Roundup: November 13 2024

Rendezvous October 26th 2024

Roundup: September 11th 2024

Roundup: August 14 2024

Round Up: July 10 2024

Rendezvous June 29th 2024

Round Up: April 10 2024

Round Up: March 13 2024

Round Up: February 14 2024

Roundup: January 10th 2024

Roundup: December 13th 2023

Roundup Synopsis

TBD

Photos from the Roundup

RoundUp: November 8th, 2023

Roundup: August 9 2023

Roundup Synopsis

TBD

Photos from the Roundup

Roundup: July 12 2023

Roundup Synopsis

TBD

Photos from the Roundup

Roundup: May 10 2023

Roundup Synopsis

The Los Angeles Corral’s own Terry Terrell spoke at the May Roundup about the colorful, high-flying life of Florence Leontine Lowe, better known as Pancho Barnes. In an­other installment of what could come to be known as our Women of the West series—fol­lowing Ed Anderson’s March talk, Pioneers in Petticoats—Terry directed our attention to the rich world of aviation and dude-ranching in the first half of the 20th century, that has be­come so emblematic of our own city’s histori­cal character. Part rancher and restaurateur, part pioneering aviatrix and arial bootlegger, part hostess and perhaps even part madam, Pancho Barnes’ eccentric life added more than a few dabs of color to the mural of her unique character.
Though she was born Florence Leontine Lowe, granddaughter to Thaddeus Lowe, it was under her moniker “Pancho” and mar­ried name Barnes that she would gain fame. Pancho opened a ranch near Muroc Field (the future Edwards Air Force Base) in the mid-1930s which became home to the “Happy Bottom Riding Club.” Its name came from a remark by a guest after a ride on Pancho’s horse. The restaurant and inn, along with its own private airstrip, drew the rich and fa­mous (and rugged) to the ranch in droves. In my favorite anecdote of the evening, Terry described the circumstances around legend­ary test pilot Chuck Yeager being “sund­owned” at the ranch.
Out riding late one day in 1947, Chuck Yeager returned to the ranch after sundown. Thanks to the low light, Yeager didn’t notice that the corral gate, open when he began his ride, had been shut some time earlier. The horse he was riding sure noticed, though. When it stopped abruptly at the gate, Chuck was sent base over apex, breaking a few ribs on touchdown. One wonders if the libations proffered by Pancho at the ranch played a role in this misfortune. Regardless, Chuck had a job to do, broken ribs or no. The next day he closed the cockpit on Glamorous Glennis—the X-1 rocket plane named after his wife—with the aid of a broomhandle, and flew into the history books faster than the speed of sound.
Pancho never flew quite so fast, though she did best Emilia Earhart’s women’s speed record in the ‘30s. Barnes also formed a Hollywood union of pilots, and provided the dogfight sounds for Howard Hughes’ epic Hell’s Angels movie in 1930. A crack-pilot, ready hostess, and peer to some of the big­gest names of her time, Pancho Barnes was a fixture for decades in the gritty and glitzy world of Hollywood’s Golden Age. It’s tough to think of a more fitting embodiment of the spirit of Southern California in that era.
Pancho was a one-of-a-kind lady, and an inspiration for all the adventurous types to follow. Let’s find more Pancho Barneses to celebrate. Let’s make this Women of the West series a reality. Who’s next?
— Alan Griffin

