11/8/15 - Lone Pine Film Museum

The official name of this place is "Beverly & Jim Rogers Lone Pine Film History Museum".  It's subtitled "Where the Real West becomes the Reel West".

The further south we go on US 395 in California the more snow we see on the Eastern Sierras. This is the view from the street by the museum. I like it even with the power poles--we've obviously been in some really flat places this year.

The western film museum is in this little town because it's very close to the Alabama Hills, where umpteen-zillion westerns were filmed.  (I think the number is more like 650, but you know what I mean.)  I thought we should stop by the museum to get the feel of the place before we headed to the rocks.

Starting with Tom Mix in 1923, Hopalong Cassidy, Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers and Clint Eastwood are just a few of the old western stars that made movies nearby.  There are movie posters and pictures, props and memorabilia all over the place.  

They filled TV westerns in Inyo County too...I liked the poster of The Lone Ranger.  And the chronology they have on the wall.

 

They didn't just film westerns in the Alabama Hills--they filmed science fiction movies there too--like Star Wars and Tremors.

Can't have westerns without guns and saddles....and hats.  Lunchboxes too, I guess.

It's kind of interesting, but unless you're a real western movie nut, it won't take long to wander through the exhibits and displays.  Lots of these old cowboys were so old I didn't really remember anything except reruns, and some I'd never heard of!

I'd planned on getting a map of the movie locations, but the lady at the museum told me they'd run out.  So, even though we really didn't know what we were looking for, we headed for the hills!  That-a-way....

More pictures?   Go here:  Lone Pine Film History Museum