grand Canyon. Thankfully, they see it as many of us do — nothing man-made more than necessary. (Although I do consider ranching roads for cattle operations as vital; they were there first.)

I was happy the BLM authorized me to place 20 route signs on Buckskin Mountain south of Kanab to note the travels of Jacob Hamblin. After all, he blazed the trails used later by many folks, including the Honeymooners headed for the St. George Temple. (The Honeymoons signs are also there.) Or last time I looked.

Following those signs gave me goose bumps just realizing Jacob Hamblin rode here on his way to the Hopi reservation — and into the hallmarks of history.

As a grade school and high school student, I confess I didn’t have much interest in history. But with age comes the understanding of its value. We can be grateful for those who help us learn more about it. Let’s keep these signs there.

Colorado River Historical Museum to Reopen for Season

Colorado River Historical Society and Museum

By DK McDONALD
Mohave Valley Daily News

BULLHEAD CITY — History is getting a fresh start in September.

“We’re excited to begin a new season at the museum,” said Colorado River Historical Society and Museum President Elsie Needles. “We’ve got a lot going on this year.”

The Colorado River History Museum is a nonprofit operation of the historical society, staffed by volunteers and run on donations. Closed through the summer months, the museum will reopen Tuesday at 10 a.m.

The Colorado River Historical Society formed in 1963 with two primary missions — the preservation of the area’s heritage and to open a history museum.

“Old Bullhead City is disappearing,” said Needles. “Building after building has been torn down. Some of the earliest structures are now falling apart … it is too late to save them and soon those bits of history will be gone.

“This area may not be rich in dollars, but it is very rich in memories. We’re always looking for information, photos and stories about the area from long-term residents and their families.”

“The museum began with nothing,” said Historical Society founding member and long-time volunteer Virginia Sutherland. “We had lots of support in the beginning from local business and were lucky enough to get some really interesting photos and artifacts.”

The Colorado River Museum is housed in a building that once served as a Catholic church for workers who built Davis Dam in the 1940s and is placed in a corner of Davis Camp, just north of the Laughlin Bridge on Highway 68.

“The museum is jam-packed full of good stuff,” said Historical Society Vice President Karole Finkelstein. “Newly arranged displays in the museum tell of the Mohave Indians, the Katherine gold mine, the history of the Mohave Valley and Fort Mohave, memorabilia from Laughlin, NV, the region’s ties to the space program as well as Louis L’amour and so much more.”

In the children’s room are wildlife displays and a historic doll house. Children are given the opportunity to make a corn husk doll.

“A popular program includes a tour of the museum and then a driving tour to about 15 locations in the area,” said Finkelstein. “For more information about the driving tour, people can call me at 928-219-2582.”

Events planned for the season include a Pioneer Picnic, a presentation on the history of the Harvey Girls, at least one scheduled free day, and ongoing fund raising events to move the Little Red Schoolhouse to Community Park.

“We had a meeting about the schoolhouse a few days ago,” said Needles. “Some people don’t think it will happen (moving the building), but I do. We’re at about $17K in the fund to move the schoolhouse and we need $45K. We’ve been selling bricks, selling ice, having fund raisers — we may not get there this year, but we will get there. The cultural center will be important to Bullhead City — preserving this city’s unique history is our goal.”

The Cultural Historical Center in Community Park is a venture supported by Golden Vertex, the mining company that is reactivating the old Moss Mine east of the Bullhead Parkway. Golden Vertex, in partnership with the City of Bullhead City, started the project by donating the cost to relocate the old Moss Mine Head Frame from the mine site to the new location.

The Historical Society meets the second Monday of every month at the Museum.

“We encourage anyone interested in the history of the area to come to a meeting,” said Needles. “We often have an outside speaker at 5:00 on meeting days.”

“It should be a place of interest to anyone who lives in the area,” said Finkelstein. “The real history of Bullhead City is here.”

The Colorado River Historical Museum will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Access on Sunday and Monday is by reservation only. A $2 donation is suggested and children under 12 are free.

For more information about the museum call 928-754-3399.

Indian Wells moving forward on Carl Bray tribute

A sign from the now-demolished Carl Bray gallery and home along Highway 111. (Photo: Xochitl Peña/ The Desert Sun)

Xochitl Peña
The Desert Sun

A huge wooden painter's palette that stood along Highway 111 in Indian Wells and served as a tribute to Carl Bray's artistic contributions will be resurrected.

