Pioneertown started as a live-in old west motion-picture set that was built in the 1940s. The set was designed to provide a place for the actors to live while using their homes as the main street in an old western movie. Here is what you might see.
Pioneertown is five miles northwest of Yucca Valley off of CA Highway 62 (Twentynine Palms Highway) and Pioneertown Road.
On July 11, 2006, parts of Pioneertown were 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.
There are a dozen, or so, buildings intact. Mary and I photographed the town first thing in the morning when there were no other people in sight. We both used our infrared cameras and converted the raw images to monochrome.
As usual, Mary “sees” the world in close-up and tele-photo and I see in wide-angle.
We highly recommend you swing by Pioneertowm when you visit Joshua Tree.
To see more of (and buy) our photographs, please go to www.pamphotography.com.
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