Nestled in the far off landscape of Pipes Canyon (near Pioneertown) are a few High Desert Test Site artworks awaiting visitors willing to drive the dirt roads to the 100-acre site where they rest.

The most immediately visible artwork is Scout Regalia’s Trail Registry, a large wooden frame fitted with aluminum rods for visitors to take or leave notes or moments from or on. The frame visually dissects the bit of desert visible between the aluminum rods. It looks like a giant musical instrument for the wind.

The next most visible artwork is Halsey Rodman’s gradually/we become aware of/of a hum in the room, a three-sided structure divided into three identical rooms. Each of the three rooms holds a circular window through which visitors of all kinds (human, animal, spiritual) can enter and exit. Light streams through each window to cast circular shapes across the brightly painted walls, and through the spaces between the walls and roof to cast fascinating geometric patterns across them.

The last easily discoverable artwork is Tao Urban’s Tap Water Pavilion, a small structure under the sun that holds three twenty-five liter jars of water from three different rivers, the Sacramento, Owens, and Colorado. Between each jar of water there’s a bench and a cup dispenser, where visitors can sit and enjoy the refreshment.

To read more about the current, less visible, or former artworks on the parcel, visit http://highdeserttestsites.com/sites/andys-gamma-gulch-parcel

(excerpt from the 2015 Institute of Investigative Living reader)

Garth (Clyde Garth Bowles) has been living on 640 acres of high desert land for the last 30 years. His primary residence is a very small Teepee made out of concrete, skimmed over newspaper and cardboard. The interior is elaborately decorated, partly with his mother’s old Christmas ornaments. Adjacent to the teepee is an outdoor kitchen and living room area. The area above Pioneertown, where Garth lives, is higher in altitude and gets very cold in the winter, which makes his ongoing outdoor lifestyle even more exceptional. There is no power or phone reception up at Garth’s so people who wish to visit him generally approach without any advance notification. It is generally appreciated and expected that visitors make a financial contribution.

I’m curious to know more about the circumstances under which Garth came to the desert. I remember he once explained that he came to this land after living homeless on the streets, while wearing all white and engaging in a spiritual quest. We should ask him about this on our visit. The road that leads to Garth’s was originally named “Devil’s Gate” but Garth re-named it “Gods Way Love”. Garth is deeply invested in permaculture and has slowly been “greening” his land by building tiered walls across a long valley in order to catch the water when it rains, and adding organic matter to create soil. The valley still appears fairly natural but now has an orchard and vegetable gardens. Giant strawberry and asparagus plants look as if they are growing wild.

When we visited Garth in 2012, there were 14 people living on his land in various structures. Nicademus, from South Africa, was building a sustainable house out of concrete and dirt packed into sand bags along the road that enters Garth’s Property. Another former guest built a house on top of a large boulder that appeared to be part of the rocks. Others live in trailers and RVs tucked around the property.

Garth’s overall ethic is to respect the land, although much of his land is “tended”. It is interesting talking to him about the parameters of what he considers appropriate interventions. For instance he was unhappy when a former resident built a wooden deck on top of a rocky outcropping because it was clearly a man-made structure. However he has also built an amazing swimming pool and sauna out of concrete that is directly grafted onto the boulders. “My spiritual theory is my life,” he told photographer Alec Soth in 2008.

Originally working under the professional pseudonym Women, designers Scott Barry and Neil Doshi were awarded a Creative Capital Grant for a five-year initiative in which they planned to inhabit a different location and set of working conditions each year.  Their house, which was begun as the first phase of the project, has been sited on Garth’s land. They called this phase “Connections” - the structure will one day culminate into two living structures, which will operate as a design residency and a library. The buildings began with no plans or drawings, the terrain’s large rock formations and natural environs were used to dictate the form. Aiming for a “total design”, from the construction of the buildings, to the furniture that fills the interiors, to the utensils that are used for eating, each component is considered part and parcel of the whole. The project, which began in June 2012, remains unfinished. Scott left the project in late 2013 and since early 2014 Neil’s been working with Jaime Beechum, a photographer, to complete construction.

The town was first built as a live-in “Old West” motion picture set in the 1940s, which provided an on-site location for the actors to live and at the same time to have their “lodgings” used as part of the movie set. A number of Westerns and early television shows were filmed here, including The Cisco Kid and Edgar Buchanan’s Judge Roy Bean. Roy Rogers, Dick Curtis, and Russell Hayden were among the original developers and investors, and Gene Autry frequently taped his show at the six-lane Pioneer Bowl bowling alley. Its construction was credited to one “A.E. Thompson” in 1947 and Rogers himself rolled out the first ball in 1949. School-age children were hired as pinsetters until the installation of automatic pin-setting equipment in the 1950s. According to the Morongo Basin Historical Society, the bowling alley is one of the oldest in continuous use in California. To retain the old-west flavor and spirit of Pioneertown, the re-enactment group, Mane Street Stampede Wild West Show, performs a variety of shoot-‘em-up acts on Mane Street every Saturday in the summers.