City officials plan to use either a replica of the memorable landmark or restore the original one that's now in storage to create an historical monument.

"It is an iconic sign," said Jan Holmlund, an adviser to the Indian Wells Preservation Foundation. "It is something that means a lot to a lot of people,"

The famous palette sign, which also let people traveling east on Highway 111 know they are close to the edge of the city limits, came down in 2010 after the city purchased the property and demolished Bray's gallery and home.

Since then, leaders have discussed — but never formalized — ways to honor the desert landscape artist.

The Indian Wells City Council last week finally set that vision in motion by approving a concept for the monument, one of three scenarios that HSA Design Group presented.

City leaders indicated they wanted two curved stone walls with plaques mounted on the walls, showcasing the history of the city and Bray. The wooden palette sign also will be showcased prominently near its original location.

"It is the last remnant of the old village of Indian Wells. This was the historic beginning," said Adele Ruxton, president of the Indian Wells Preservation Foundation.

The plans also includes natural stone benches, green space and the addition of the smoke trees, which Bray favored in his art.

The site is accessible from a public sidewalk. Public parking nearby will not be provided.

Councilwoman Mary Roche said she can envision walking maps with directions to the monument being handed out to guests at the city's local resorts.

"I think this concept would be a wonderful addition to our city," she said.

While Bray is best known for his art, Roche said he also is considered a founder of the city and its commercial area.

According to Ruxton, Bray's neighbors back in the day included "a few cabins, a dance hall, two small grocery stores, two gas stations, a café and … a rattlesnake pen."

Bray bought that property along Highway 111 in the early 1950s for $1,000, which used to be the location of a Cahuilla village and was said to house an Indian well.

Bray sold the land around 2000, and moved to Banning. The 94-year-old died in 2011. The city in 2009 purchased the property in a foreclosure.

The city decided to demolish the buildings on the property because they were run down and deemed a safety hazard.

But because of the land's historical significance and ties to the Cahuilla Indians, an environmental impact report required an "interpretive exhibit" related to Bray as "artist, railroad man, builder and last resident of Old Indian Wells Village."

Development of the monument is expected to cost more than $30,000. The council has asked HSA though to look at revisions that could reduce the cost.

A look at Juan Pollo founder Albert Okura’s success, big dreams

In 2005 Albert Okura, founder of Juan Pollo restaurants, purchased the small town of Amboy for $425,000 from Bessie Burris. Okura is in the process of restoring the town. (Photo by John Valenzuela — staff photographer)

By Jim Steinberg
The San Bernardino Sun

AMBOY >> It’s 111 degrees in the Mojave Desert, and Albert Okura effortlessly unloads large boxes of drinks and snacks from the back of a van. It’s taken him three hours to drive here in a wildly decorated vehicle topped with a toy motorcycle mounted by a plastic chicken.

Nearby, there are several groups of European foreign visitors at the gas station or inside its adjacent convenience market. Okura could be overheard telling one cluster, “I own this town.”

It’s true. All part of a destiny.

The word destiny is important for Okura, 63, who is marking his 30th year in business as founder of the Juan Pollo restaurant chain, based in San Bernardino but with 28 outlets in Southern California.

Some day, that destiny will include overtaking KFC, in terms of number of chickens sold, he said.

LESSONS LEARNED

Okura is marking this anniversary with a self-published book, “Albert Okura The Chicken Man with a 50 Year Plan.”

“Intellectuals don’t like the book,” he said, “but people who have started their own business do.”

The book is designed, he said, to give “life lessons” to people across the planet who want to get into the restaurant business.

There’s another reason for the book, Okura said.

With outlets in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties, Okura (who walks briskly and frequently wears running shoes) said,“I’m looking for someone smarter than me” to guide the chain’s future growth.

He’s also looking for an inventor who can bring sophisticated computer technology into the rotisserie chicken cookers to standardize the labor-intensive cooking effort required to turn out the kind of moist, tender and flavorful product Okura said customers have come to expect.

He’s also looking for someone with money to invest in the firm.

“That’s one of the reasons for the book.” Okura said. “So people would understand my philosophy and want to join me.”

The athletic-looking Okura, with an upper torso like a college track team member, said, “I’ve taken the company as far as I can.”