Photos from the Roundup

Roundup: April 12 2023

Roundup Synopsis

The Los Angeles Westerners gave a warm Southern California welcome to author and 4th-generation Arizonian Tom Zoellner dur­ing our April Roundup. Zoellner discussed the history of Arizona and his travels within it, which is the topic of his recently-published memoir, From Rim to River.
This book is Zoellner’s personal love let­ter to his home state of Arizona, with which he has a complicated relationship. The mem­oir revolves around his 2019 790-mile journey along the Arizona Trail traversing the entire north-south length of the state of Arizona from the Utah state line near Red Rock Country to the Mexican border. As Zoellner traveled down this historically scenic route he was inspired to compose essays for his memoir on Arizona copper mining, border crossing paths, dirty politics, Apache culture, drinking water, local cuisine, violence, and the Grand Canyon.
The origin of Arizona’s name is disput­ed, but Zoeller believes it likely means “the Good Oak Tree” in Basque, the language spoken by its first European settlers from Spain’s Pyrenean frontier. Arizona history has highs and lows, which were metaphori­cally tied to the geographic landscape trav­eled by Zoellner north-to-south down the Arizona Trail. The highest point in Arizona is a domant volcano named Humphreys Peak, and its lowest point, at only 72 feet above sea level, is a sad, dried-up portion of the Colorado River near the Mexican Border. Nearby is a historic border crossing named Camino Del Diablo, Spanish for “the Devil’s Road,” which was originally used by Spanish friars in the 18th century. Today this dirt road is used as a border crossing. Border pa­trol agents drag tires behind their vehicles to regularly smooth this road, so that crossing migrants leave more obvious footprints that can be tracked.
As Zoellner reached the end of the Arizona Trail, he discussed the state’s pres­ent controversies and contradictions. One is the epidemic of sprawling master-planned communities growing throughout Arizona like mushrooms. These are decorated by faux-Tuscan aqueducts and water-guzzling palm trees. While ugly and wasteful of land and water, these suburbs nevertheless pro­vide affordable housing for working-class families. While he was on the subject of wa­ter Zoellner mentioned the La Paz County aquifer theft which resembled the plot of the classic movie Chinatown (1974) dramatizing Los Angeles’ alleged pillaging of the Owens Valley’s water resources. Outside of wa­ter, the most important natural resource in Arizona is copper, which is mined through­out the state, and also lies in the lands of the Apache tribe in a place called Oak Flat. Yet despite producing two-thirds of the copper in the nation, Arizona’s state capitol building inexplicably bought the copper for its dome from Pennsylvania. It is these foibles that make Arizona so perplexing and endearing.
Many thanks to Tom Zoellner for his en­tertaining and fascinating talk, and please give his memoir From Rim to River a well de­served read.
— Darran Davis

Photos from the Roundup

Roundup: March 8 2023

Roundup Synopsis

March saw the Corral greeted by Ed Anderson and his presentation, Pioneers in Petticoats: Women’s Influence in the Founding of the National Parks; a Tribute to Shirley Sargent, “Yosemite Tomboy.” Those who frequent our Roundups are likely familiar with the “Father of the National Parks,” John Muir. But as the old saying goes: “Behind every great man is a great woman,” or in this case, dozens of them. As Mr. Anderson expounded, men like Muir may have been the face of the early con­servationist movement, but the founding of Yosemite and of our other treasured National Parks would not have been possible, nor nearly as comfortable, without the seldom-lauded efforts of the many women active within the West’s rugged hinterland.
First on the list of wonder women was Jeanne Carr, the “Spiritual Mother” of John Muir. Muir met Carr at the Wisconsin State Fair, and soon became a friend to her and her husband, Ezra, a professor at the University of Wisconsin. As Ed tells it, it was Jeanne who advised Muir throughout his adult life, introducing him not only to Ralph Waldo Emerson, but also to his future wife. Though she only visited Yosemite once, in 1870, her impact on it as a National Park is difficult to overstate.
Of the women who resided in Yosemite, two to highlight were innkeepers Isabella Leidig and Mary Peregoy. Ms. Leidig was the proprietor of Leidig’s Hotel, and Ms. Peregoy ran the Mountain View House, an inn that became legendary among the so­cialites who vacationed there. It’s not hard to imagine what these establishments meant to early Yosemite adventurers. These little oases of homey goodness nestled within the spectacular wilds would have been quite a relief from the rigors of the dusty track from Clarke, the last stop on the railroad outside of Yosemite.
While Leidig and Pergoy were caring for the boys, other gals like Sarah “Sallie” Dutcher and the Sweet Sisters were out in the park playing with the boys. Mr. Anderson’s research suggests that Dutcher was the first woman to climb the back side of Half Dome, in December 1875, with George Anderson, who was the first (documented) to ever climb it earlier that year in October. The evidence for Ms. Dutcher’s accomplishment was an earring of hers, found a few years later by another group of climbers. The Sweet Sisters were the first women to climb Mt. Lyell, and the first to descend into the Tuolumne Canyon. They also set a fashion trend wear­ing billowy gaucho-styled trousers. Cinched below the knee with gaiters, these pants were more practical than the petticoats epony­mous to Ed’s presentation.
Whether they were directive, doting, or daring, the women profiled by Mr. Anderson in Pioneers in Petticoats, and countless others across the U.S., were instrumental in the pop­ularization of Yosemite, in particular, and our other National Parks, in general. Perhaps in the future, the quote will read: “Behind every great man are dozens of appropriately dressed women.” Better yet, in the future, perhaps such distinctions of gender will be unnecessary when discussing the greatness of such intrepid people among us.
— Alan Griffin

Photos from the Roundup

Roundup: February 8 2023

Roundup Synopsis

Taken From Branding Iron 309 Winter 2023. 

