The SouthwestBlend.com guide to the events, activities, attractions, shops, services, dining, lodging, and visitor information for Pioneertown, California.

Welcome to Pioneertown, California

Town/City Overview    
 Though it was built as a real town in 1946, it was also built as a movie set by a group of investors who envisioned a 1870’s frontier town that functioned as a living movie set. Western stars including Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gail Davis (Annie Oakley), Duncan Renaldo (The Cisco Kid), Leo Carrillo (Pancho), Gene Autry, The Sons of the Pioneers (for whom the town was named), Jock Mahoney (The Range Rider) and Russell Hayden, (Hopalong Cassidy movie series) all walked these streets packin’ six guns.
  Other movie greats including Barbara Stanwyck, Jackie Coogan, Dick Jones, Edgar Buchanan, Tom Skerritt and Barry Sullivan all made movies here from 1948 to 1998. The atmosphere of the ‘olde west’ lives on in the town that has kept most of the original buildings and has it’s own Pioneertown Posse. It is a treat, for young and old alike, to roam the streets; take photos; visit the Post Office Museum; bowl in the bowling alley where the first strike was bowled by Roy Rogers; ride the Rattlesnake Gulch Railroad Line, a one of a kind miniature steam engine replica that takes passengers around the bowling alley and shooting gallery, and relive an exciting part of Hollywood and Western Film history.
  The Pipes Canyon Preserve is a fantastic place for hikers, and horseback riders. It is a 20,000 acre natural wildlife corridor that connects the Joshua Tree National Park with the San Bernardino National Forest. The Preserve’s Canyons offer superb wildlife and natural habitat viewing. It is open from 8:00 am to dusk, seven days a week. For details, call 760-369-7105.
  Pioneertown is located five minutes northwest of Yucca Valley on Pioneertown Road and is at an altitude of 4,000 feet in a high desert basin of Joshua Trees. It is, on average, 20 degrees cooler than Palm Springs and makes for a fascinating desert destination.
 

Attractions & Activities   
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK: This 800,000 acre desert park provides a spectacular contrast of scenery from two ecosystems - the Mojave Desert, which is the high desert home to the Joshua Tree and Fan Palm; and the Colorado Desert, a low desert that features an arid terrain with ocotillo and "jumping Cholla" cactus. Visitors are astounded by great granite monoliths and twisted rock formations; the diverse range of mammals, plants, reptiles, and over 240 species of birds. Enjoy hikes, explore remnants of the gold mining eras, rock climb, tour the Desert Queen Ranch (an early 1900 ranch), or camp in one of their nine campgrounds. Entrances from Hwy. 62 in the Morongo Basin include Twentynine Palms, Indian Cove, and in Joshua Tree. (760) 367-5525.www.joshuatree.org

The Pipes Canyon Preserve is a fantastic place for hikers, and horseback riders. It is a 20,000 acre natural wildlife corridor that connects the Joshua Tree National Park with the San Bernardino National Forest. The Preserve’s Canyons offer superb wildlife and natural habitat viewing. It is open from 8:00 am to dusk, seven days a week. For details, call 760-369-7105.



Map & Directions     



Visitor Information/Articles 

Joshua Tree National Park -phone, 760-367-5500,  74485 National Park Drive, Twentynine Palms. CA 92277
  
Step Out of the Ordinary - Discover the Morongo Basin
Joshua Tree National Park
The History of Mining in Morongo Basin