‘WONDERFUL MISSIONS’

Okura owns the original McDonald’s restaurant site in San Bernardino, which is both his corporate headquarters and a museum, and has a small Route 66 Museum adjacent to his San Bernardino restaurant on 5th Street, which at one time was Route 66.

Inside, there are relics that harken to the early days of fast food, and it’s a destination for tourists from around the world.

And then there’s the preserved ghost town of Amboy, west of Needles and east of Ludlow on Route 66.

Owning Amboy is exactly the kind of unconventional endeavor for which Okura has become known.

“Okura goes off on these wonderful missions not tied to the bottom line,” said former San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris.

“Amboy is a complete hole in the ground...a money pit,” Morris said. “He thought it would be interesting to own a town on historic Route 66 even if it is as dead as doornails. He is interested in the history of the Route and the history of the city...the guy is a giver...he has ways of uniquely giving that are his own.”

DESTINY

When Okura first heard Amboy was for sale in 2003, he hadn’t heard of it.

But a friend told him he needed to buy it and when he saw it, he agreed.

In 1976, when Okura bought his first house, in Torrance, his real estate agent told him that he regretted not buying raw land decades before.

From that moment on, Okura said he believed buying a town would be his “destiny.”

For now the “destiny” of Amboy includes its two dirt landing strips, its 26-unit motel, an abandoned 1950s-era Packard in the parking lot. Roy’s Motel and Café is a Route 66 landmark.

Founded in 1859, the once gold- and silver-driven community met its demise with the completion of Interstate 40 in 1984.

Along with its landing strips and motel, it’s got a church, a functioning post office, four gas pumps and a variety of scattered buildings.

Like many communities across The Mother Road, Amboy had come to rely on tourism. Then the interstate sucked away its lifeblood.

But Okura sees a strengthening interest in Route 66 — domestically as well as internationally, and believes tourism may become a driver.

A DEAL ON A TOWN

Initial efforts to buy Amboy for a $1 million-plus price tag fell through, but he was successful in 2005 for a mere $425,000.

“You see, it was my destiny,” he said, putting emphasis on the “was.”

Amboy hasn’t changed dramatically since Okura purchased it. But delivering a water system has been more complex — and costly — than anticipated. Okura believes he’s close to a working system that could supply water for future town growth.

One of the difficulties has been to find good technicians willing to travel to the remote Mojave location.

The gas station has re-opened, although pumps only work for regular gasoline. Bathrooms have been reopened and inside the station are drinks, snacks and a place to cool off.

There’s still work to do with the water system, but ultimately Okura would like to see a cafe operator come in and reopen the iconic Roy’s Cafe, although he says it would be difficult to make a profit.

“It would have to be a family operation to be successful,” he said.

The same is true for reviving the motel, he said.

Amboy is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, he said. “It’s more about the Amboy charm and the open country.”

The night skies are beautiful, he said. “For people who like the desert, it’s ideal.”

NATURAL-BORN ATTENTION-GETTER

Although he’s no Harvard MBA, Okura is quick to recognize creative people and harness their talents. And he understands how to tap the power of traditional and social media to champion his Juan Pollo brand.

As an example of his showmanship, his numerous vehicles with wildly colorful cartoon characters painted on the sides are fixtures in the region.

But even this eruption of color doesn’t generate the buzz Okura seeks.

So he puts plastic motorcycles on top of some vehicles — using plastic chickens as riders.

On a recent drive on the 15 Freeway, a laborer in the passenger seat of a flatbed truck was seen using a smart phone to photograph Okura’s van as he drove it in the southbound lane near Barstow.

“You should see mothers pointing this vehicle out to their kids,” he said.

Years ago, Okura said, he had a very expensive, high-performance truck. And when he drove that along area freeways, “nobody cared.”

Bad news, too, has brought him attention.

Okura boasts that San Bernardino’s bankruptcy has brought him a lot of media attention, especially among international media outlets.

For most of those, including a television piece that aired across Italy, Okura said he strikes a positive note about how he’s going to focus on his business and prosper, while others, he said, complain about a municipal government that drove the city into financial ruin.

REALIZING HIS DREAMS

Another “destiny” in his life is overtaking Kentucky Fried Chicken.

“That will probably take about 50 years,” said Okura, a Chino resident.