Firearms history through the lens of multiple generations of shooting Dillons. That was our treat in February, as the L.A. Corral’s own Dr. Brian Dillon regaled attendees with a swift, yet detailed, overview of the “shootin’ irons” of Western American history. From the smooth-bore matchlocks of Spanish first contact, to the modern, rifled auto-loaders of the 20th century, the guns that won the West ranged far beyond just the famed 1873 Winchester. We were pleasantly reminded of this fact by the variety of arms, and the folks who wielded them, presented by our eminently qualified former sheriff, and firearms instructor, Brian Dillon.
The aforementioned matchlocks may have been the first firearms present on the continent, but as Spain decided to leave, and stay gone, for a few centuries after their initial introduction in the North, these early irons had no impact on the history of the American West. Rather it was the muskets and rifles of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that first ventured into the West. Lewis and Clark’s expedition made use of later flintlock technology on their epic foray into the new American frontier; the first significant use of firearms west of the Mississippi.
Intrepid trappers, late of the old frontiers in what we now call the Southeast, were among the first to put long irons to use in the further reaches of the West. American adventurers in these early days preferred Pennsylvania rifles, while Canadians pushing west were more known for their use of smooth-bore muskets. The newly-invented percussion cap was too expensive and scarce to be of much utility in the unsettled country, and flintlocks remained in significant use by self-reliant types well into the middle of the 19th century.
The Gold Rush created a huge demand for iron in California, particularly of the defensive variety (after all, nobody will protect your claim but you). Use of the percussion cap quickly made revolvers the standard sidearm of every hunter, trapper, and miner in the rough new country. Perhaps the most iconic arm of the Gold Rush was the 1851 Colt Navy revolver. Six shots ready at the hip were invaluable in this lawless land.
The next major development in firearms was the metallic cartridge. Waterproof and durable, it made reloading a snap, and allowed for reliable mechanisms beyond the revolving cylinder to be used in chambering rounds. One such mechanism was the unforgettable lever action. Patented in 1854 by the Volcanic Repeating Arms Co., it evolved into the action used in the Winchester Model 1873, fabled as “The Gun that Won the West.”
Smokeless powder followed as the next significant leap in the technology of shooting irons, and its introduction heralded the end of the Old West. The Krag-Jorgensen was the first gun adopted by the U.S. military to utilize smokeless powder. There was no turning back from here, and on came the 1903 Springfield of WWI fame, followed by the Colt M1911. A thoroughly modern selfloading pistol, the 1911 represented the end of Old West arms, as by the time of its adoption, the West had largely been won.
The history of the American West can be described fairly thoroughly by telling the history of its weapons. Likewise, the history of American firearms can be largely understood through examination of our country’s westward expansion. And to have those descriptions provided by a compatriot whose ancestors were present on both avenues of that historical journey is a privilege we Westerners should relish. Many thanks to Brian for this presentation.
— Alan Griffin

Photos from the Roundup

Roundup: January 11 2023

Roundup Synopsis

Taken From Branding Iron 309 Winter 2023. 

