Lone Pine, CA #1 - Alabama Hills

GET-YUR-MOTOR-RUNNIN'  ROAD TRIP

(Astoria - Santa Fe - Death Valley - Astoria)

Lone Pine, CA

November 14, 2013  (Day 31 of 44)

Miles Today: 140 / Trip Miles: 3,734

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Photos:
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All photos © 2014 Leon Jackson. All Rights Reserved. 


Lone Pine (3,700 ft / 2,000 people):
Lone Pine is a tiny town with a no-frills charm. It is well-kept, and hasn't changed much from the 1950s-1960s. Being close to the Sierras, particularly the Whitney Portal, there are three small sporting goods/outfitter stores in town. The grocery store was established in 1895. There is a variety of decent non-chain restaurants to choose from. Most of the many motels in town are older ones that are well-maintained or have been nicely renovated. My motel, Comfort Inn (Rating = C+), had a balcony with a terrific Sierra Nevada view. I was fortunate that the evening twilight provided some wonderful light and beautiful illumination of the clouds. Plus, there was a full moon.

Films:
The Museum of Lone Pine Film History is excellent for film buffs. Filmmakers have long used the Lone Pine area to represent the American West. Since The Roundup (1920), the first documented film produced in the area, Lone Pine has played host to hundreds of the industry's best known directors and actors: directors William Wyler, John Ford, George Stephens, and William Wellman; actors John Wayne, Bing Crosby, Gene Autry, Barbara Stanwyck, Randolph Scott and Jeff Bridges. The Whitney Portal Road was used in the 1941 film classic High Sierra with Humphrey Bogart, which culminated with a shoot-out between Bogart's character and the police, at the foot of Mount Whitney. The 1955 classic Bad Day at Black Rock, starring Spencer Tracy and Anne Francis, was also filmed in and around the Lone Pine area. 

Alabama Hills:
The Alabama Hills are a range of hills and rock formations west of Lone Pine. Geologically the Alabama Hills are a part of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The Hills are a popular filming location for television and movie productions, especially Westerns. Since the early 1920s, 150+ movies and about a dozen television shows have been filmed here, including Tom Mix films, Hopalong Cassidy films, The Gene Autry Show, and The Lone Ranger, plus classics such as Gunga Din, Springfield Rifle, The Violent Men (1955 film), the Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott westerns, part of How the West Was Won, and Joe Kidd. In Gladiator, actor Russell Crowe rides a horse in front of the Alabama Hills, with Mount Whitney in the background, for a scene supposedly set in Spain.  Star Trek Generations was partially filmed here. The Alabama Hills are one of the filming locations for Disney's Dinosaur. More recently, parts of the films Iron Man, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (with Jamie Foxx) were filmed in the Alabama Hills.

Rock Face

I am not a fan of graffiti, but this face painted on a boulder in the Alabama Hills has some charm and made me smile. I saw a photo of the same boulder that was taken years ago, the face has morphed from one with big eye lashes and closed red lips to what you see now. This photo was taken during early evening twilight—a beautiful time of day in the Alabama Hills, but a little eerie as it got dark.

Moon Over Alabama Hills

Eastern moonrise over the Alabama Hills during early evening twilight. The Inyo Mountains are in the far background.

Sierra Nevada Dusk 
Twilight over the Sierras. This was the view from my motel room's balcony. Mount Whitney (14,500 ft) is the first full peak to the left of the photo's right edge.

Today in Lone Pine:
Scenic Rating: A-
Driving Fun/Road Rating: B+. The Alabama Hill's silty dirt roads were a kick to drive.

Tomorrow:
Explore the Lone Pine area.