That means, he said, he must live until he’s 113.

Medical science is advancing rapidly, he said, and after all, his father is 98.

Who knows....

Judi Penman, president and CEO of the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce, said of Okura: He “has more than just one dream, and he fulfills them. He is an honorable man with many talents. He digs in and accomplishes things.”

Cahuilla dug wells near La Quinta's Point Happy

Point Happy Date Gardens at the intersection of Highway 111 and Washington Street in the 1960s. This is now the site of Vons shopping center. (Photo: Photo courtesy of La Quinta Historical Society)

Denise Goolsby
The Desert Sun

The area just east of the Santa Rosa Mountains, where its foothills jut out into the desert near the intersection of Highway 111 and Washington Street in La Quinta, used to be home to the Cahuilla Indians. Later, it was a watering hole along a stagecoach route, and for many years, a working ranch.

The sprawling land where the ranch once stood is now occupied by Plaza La Quinta, a bustling shopping center anchored by a Vons grocery store and the Estates at Point Happy, an enclave of luxury homes.

The Cahuilla Indians found the area — which became known as Point Happy at the turn of the 20th century — a hospitable spot, as the Santa Rosas provided protection from fierce desert sandstorms and flash flooding.

Along the wash, the Cahuillas dug gently sloping pathways down to the springs below. The hand-dug "Indian Well" was located less than 300 yards from Point Happy. It was destroyed in the 100-year flood in 1916.

When gold was discovered in La Paz and Ehrenburg, Ariz. in 1862, Major William Bradshaw established the first trail through the Coachella Valley and across the Colorado Desert to California's neighboring state. Point Happy soon became a landmark for stagecoaches traveling the Bradshaw Trail. During this period, the stop began its tradition as a hospitable "watering hole" for desert travelers.

The area, tucked under the shadow of the Santa Rosas, was named after Norman "Happy" Lundbeck, an early desert settler who began homesteading the area in the early 1900s. Lundbeck established a stable and small store and sold wares to those traveling across the hot, dusty desert. A one-room elementary school was built on the property in 1916.

The Point Happy property and 135 adjoining acres were bought in 1922 by philanthropist Chauncey D. Clarke, who named it Point Happy Date Gardens. Clarke, who thought climactic conditions were similar to those in the Middle East, raised Arabian horses on the ranch for four years until his death in 1926.

J. Win Wilson, in a Los Angeles Times article dated March 8, 1925, said Clarke, "is a very enthusiastic booster for the dates and horses of the old world desert lands. The desert climate and condition, he believes, offer the finest training ground for making the horses both sure-footed and strong in shoulders and joints. In other words, he believes that conditions in the Coachella Valley are so similar to those in Arabia, where the Arab horses have been developed to perfection, as to afford ideal environment for the raising of this notable breed of equine."

The Times article described the agreeable conditions at the ranch, where at the time, Clarke had 11 horses — five stallions and six mares.

"His stud is provided with all modern conveniences: solid box walls, corrals, tank house and modern living quarters for his trainer. A quarter-mile track is also a feature, for regular exercising of his horses figures prominently in Mr. Clarke's plans."

Louise Rodarte Neeley, historian and a member of one of the city's pioneering families, recalls happy days at the ranch, where her father, Teofilo Rodarte was a foreman and her mother, Juanita, was the Clarke's housekeeper.

She said the ranch was filled with date palms and avocado, orange, fig, pecan, apricot, mulberry and grapefruit trees, row crops and sugar cane.

"We swam. We hiked. We had the mountain to the back of us," she said. "Growing up was happy. It was wonderful. Mother had chickens and a cow. We had the run of the place."

Her father was hired in 1923 and continued until his death in 1943. Her brother, Jess Rodarte was hired to tend the date trees.

Neeley said Mrs. Clarke's full-time gardener, Mr. Akahoshi, planted a large vegetable garden for home use and maintained an extensive rose garden and many varieties of annual flowers for the pleasure of their guests.

Knowing he was ill, Clarke sold his horses to the Kellogg Ranch in Pomona. Clarke died on Aug. 22, 1926. It is said that those horses became the breeding stock of the purebred Arabians in California.

His wife, Marie Clarke, a founder of the Hollywood Bowl, was instrumental in setting up and financially underwriting the Indio Women's Club. She continued to live on the ranch after her husband's death. She died on Oct. 30, 1948, leaving the property to Claremont College, which in turn, sold off parts of the property.