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum is located on a steep hill through the Santa Susana Pass in beautiful Simi Valley, California. It began its mission in 1991 to preserve all of Ronald Reagan’s presidential and personal belongings. The Reagan Library and Museum’s claim to fame is the Air Force One Boeing 707 that former President Reagan himself flew on. The speaker at the Westerners’ January 2023 Roundup, Supervisory Archivist Ira Pemstein, provided a unique insiders’ perspective into the workings of this remarkable institution.
The presidential library system developed gradually over time. Initially, presidential records were a former president’s personal property after his tenure of office, unless voluntarily given to the government as a deed of gift. The handling of records became more formalized with the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955. This act meant that once a president constructed his own building, the National Archives could donate the former president’s work to the library. The second law which came in 1978 was the Presidential Records Act, which specifically required all of former President Richard Nixon’s records to remain in Washington D.C., and not be taken anywhere outside of fifty miles from the capital. The Presidential Records Act also transferred ownership of all documents acquired or created during a presidential term to the federal government, to be managed by the National Archives. Ronald Reagan was the first president to be affected by this law, and all the libraries since Reagan have fallen under the Presidential Records Act.
The Freedom of Information Act allows the public to request specific documents from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Most of the records predate the internet and are paper-based, and have yet to be digitized. Some of the archives are preserved in airtight containers and folders, or are refrigerated. Everything mentioned about the president by the three major broadcasting networks were recorded by the White House, including all the debates, campaign events, and Bob Hope specials. The Audio-Visual Archivist oversees photographs, film reels, and audio and video cassettes. The original formats can be viewed on VHS players and film projectors, which are preserved just as carefully as the forty-year-old media that they play.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library has 65 million pages of documents that cover Reagan’s entire life, as well as two-thirds of his career in Hollywood and his term as the Governor of California. The family-operated Ronald Reagan Foundation supplements areas that the federal government cannot, because the material from before and after his presidency does not belong to the federal government. Here is where the Reagan Foundation and the federal government come together. The Reagan family has custody and ownership of the pre- and post-presidential items that are housed at the Ronald Reagan Library and the federal government serves them to the public with the family’s permission.
— Darran Davis

Roundup: December 14, 2022

Roundup Synopsis

Taken From Branding Iron 309 Winter 2023. 

December’s Roundup saw the L.A. Corral welcome guest speaker Steve Lech as he took us back almost a hundred years before tens of thousands of people flocked to the Coachella Valley for the biggest music festival in the world. Mr. Lech introduced us to a woman named Susie Keef Smith (1900- 1988), who created photographic postcards of this majestic California desert landscape.
Susie’s love for photography began as a child when she contracted polio at the age of twelve. Her uncle gifted her a large format camera to use while she was confined to a wheelchair. Through perseverance and to doctors’ amazement, she began to walk again. In 1926 with encouragement from her father, Susie became the postmaster of Mecca, California. During the 1920s many Americans had an image of the California deserts as desolate wastelands with no vegetation. This is why they were commonly known as the “Devil’s Garden.” Most people were unaware of the attractions of the Joshua trees, or the dazzling Salton Sea. Susie began to take photographs of the desert landscape which propelled her to the forefront of the golden age of postcards.
During this era Susie encouraged people to travel out west to see the California Desert for themselves. Susie captured photos for postcards by traveling through the desert on a Ford Model T Truck, that was given to Susie by her father on one condition: that she disassemble the vehicle and put it back together again. This she accomplished, and it started on the first crank, proving her skills as a motorist.
Photographic postcards were great for advertising the land and for people to write to each other. This form of postcards created a medium that encouraged people to venture out to the California desert. The routes Susie chose to photograph were attractive to travelers because this was during the time the Colorado River Aqueduct was being built. The aqueduct channeled water through the desert thus enabling desert communities to become popular vacation destinations. The best-known example was Palm Springs. Smith took pictures of the aqueduct construction workers and their equipment. Susie’s photos allowed people to visually grasp the mystic beauties of the desert landscape. A large number of the locations Susie photographed are now part of the Coachella
Valley Preserve.
— Darran Davis

Photos from the Roundup

Roundup: November 9 2022

Roundup Synopsis

Taken From Branding Iron 308 Fall 2022.

