The Happy Bottom Riding Club is a dude ranch, restaurant and hotel operated by Pancho Barnes aviator near Edwards Air Force Base in the California Antelope Valley Mojave Desert. Barnes and his clubs are both featured in the 1979 Tomweek book, The Right Stuff , and the 1983 film adaptation.
Also known as Rancho Oro Verde Fly-Inn Dude Ranch , the establishment was the preferred hangout for both test pilots and Hollywood elite during the 1940s, which has more than 9,000 members worldwide around the peak of its popularity. When the United States Air Force intends to buy a club through a leading domain to expand its runway, a long and controversial series of lawsuits ensue. Barnes eventually won a lawsuit, but after the club was destroyed by a fire in the 1950s, his plans to reopen at a nearby location had never worked.
Video Happy Bottom Riding Club
Pendirian klub
In 1935, Barnes originally bought a property where the club would then stand to plant alfalfa, raise pigs and cattle, and begin milk production. Since the US Air Force Base at the US Air Force Base at the Plain Military Airbase was expanded in the post-World War II period, other businesses on the ranch as restaurants, bars and hotels quickly surpassed the humble beginnings. Finally, the farm also includes a hospitality business with female staff and it becomes the destination of choice for relaxation trials.
Maps Happy Bottom Riding Club
Facilities
Together with the pool and rodeo stadium, Rancho Oro Verde has the first comfort airstrip that Barnes created in 1935 to keep in touch with the social circle of its raiders from the southern San Gabriel Mountains. Visiting civilians and military also drifted to the strip to stay at Rancho Oro Verde, with Barnes often organizing events to entertain her guests who included barbecue and a treasure hunt for 200 silver dollars. The rodeo stadium held a three-day weekend rodeo co-sponsored by a local VFW post in Lancaster.
The original pool was rectangular, and was one of the first built in the Antelope Valley, but was destroyed by the Kern County 1952 earthquake. The replacement pool was circular and had a circular path that reportedly allowed Barnes to ride his horse into a pond. The swimming pool is further modeled after one Barnes is owned in the Pasadena area. The pool was switched on at night - help for visual air navigation.
As depicted in The Right Stuff's book and film, a tradition begins when Chuck Yeager breaks the barrier at Bell X-1 and Barnes gives him a free steak dinner. After that, the pilots were given a free steak dinner when they personally broke the sound barrier for the first time. After the achievement of Yeager, the sound barrier was often broken from Edwards AFB in the late 1940s and early 1950s with Barnes giving away free dinners several times during the week.
Change the time, lawsuit, and end
Despite the friendship between Barnes and the military, the relationship became unpleasant after a command change in 1952, four years after the Muroc Air Force Base became Edwards Air Force Base. One of the reasons for the friction between Barnes and the base commander was an increase in flights from Edwards, along with an increase in flights on the club's landing lane. After he took command of the base, General Albert Boyd, admirer and friend of Barnes, would berate him if his client came too close to the military airspace and the flight path. The allegations arose that the club was a brothel, something Barnes believed to be associated with his refusal to sell farms to the government for runway expansion. The Barnes rules posted for hostesses are very strict, and many seem to discredit the charges. Acting on the rumor, the Air Force banned soldiers visiting the club, destroying most of its business. Because he and the government are in the midst of negotiations on fair pricing for business and property, Barnes feels betrayed by the ban.
When the government added a lawsuit to customize the farm, Barnes opposed embezzlement, harassment, illegal land tenure, and conspiracy. The farm was destroyed by fire on November 13, 1953, shortly before the lawsuit was over. Barnes eventually settled back in Cantil nearby and the land was purchased by the Air Force through a leading domain. The proposed runway expansion was never implemented.
Barnes plans to rebuild the Happy Bottom Riding Club on her and her husband's land in Cantil has never materialized.
Legacy
Along with the depiction in The Right Stuff, the club is also immortalized in Lauren Kessler's biography of Barnes, The Happy Bottom Riding Club. Barnes's life was recorded in the 2009 documentary for PBS KOCE-TV station, titled The Legend of Pancho Barnes and Happy Bottom Riding Club .
A TV-made film aired on the CBS TV network, Pancho Barnes (1988), starring Valerie Bertinelli, features a fictional version of Barnes life and events related to The Happy Bottom Riding Club.
Pancho's Happy Under Riding Club is listed in the Promenade directory located in the 02-11 section of the Star Trek television series: Deep Space Nine.
Air Force personnel from Edwards held an annual barbecue on the Happy Bottom Riding Club website to commemorate Barnes and the farm. Visitors can still see the remnants of the pool, the foundation of the restaurant (including the chimney), and the warehouse. From the air, the outline of the airstrip is visible.
References
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Bibliography
External links
- Happy Happy Riding Club/bar/casino restaurant
- Pancho Barnes (official site of the estate). Archived from the original on June 30, 2014.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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