Point Happy Date Gardens was sold to William DuPont Jr., CEO of DuPont Chemical Corporation in the 1950s. He built a home in the Santa Rosa Mountains overlooking the ranch. To the southwest of the palm grove, he built a Spanish home with a pool and tennis court for friend Alice Marble, the top-ranked American woman tennis player in 1939.

Marble, a longtime Palm Desert resident, won 18 Grand Slam championships. She died at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs in 1990.

The house was finished on Dec. 16, 1965. DuPont Jr. died three days later. Portions of the ranch were sold off to subdividers.

The last owners of the ranch were Dr. Earl R. Kiernan and his wife Florence. By 2004, the final page was turned in the ranch's storied history with the construction of the Estates at Point Happy.

Sources: La Quinta Historical Society, La Quinta Museum, City of La Quinta Historic Context Statement, 1996.

Historic Barrel House building hits century mark

The Barrel House Market in Victorville is one of the city's oldest buildings and is coming up on its 100th anniversary. (JAMES QUIGG, DAILY PRESS)

Rene De La Cruz
Victorville Daily Press

VICTORVILLE — Whether it was buying candy or cashing paychecks, one downtown liquor store still holds many cherished memories for longtime residents of the Victor Valley.

The historic Barrel House Market building celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. The Barrel House was built in 1914 on the corner of D and Fifth streets. Designated as a Historic Point of Interest by the city of Victorville, the cinderblock and cement building was used as a restaurant and jewelry store until 1933, when it became a market and liquor store.

Store owner Norm Danial, 69, said an old wooden sign that once hung outside of the building states that the store was erected in 1934, but the city and other experts said the building has been at the site since 1914.

“The sign hung over the door, which was in the shape of a huge barrel,” said Danial, who purchased the store 24 years ago. “In 1998, some crazy old guy backed into the building with his van and destroyed the barrel door after we closed.”

According to Gabino De La Cruz (who is the reporter’s father), Victorville civic leader Cory Moore and his wife, Violet, were the first owners of the Barrel House.

“It was an American-style restaurant, jewelry story and grocery store before it was the Barrel House,” said De La Cruz, who turned 90 in February. “... I remember my dad taking me there to buy groceries when I was 5 years old in 1929.”

A March 1950 edition of the San Bernardino County Sun reported that the $6.5 million Victor Housing Project at George Air Force Base had just broken ground with the 650-unit housing project named Cory Moore Village in honor of the community leader who died in an auto accident.

“The Moores were good people, very nice,” De La Cruz said. “They helped a lot of people in the community.”

Danial said since the store is located near the California Route 66 Museum, tourists from all over the country as well as Europe and Asia have stopped into the liquor store to ask questions and snap photos.

A chuckling Danial said he was told that a previous store owner would fill customers’ wine bottles from a barrel located at the back of the store.

Todd Gudal, who now lives in Wrightwood, said he lived nearby on Second Street growing up.

“When we were kids we would go to the Mojave River and find arrowheads and trade them for candy and toys,” he said. “Later on, when I worked at the cement plant, we would stand in line and cash our paychecks there.”

Gudal said he was one of many employees from Southwest Portland Cement Company who would visit the Barrel House to cash their checks, purchase snacks or pick up a six-pack of Lucky Lager beer.

Ruth Nolan, who graduated from Apple Valley High School in 1980, said her brother John used to work at the Barrel House while he was getting his teaching career started.

“I also used to shop there all the time and even had a line of credit with a longtime previous owner, Vi, an amazing woman,” said Nolan, a professor of writing and literature at College of the Desert.

Fern Rush said when she was a little girl, the Barrel House was always the last stop before her family headed out to Bell Mountain for a family adventure.

“I remember we used to get penny candy from there. We would save up one dollar’s worth of pennies and get 100 pieces of candy,” Rush said. “Summer time at D Street park was nothing if we couldn't get candy, pop or ice cream from the Barrel House.”

Debra Stone said she avoided the Barrel House because she “always saw it like a bar for drunks,” but Rani Walker said alcohol was not a part of her family’s Barrel House memory.

