I came across Pioneertown on a Travel Channel video. Pioneertown was founded in 1946 by a group of Hollywood investors, including actors Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, who created this place as a movie set. It is located a little less than an hour from Palm Springs, heading to Tweny-Nine Palms and Joshua Tree National Park.
After googling it, I saw they had a motel located next door to the town, and it was great for sky viewing. They had rooms available for the Sunday before Memorial Day, so I surprised Stephen by booking a one night’s stay.
We arrived around 2:00 and checked into our motel. The check in desk was literally a little shack located at the end of the property. We were assigned room #3, which was a queen bed facing the town and check in shack. The good part of getting this room was we were able to park in front of our room, whereas the king rooms didn’t have in front parking.
The room was cozy, and had everything we needed: air condition /heater, bathroom, refrigerator and lawn chairs or a hammock, if you wanted to sit outside to gaze at the stars. No televisions here, but they provide plenty of plugs and wifi, which ran “just ok”.
After checking in, we walked around the Pioneertown. The town is small. Unfortunately there’s not a lot to do on a Sunday. It seems Saturday has more things to do, like mock gun fights on Mane Street (yes, Mane, not Main), or a stagecoach ride. There were some stores opened, one was a multi-purpose store which could be used for entertainment or dancing, but was currently used as a used bookstore. The “Likker” store was a used clothes store, and they had a pottery / art store.
At the end of the town, they did have a working US Post Office, but it was closed on Sunday. In front of the post office was a plaque of Pioneertown.
The whole town took less than half an hour to see, so we had some time to kill before our 7:00 dinner reservations for Pappy and Harriett’s, the only restaurant and bar in town. Literally.
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