Michael Johnson didn’t have a clever hat when he showed up at the Roundup in November. Thankfully for us, though, he did have a clever head under his usual cowboy hat. Mike used that clever head to edify those of us in attendance on the subject of the Overland Mail Company. The company was, as its name implied, a mail route which ran over land, particularly the southwestern parts of our land from 1858 to 1861, carrying mail between San Francisco in the West and both St. Louis and Memphis in the East.
The Overland Mail Company was founded by John Warren Butterfield (1801- 1869) and, as such, is sometimes referred to as the Butterfield Overland Mail. The company’s founding was the result of Butterfield winning a bid for a contract offered by the federal government to carry mail to the West. John Butterfield had a background in transportation. Having cut his teeth driving coaches in New York, he progressed to ownership of forty coach lines in Utica, as well as successful ventures into steamboats on lake Erie and trains on the rails of western New York. In 1850 John’s stagecoach interests, under the Butterfield Wesson Company, were merged with the express companies of Wells & Co., and Livingston, Fargo & Co., to create The American Express Company. However, it was Butterfield, under his own name, who won the contract for the route to be run by what became the Overland Mail Company.
The route chosen by Butterfield was the longest overland mail route in the world, and was sometimes known as the Oxbow Route because of the way it curved through the southwestern territories, recently claimed by the U.S. from Mexico. The route, though long, had the advantage of being free of snow, which perhaps gave it an advantage over the Central Route which made its way across the prairie towards Utah.
Although Butterfield adamantly stated, in the rulebook he published for his employees, that no cash was to be carried by the company along the route, one story—a set of rumors shrouded by the veil of time—persists. The consistent threads of its narrative are two men, the sum of $60,000, and the settings of the Vallecito and Carrizo stations. One story has $60,000 being taken in gold, by two men, from a coach at the Carrizo station, then sees the two robbers shooting it out at the Vallecito station. Another tells a tale of two brothers arguing and killing each other at the Vallecito station. A third has a driver leaving Yuma with a $60,000 payload and no shotgun rider. Indians, after waylaying the solo driver, purportedly buried the coach near the Carrizo station, being interested only in the horses. Though, as Mike pointed out, it’s a bit hard to imagine the thieves going to the trouble of burying the stagecoach when they could much more easily have burned or left it. Was the Butterfield stage robbed? It’s unlikely we’ll ever know, but it’s not a bad bet.
All good things come to an end, however, and the wild days of the southern stage coach are no exception. The secession of the South and the outbreak of the Civil War saw operations along the Oxbow Route halted, its four-year flash-in-the-pan burnt out. After the war, the new railroad superseded the overland routes, and closed a significant chapter in the history of the West.
— Alan Griffin

Photos from the Roundup

To be posted soon!

Roundup: September 14 2022

Roundup Synopsis

Taken From Branding Iron 308 Fall 2022.

September’s Roundup saw the L.A. Corral welcome guest speaker George Geary as he cooked up a delectable feast for the palette of our nostalgia, guiding us on a trip down one of California’s best memory lanes. A celebrity chef with experience ranging from the kitchens of Disneyland to sets of “The Golden Girls”, Mr. Geary talked us through some of the highlights of his book, Made in California: the California-Born Burger Joints, Diners, Fast Food & Restaurants that Changed America. The book, available on Amazon (ISBN: 1945551917), features a plethora of California’s culinary quick-stop favorites, ranging from Bob’s Big Boy to Peet’s Coffee.
The theme of Mr. Geary’s lecture centered on the evolution, including name and location changes, of some of California’s most beloved casual eateries. One notable example was his charming anecdote about the early days of the McDonald’s restaurant. The McDonald brothers cut their teeth in the movie industry, and after not having much success in film, decided to purchase a theater in Glendora. When that venture went belly up, the brothers were left with a load of usherette uniforms. Rather than see their stock go to waste, they started a drive-in restaurant and clad some lovely carhops in the surplus duds. However, as Mr. Geary put it, “The boys liked the carhops too much… so they made the guys get out of their cars and order the food from the window.” Thus McDonald’s, originally called McDonald Brothers BBQ, was born.
Perhaps of particular interest to those of us familiar with the hot rods that descend on Burbank each week to show off their chrome at Bob’s Big Boy, is the somewhat unique story of that establishment’s early franchise model. Bob’s Pantry, as it was originally known, did not franchise its restaurants directly, but rather, it franchised the rights to its burger recipe. So, anyone among us familiar with the Eastern U.S. chains of Shoney’s or Frisch’s Big Boy now know why the burgers slung in those joints are so similar to those served at our beloved Burbank, California Bob’s… they’re actually cousins! George also told us about a similar situation with Dinah’s Family Restaurant near LAX. Apparently, Kentucky Fried Chicken once employed a similar model in franchising their product, and that’s why, long ago, Dinah’s had to pay the Colonel 4¢ for every chicken they sold.
George Geary deserves our thanks for his guided tour of California’s culinary heritage. His talk reminds us that these tasty treasures are fading fast from our California landscape. A fortunate few have been turned into landmarks and historic sites, but far too many are wasting away, awaiting the wrecking ball of progress. There are few things able to so viscerally connect us to our past as the old haunts of our youth. So, grab a copy of Made in California, call up your favorite guy or gal, hop in the old lead sled, and get out there to see these pieces of history before they’re all gone. Bon Appetit!
— Alan Griffin

Photos from the Roundup

To be posted soon!