Howdy, y’all! My name is KEN and I have a dream that I am trying to turn into a reality. I want to establish a unique cemetery unlike any other in the USA, in a very unique town, unlike any other in the world: Pioneertown, CA. Before I tell you more about that dream, I want to make sure that you know where I am writing you from..
Pioneertown, USA is a small town in the High Deserts of southern California that forever changed the history of Western Cinema! The town was established in 1946, when actor Dick Curtis shared his dream for a “living breathing movie set”. Shortly afterwards, seventeen investors, including Curtis and his celebrity friends, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, The Sons of the Pioneers, Russell Hayden and Bud Abbott, all invested and incorporated. They purchased 32,ooo acres of land with a simple goal: to create a place where they could all work and play with friends, family and co-workers. It was to be an 188o’s themed town which was easily accessible from both Los Angeles & Palm Springs, that would serve as a fully functioning filming location, vacation destination & permanent High Desert neighborhood!
The first structures established were fully functional businesses like the Land Office, White’s Grocery, the Townhouse Motel, the Red Dog Saloon, the Golden Stallion Restaurant, Maggie’s Feed Barn, Nell’s Ice Cream Palace, Pioneertown Likker, the Klip ‘N’ Kurl Beauty Shop, Pioneer Bowl, Trigger Bill’s Shooting Gallery & the Pioneertown Gazette; just to name a few. Ranch sites with utilities soon to be available and road access already established were offered starting as low as $9oo for over an acre of land! Pioneertown became a legitimate town with its own zip code, an established community and big plans for expansion.
Pioneertown was a dream come true for Western film producers and soon caught the attention of numerous Hollywood studios. All six seasons of The Cisco Kid, all five seasons of The Gene Autry Show, all three seasons of The Range Rider & the Annie Oakley show, both seasons of Buffalo Bill Jr. & 26 Men as well as the entire Judge Roy Bean series were all filmed or framed in Pioneertown. In addition to Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and The Sons of the Pioneers, the tiny town was host to actors, producers and directors like Gene Autry, Philip N. Krasne, Frank McDonald, Spencer Bennet, Rex Blair, Armand Schaefer, John English, John Sturges, George Archainbaud, Duncan Renaldo, Leo Carrillo, Minna Gombelle, Pat Buttram, Smiley Burnette, Gail Davis, Frank Richards, Gloria Henry, Robert Livingston, Jack O'Mahoney, Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Ralph Meeker, Peggy Stewart, Dickie Moore, William Fawcett, Kirby Grant, James Griffith, Lew Ayres, Teresa Wright, Thurston Hall, Harry Lauter, Anne James and many, many more.
You will find that Pioneertown’s Mane Street, the heart of the town, where only horse an foot traffic is allowed, is only a few city blocks long. Businesses here have dwindled and thrived, back and forth. But the die-hard community has always remained committed to keeping Pioneertown alive. And while a demand for western filming locations has died down, the town is still a fully functioning production set where movies, independent films, music videos and commercials are filmed every month. Today, Mane Street in Pioneertown still retains its charm and Old West image. Visitors are welcome to come enjoy Pioneertown any day of the week; but weekends are when the town really comes to life!
Retail stores and art studios are located on Mane Street and the Pioneertown Corrals Campground is right around the corner. There are also numerous false fronts in town, like the Bank, Bath House, Jail, Saloon and the Mining Corporation. They are great for pictures, fun for kids and a wonderful distraction to help you forget about the hustle of the big city. You can even catch a gunfight on Mane Street during most of the warmer weekends! Just about everyone who comes to Pioneertown visits the local restaurant/bar, Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, or “Pappy & Harriet's”, as the locals call it.
Now.. that dream I am trying to turn into a reality, that I was talking about earlier.. I want to establish a cemetery in Pioneertown!
Over the years, Pioneertown found itself in the hands of several different owners, before being divided up into the privately-owned properties that it is today. But there has never been a cemetery planned for the town! The nearest cemeteries, and actually some of the onlycemeteries in southern California’s High Desert, are down in Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms. At Pioneertown’s level of fame, with its community’s degree of passion and with the town’s overall level of western American tradition.. Doesn’t it make sense that there should be a cemetery in Pioneertown? Just think of the number of celebrities and members of the community, both past and present, who would have enjoyed being able to enjoy Pioneertown forever!
Furthermore, focusing on the original theme of the town, Creative Synergy, said cemetery should have a unique dual purpose. . .
While there is plenty to do, see and enjoy in Pioneertown - Its residents, its visitors and Mane Street in particular, could truly benefit from a few extra amenities which the town currently does not have. With all of this in mind, I have formed a new corporation in the great State of California with the task of designing, developing, maintaining, promoting and ultimately preserving, indefinitely, the Pioneertown Preservation Park Project: a cemetery unlike any other in the world!
The Pioneertown Preservation Park Project (P4) intends to harvest the greatest past and present internment designs and technology to allow for maximum use of both space and resources. In addition to this, P4 aims to incorporate a revolutionary long-term cemetery financing plan by offering, from the start, amenities which present day cemeteries are only starting to offer. Said amenities should synergistically benefit both residents of and visitors to Pioneertown. In correlation with the numerous potential non-traditional amenities that P4 aims to offer, this necropolis intends to have a goal unlike many modern-day burial grounds: The celebration and preservation of life; both before and after death. Think of a Cemetery that also acts like a community center. Well- that’s exactly what P4 is going for!
This campaign is one of P4’s first major steps towards trying to establish a cemetery in Pioneertown. It is also your chance to help contribute to what will be one of the most unique and celebrated cemeteries in the USA!
