Originally built in 1947, the diner was your typical 1950s style eatery, catering to motorists making their way through the desert.
It was small— 3 booths and 9 counter stools— but managed to stick around for a while, despite being in one of the hottest places in the United States.
Peggy Sue and her husband Champ reopened the diner in 1987 and attempted to restore and preserve it in its original state. Before moving to the desert in 1981, Champ worked for Knott’s Berry Farm and Peggy Sue worked in the movies.
The diner was the perfect place to display their extensive collection of movie and TV memorabilia.
In January 2001, Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner played a role in television host Huell Howser’s first road trip to the desert that borders the I-15 east of Barstow, California.
And in 2003, Peggy Sue’s was a major film site for the movie, “The Hulk”….
There was a time when cowboys ruled the day, or at least the airwaves, and the good guy always won.
From Tom Mix in the early 1900s, to Clint Eastwood and Kurt Russell today, most of us have wanted to be a cowboy or cowgirl at one time or another.
Many of us grew up knowing that among the cowboys of the cinema, Roy Rogers was king, and Dale Evans was his queen.
Fast forward. After going through a few years of relative dormancy, in 2015, the Roy Roger’s Double R Bar Ranch came into the sights of Jim Heffel.
Now an accomplished horseman and part-time stunt rider, Jim and his wife Deena bought the farm in a friendly manner of speaking…
Collected at Rand District Cemetery are the final resting places of some five generations of dream chasers, miners, merchants, ranchers, freighters, madams, promoters, vigilantes, teachers, movers and shakers, loafers and busy bodies; most from somewhere else, from all over the world, all brought here by the winds of fortune, and caught, like nuggets, in holes in the ground.
Burro Schmidt, famous for digging a half mile tunnel through a solid granite mountain for 38 years, left his beloved town only twice in his lifetime. Little did he know as happenstance would have it that years after his death a widow by the name of Tonie would pay the ultimate tribute to the miner by protecting his legacy for the rest of her life, and spending eternity next to his grave…
Just what keeps the memory of this old town alive more than a century after it was born in the midst of the mining boom of the 19th Century?
Walk down Butte Avenue and, in the middle of the block, you will surely find the answer at the Rand Desert Museum.
Founded in 1943 and given over to Kern County in 1948, the museum is the heart and soul of the old town.
When Kern County couldn’t bear the expense of maintaining the museum, it was given back to Randsburg proper.
To this day it is run by the residents of the Rand Mining District.
Even more that a hundred years later, there remains life in these hallowed hills.
This year, the 16th Annual Old West Day took place right on the main drag thru town, Butte Avenue.
I like big buttes, I cannot lie…
Within two months of Holcomb’s discovery of gold in 1859, a town called Belleville sprang into existence at the entrance into Holcomb Valley, near the upper part of Van Dusen Canyon. It had a collection of stores, saloons, dance halls, and blacksmith shops. In 1860, the Wild West town lost its bid for county seat by a mere two votes.
Charles Wilbur was the first tax assessor in San Bernardino County. He was also a gold placer miner who lived in the area around the mid to late 1800s. He was well liked among his fellow miners who lived in the area and they voted for him to organize the miners and the boundary stones. Before he died he asked to be buried by his favorite pond, Wilbur’s Pond, and they did as he asked…
We’re not saying Apple Valley, California, is in the middle of nowhere, although Los Angelinos may argue differently. This 62 foot labyrinth is great place to go to clear your head and get back in touch with nature. To listen to the wind and not much else. Despite its popularity, of all the times we’ve visited here we’ve never come across anyone else at this spot. We hope you enjoy the same pleasure…