Note: We gave a presentation about this subject on September 14, 2023, to the Big Bear Historical Society. This article is the culmination of a month’s long research project. We also debuted a video, which we plan to upload to our YouTube channel. Our warmest thanks goes to historians Anne Roark, Jonni Vindiola, Mark Durban,…
We visited Salvation Mountain for the first time with my sister, Dawn, when she recently flew in from the East Coast. We recalled watching television host Huell Howser visit there in 1997 and were intrigued. Salvation Mountain had again recently landed itself into the news media. So a mere 26 years later, we decided to…
In the midst of the Roaring Twenties, a stout young man was an attorney by trade in Ventura, California. Although Erle Stanley Gardner immersed himself in juris prudence, he needed what millennials nowadays call a “side hustle” to make ends meet. Writing fiction suited the gent’s keen wit, colorful oration and flair for the dramatic,…
Sometimes a desert is like a Trojan horse. Few desert rats disagree that the desert can be a beautiful, magical place. It’s wide open horizons and endless views across miles of sand, cacti, Joshua Trees, boulders and mountains, especially at sunrise and sunset, can be captivating. The allure is reminiscent of a Siren’s song though…
The movie Tarantula featuring the small desert town of Desert Rock, Arizona, and a giant tarantula was actually filmed in Apple Valley, California. Many of the scenes were shot at Dead Man’s Point. It was the fourth biggest film at the box office in December 1955. The movie’s tagline said, “More terrifying than any horror known to…
Today’s trivia you didn’t know you needed to know: Zyzzyx Road, a low budget indie horror movie from 2006, not to be confused with another 2006 indie horror titled Zzyzx with a different cast and rebranded Burned, is known for being the lowest-grossing film of all time. It made a grand total of (drum roll,…
Have you ever wondered if the vastly different cities of Big Bear City and La Quinta, California, could possibly have anything in common? One is high in the San Bernardino mountains , a few minutes from Big Bear Lake, and the other is near the Santa Rosa mountains in the low desert, approximately an hour’s…
Some of you might have heard that we lost a good friend on December 21, 2021. John Grasson was a friend and colleague in the study of the Southwest deserts, a fellow Army veteran, a radio personality, a go-to source for information on the legendary “Lost Ship of the Desert,” a fellow desert rat, and…
Update, November, 2025: Claudia and Jim Spotts have officially retired. We thank them for their years of dedication to the museum and wish them the best on their well-deserved retirement. Where did your intrepid Desert Way wanderers go today? Landers, California, of course. Why? Well, we were 31 years too late for the big earthquake,…
On March 2, 2023, we woke to the appearance of a tiny visitor, just outside our front door. This girl has set up nesting duties in our Ocotillo in a pot near our front entrance. The Trochilidae family includes the world’s smallest birds, with the most brilliant iridescent colors, the fastest wingbeats, and the most amazing…