“My husband's father had a radiator shop near the Barrel House so he made many trips there as a kid,” said Walker, an administrative assistant at VVHS. “He said that the thing he loved the most was that they kept the Ding Dongs in the freezer.”

State Fair board shelves plan to demolish 1938 building

This historic building at the Arizona State Fair Grounds was scheduled to be razed July 16, 2014, in Phoenix, but that process was halted. The Art Deco building dates back to 1938 and was constructed by the federal government as part of a New Deal-era program to lower unemployment during the Great Depression. (Rob Schumacher/The Republic)

Dustin Gardiner
The Arizona Republic | azcentral.com

After facing a gantlet of criticism over its attempt to raze a historic Depression-era building, the Arizona Exposition and State Fair Board voted Tuesday to shelve the demolition plans for now.

State Fair Deputy Director Wanell Costello said the agency, which had rebuffed previous efforts to save the structure, is now "looking for creative solutions not to tear it down." State Fair officials will meet with city and state leaders to examine alternative uses.

Board members overseeing the agency voted unanimously to halt demolition plans "until further notice." But no guarantees about the building's future were made, and preservation advocates said they will continue to seek a more-binding commitment.

The reprieve is the latest twist in a contentious fight over the fate of the Civic Building, also known as the WPA Administration Building, on the fairgrounds near McDowell Road and 19th Avenue. The structure was built in 1938 by the Works Progress Administration, a federal agency that led projects to put people back to work during the Great Depression.

Bulldozers were prepared to raze the Art Deco structure last week, until preservationists filed a last-minute lawsuit. The State Fair had wanted to remove the dilapidated building to make room for more asphalt vendor space.

Indian Wells plans for Carl Bray monument revived

The former Carl Bray House & Gallery building prior to its demolition in Indian Wells. Bray, known for his desert landscapes, bought property along Highway 111 in Indian Wells in the early 1950s. The city bought the land in 2009. (Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun)

Xochitl Peña
The Desert Sun

INDIAN WELLS – Talk of creating a monument along Highway 111 to honor the late artist Carl Bray — in the spot where his home and gallery used to be — has taken place for years.

But recent renewed interest in the idea has the Indian Wells City Council taking up the subject during a study session next month.

Adele Ruxton, president of the Indian Wells Historic Preservation Foundation, hopes this time, the project will actually happen.

“It’s time. It’s like ‘OK let’s get something done.’ It’s something that has been on the (list) of things to do and then something else comes up,” she said.

On Aug. 21, the council is expected to provide direction to staff on the design of the monument, said Warren Morelion, the city’s community development director, via email.

“Once staff receives direction, it will go through the normal entitlement process. The plan is to get the project construct(ed) by next summer,” he said.

The city has been talking about an “interpretive exhibit” at the location where Bray’s home and gallery used to be since at least 2010.

Bray, known for his desert landscapes and most notably his paintings of the wispy smoke tree, bought property along Highway 111 in Indian Wells in the early 1950s for $1,000. His neighbors at the time included a few cabins, a dance hall and a couple businesses.

As Indian Wells developed, Bray’s paint palette sign and misshapen landscaping started to look out of place surrounded by golf courses and gated communities, but the property’s historic significance could not be ignored.

The property used to be the site of one of the largest Cahuilla villages in the valley.

Bray sold the land in about 2000 and moved to Banning. He died in 2011 at the age of 94.

Ruxton knew Bray personally, and visited him at least once a month after he moved.

“He had a great sense of humor. If you met him for the first time you would think, ‘I’ve known this man for my entire life,’ ” she said.

The city purchased the 14,148-square-foot former site in January 2009 for nearly $260,000 claiming the structures on the land posed a “safety hazard.”

The home and gallery were eventually demolished, causing debate between the city and those who wanted to see the buildings preserved.

Ruxton wanted the structures saved.

“That should be turned into something historic,” she said of the now-vacant site.

The historic preservation foundation will meet with city officials next month to talk about the monument, as well.

What had been envisioned, she said, was a monument worked into the landscape that bicyclists or walkers could access. There would be no place for people in cars to park, she added.

In 2012, city staff had anticipated costs of about $35,000 for the monument. Morelion said the city recently directed up to $65,000 for the project.

Resident Denny Booth believes even $30,000 is too much for the city to spend, especially at a time when funds are tight.

He thinks there are much cheaper options available.

“Put up a boulder with a bronze plaque,” he said.