Pioneertown, CA: Old West Experience

nuthman (74)in #travel • 6 years ago (edited)

A couple of days after Christmas we took a drive to 29 Palms, California to visit my Great Aunt and family. While we were there, it was suggested that we all drive out to Pioneertown for a day out. I had never heard of it, but was certainly down for some local entertainment.

We filled up a few cars and headed down there. To start with, I thought that Pioneertown was some kind of shop or something, but it is an actual small town here in California.

The bizarre thing about it is that the whole of the town seems to be a street with mostly tourist shops made out like the 1800s and then some random houses right there on the tourist strip. Here is the Wikipedia entry for it.

Check out this sign that was posted along the road which pretty much explains it all:

Apparently this mock old west town was used in the filming of quite a few Western movies back in the old days. It certainly does feel like you are going back in time!

I mean, let's be honest. How many of you can honestly say that you knew that cactuses wore sunglasses back then. Not I!

I must be pretty gullible because I actually expected to see snakes inside of this barrel. But to be fair, the sign was not lying:

They have some animals that you can feed as well as pet. They were super cute and friendly. The kids were having a great time. This one particular kid was really making me laugh because he kept calling this one goat a weird dog.

I love how he just hangs out on the chair. He never moved a muscle the entire time I was there. Great acting skills, I suppose.

I especially love that little guy above. He was super sweet. He would stand on his hind legs and take a piece of food from your hand.

They have a pretty good sense of humor at this place. The Town Haul is always occupied, though.

I had the guy in here cracking up. I was complaining because they advertise used cows but didn't have any in stock. His excuse for leaving the sign up was that if they take it down, it leaves an empty space on the wall.

There are a lot of random old timey items decorating the landscape such as this coal car.

Bonus: 100% up-vote to the first person who can tell me very specifically what the below object is:

We looked at it for a while but couldn't work it out. It seems to be some kind of press, but I have no idea for what! That platform on top was throwing me off.

My father-in-law was sure having a great time. I love that he has pretty much zero inhibition.

The above photo is me with my Great Aunt. She is turning 88 soon and still very active! She was having a great time.

There are so many bizarre looking mechanical contraptions in this place. This looks like some kind of ancient drill press. I've never seen anything like it.

Oh, there are also selling really old rusted metal things for like $5 apiece. I don't know why I didn't buy the whole stock.

At the end of the road is the old Sheriff's station. You couldn't go inside but you could peak through the window. I couldn't really get a good picture, but it was kind of silly inside anyway. They had a tiny little caged area made of re-bar that could apparently fit one prisoner. It was mas more prop looking that some of the other stuff.

At the very end of the road, which you can see behind the Sheriff sign, is the famous OK Corral.

The sign is quite faded but you can still just make out the letters OK CORRAL:

The writing is also on the building next to the sign. The names of lots of famous people are stamped into the fence inside of the corral.

It seems that you can't really make out the names from the photos that I took, but there are a lot of them.

One day I'd like to go back on a Saturday. Apparently they do shows; like shootouts or something. Looks like fun! Overall I'd say if ever passing through the area it is a great place to stop for a break and look around.

Also, the restaurant there is fantastic! In fact, I am going to do a separate review post about it.