On July 11, 2006 some of Pioneertown was burned in the Sawtooth Complex fire, which also burned into Yucca Valley and Morongo Valley. Firefighters managed to save the historic movie set buildings, but much of the surrounding desert habitat was damaged. Among the structures saved was Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace.

In the 1990’s, the alt-rock band the Counting Crows wrote “we drove out to the desert/just to lie down beneath this bowl of stars/we stood up at The Palace/like it was the last of the great Pioneertown bars.” And indeed, that is just what Pappy & Harriet’s is, a palace of a bar that sleeps under a bowl of stars in the desert of Pioneertown. Pappy’s, as it’s referred to by the locals, is a large bar, restaurant, and music venue in an old Western motion picture set built in the 1940’s.

Before it was Pappy’s, the building functioned as a cantina set for old Western motion pictures. Later, it became a fully operational outlaw biker burrito bar called The Cantina, owned by Francis Aleba. In 1982, Aleba’s daughter Harriet and son-in-law Pappy bought The Cantina and re-named it after Pappy and Harriet’s. In 1994, Pappy passed away. Harriet still lives nearby. Today, Pappy and Harriet’s is owned by a couple of New Yorkers.

Lots of famous musicians have performed at Pappy’s, including Paul McCartney, Ricki Lee Jones, Queens of the Stone Age, Neutral Milk Hotel, Niko Case, Modest Mouse, Leon Russel, and Robert Plant, amongst many more. Often, bands in the area for Coachella will stop in and perform between festival weekends.

The food at Pappy’s is delicious, especially the BBQ, but even their vegetarian additions. They are open Thursday through Monday for lunch and dinner. Reservations are highly recommended.

53688 Pioneertown Rd, Pioneertown, CA 92268

The idea of the “American West” took root in the sandy, wild landscape of the western United States. The film tycoons who founded Pioneertown loved it for its versatile terrain —- scenery of severn western states could be duplicated by immediate surroundings. The true origin story of Pioneertown is hotly contested. The legend of the place often overshadows its true historical trajectory, and the more people you talk to, the more scrambled it gets. Alice “Honey” Fellers, who wrote the book Pioneertown, Then and Now, was quoted saying, “Psychologically speaking, Pioneertown is not a town. It is a legend.” What we know is that Pioneertown began in 1946 when perennial movie bad guy Dick Curtis —- a strapping man with a black mustache —- whoa’d his horse on a grassy knoll and proclaimed, “This is the place.” Other accounts say an old lady owed him twenty-five dollars and repaid him with a deed to an unseen homesteader plot. Along with Curtis, Roy Rogers, Philip N. Krasne, Gene Autry, Russell Hayden, and the Sons of the Pioneers (for whom the town was named) were some of the original investors and personalities who helped build and invent Pioneertown. More than fifty films and several television shows were filmed there, most notably The Cisco Kid and The Gene Autry Show.

Pioneertown Motel exists at the nexus of desert culture —- a mélange of experimental art and philosophy, kitsch and caricature, wild, natural beauty, resourcefulness, spiritual searching, rock n’ roll and the proverbial “Escape from LA.”  Though only a few minutes from Yucca Valley, and a few more from the glitz and fanfare of Palm Springs, Pioneertown feels a world away. There’s security knowing you’re not far off, but a convincing solitude and remoteness nonetheless. You are safe, but you are free —- a rare and utterly appealing sensation.

5240 Curtis Rd, Pioneertown, CA 92268

www.pioneertown-motel.com

Emmanuel and Kiloo moved onto Judy’s land in 2015 or 2016. They were looking for a new place to live, in their beautiful vintage RV, lovingly referred to as “the Barth.” Emmanuel had recently acquired several goats so wherever they moved had to accommodate a small herd of animals as well. Kiloo had been helping the local “goat lady,” Judy, who had been getting on in age. She could no longer fully manage her 20 goats on her own and was also having trouble keeping control over her 30 cats. So it seemed like the right fit—-Emmanuel and Kiloo permanently moved the Barth onto Judy’s land and have since been helping her take care of the land and farm, which includes: goats, cats, dogs, chickens, fruits and veggies. 

Emmanuel and Kiloo took care of both their goats and Judy’s: walking, milking and midwifing. Emmanuel started a small dairy processing endeavor—-they produced so much milk that he took orders once a week from friends for goat milk, yogurt, cheese, and kefir, $5 per jar. It was heaven. 

At the end of 2016, tragedy struck—-right before Christmas, Judy’s house and barn burnt down to the ground. She had amassed a huge collection of newspapers and books which had unfortunately fueled the fire. The Barth was not damaged, but several goats and other animals died in the fire. It was awful. But the community rallied ‘round and thousands of dollars were raised to purchase Judy a trailer to live in temporarily, while Emmanuel and Kiloo rebuilt the barn and a small house for her. 

Everything is still under construction and the goat milk products have gone on hold, but the goats still need to be walked. They’ve become known for inviting friends on these walks, which are magic. Emmanuel leads the way, the goats follow, and maybe you’ll see some petroglyphs.