Roundup of Sites Recalls Life of the American Cowboy

What was it really like, back in the days of cattle and sheep ranching, of stagecoaches and saloons, of cowboys and Indians? Is the icon of the Old West created by movies and television an accurate portrayal of the way it was?

Within a few hours, you can be another age away, watching a simulated shoot-out on an old movie set or walking the streets of a Western mining town. If you would like to experience some of that colorful period’s living history, you can visit the past at one or more of the following sites.

Paramount Ranch, 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, (818) 888-3770. Open daily, dawn to dusk. Free. Paramount Studios owned almost 4,000 acres in this area from the early 1920s to the mid-1940s, and the ranch was the setting for many of Paramount’s films. Part of the old Rancho Las Virgenes, the land encompassed a variety of scenery needed for filming, from rolling meadows, oak and walnut groves, streams and canyons to long stretches of flats that look like prairies. In 1946, the ranch was subdivided, and in 1952 a portion sold to William Hertz, who created the setting of a Western mining town. The “Western Town” became the setting for television shows, such as “The Cisco Kid,” “Bat Masterson,” and “Have Gun, Will Travel.” Today, free periodic ranger-guided programs are offered, examining the movie history of the ranch.

Will Rogers State Historic Park 14253 Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades, (213) 454-8212. Open daily 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Parking $3 per car, $2 for seniors over 62. Known as the “cowboy philosopher,” the late Will Rogers was a movie star, stage performer, columnist and commentator. In 1922, he bought a parcel of land above Sunset Boulevard that overlooked West Los Angeles, Santa Monica and the Pacific. He finished building a 31-room ranch for his family on the property in 1928 and today, it is maintained as it was when they lived there. In addition to the ranch house (which closes at 5 p.m.), visitors can see and enjoy the Visitor’s Center, Nature Center, bookstore and stables. You can also view a film on Rogers’ life, take an audio-guided tour of the grounds and hike the trails that cover the 186 acres.

Old Town State Historic Park, near the intersection of Interstate 5 and Interstate 8, San Diego, (619) 237-6770. Open daily without charge, but some sites charge a small admission. Old Town is a six-block area of museums, shops and adobe buildings, both original and restored, depicting early California. Established as a state historic park in 1968, Old Town San Diego is one of the oldest communities of the state. In 1872, a disastrous fire destroyed six original buildings, and great care was taken to restore and preserve as many of the original structures as possible. The most famous of these is La Casa de Estudillo, a grand adobe known as “Ramona’s Marriage Place,” which has a 50-cent admission. The ticket also admits visitors to Seeley Stables, once the starting point for a 24-hour stagecoach journey to Los Angeles, which houses a collection of horse-drawn vehicles and Western memorabilia. La Casa de Machado y Silvas served a family home, a boarding house, a saloon, an art studio, a museum and a church. Bazaar del Mundo has about a dozen shops around a garden courtyard and the Casa de Pico restaurant. Docents offer walking tours of Old Town at 2 p.m. daily, and special living-history programs are scheduled every weekend.

Calico Ghost Town, Ghost Town Road, off Interstate 15, Yermo, (619) 254-2122. Open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free admission, parking $3. Nestled in a quiet canyon of the Calico Mountains 10 miles north of Barstow, Calico Ghost Town is an 1880s silver mining boomtown come to life once more. It was designated a California historic monument in 1973 and is now a San Bernardino County regional park. The colorful past of this fully restored 60-acre townsite is etched in the weathered porches that line Main Street, where you can browse through 16 shops.One of the town’s original buildings houses Lil’s Saloon, still in operation. Attractions include the Maggie Mine Tour, a Tram Ride, the Calico-Odessa Railroad, the Museum, a Mystery Shack, the Calico Playhouse and the Shooting Gallery.

Movieland Frontier Town, 1349 W. Valley Blvd., Colton, (714) 825-2530. Hours noon to 5 p.m. Free admission. Colton is Earp country; Virgil was its first sheriff and Wyatt’s parents and brother, Morgan Earp are buried in Hermosa cemetery just behind Movieland Frontier Town. The Old West is re-lived daily in the shops and restaurants that front Frontier Town’s compound and on the movie lot in back, which is used for filming and Western shows. The nostalgic back lot features an authentic Western street with a saloon, general store, blacksmith shop, newspaper office, post office and sheriff’s station, complete with jail. On Saturdays and Sundays, Frontier Town presents stunt shows, simulated shoot-outs and live country and Western music.

Southwest Museum, 234 Museum Drive, Los Angeles, (213) 221-2164. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is $2.50 for adults, 75 cents for youth 7 to 18. Now a Los Angeles Historic Landmark, the Southwest Museum is internationally recognized for its preservation and interpretation of American Indian heritage. Throughout the year, its two-level gallery rotates exhibitions from the Museum’s collection of almost 500,000 Indian artifacts. On permanent display are an 18-foot Southern Cheyenne tipi, a replica of a Santa Monica Chumash Indian rock art site, Southwestern Pueblo and Navajo textiles and an excellent selection of Indian baskets and masks. Decorative arts of the period can be seen in the family chapel, parlor, dining room, kitchen and bedrooms and changing exhibitions are on display in a small gallery. Also on the premises is the Braun Research Library, which features a large collection of original Western maps, novels, pioneer narratives and photographs which focus primarily on Native American life, art and culture.

Western Walk of Fame, an Fernando Road, from 5th to 9th streets, Newhall, (805) 253-7230. Open daily, admission is free. Created six years ago to honor Western artists who contributed to Santa Clarita Valley’s Western heritage, this walk of stars is designed in the shape of a big saddle. You can see bronze and terrazzo tile plaques embedded in the sidewalk honoring Western stars, such as Gene Autry, Tom Mix, Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Tex Williams, Clayton Moore (The Lone Ranger), Iron Eyes Cody, Monte Hall, John Wayne, Clint Walker, Robert Conrad and Dennis Weaver. The annual dedication of new plaques will be celebrated Aug. 22 with a barbeque, dancing, guest celebrities and a Walk of Fame awards program.

William S. Hart County Park and Museum, 24151 San Fernando Road, Newhall, (805) 259-0855. The park is open 10 a.m. to sunset daily; the museum is open Wednesdays through Fridays 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission to park and museum is free. A California State Park of Historical Interest, this 259-acre site was purchased by silent screen star William S. Hart in 1921 when it was known as the Horseshoe Ranch. The cowboy star of such landmark films as “Squaw Man” and “The Virginian” retired to the ranch in 1928 and built a home called La Loma de los Vientos (The Hill of the Winds). Hart grew up among cowboys, ranchers and Indians of the Old West and he learned to use Indian sign language and to speak the Sioux dialect. In the museum, you can see a collection of Indian art and artifacts including 67 Navajo rugs and original paintings and statues by such artists as Frederic Remington and Charles Russell.

Ghost Town at Knott’s Berry Farm, 8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, (714) 827-1776. Open daily. Admission: $15.95 adults, $11.95 children. Ghost Town is an authentically recreated California Old West mining town that covers a two-acre spread of Knott’s Berry Farm. Many buildings were relocated, piece by piece from abandoned desert towns. The first of these, the Gold Trails Hotel built in the 1880s in Prescott, Ariz., now houses the Covered Wagon cyclorama. The Western atmosphere is re-created for visitors as they walk the streets and meet costumed cowboys, cancan dancers, townsfolk and artisans who entertain listeners with yarns about the Old West. You can pan for gold dust in a miner’s trough, ride on an original Butterfield stagecoach, board an authentic Denver and Rio Grande narrow gauge railroad and ride down a 70-foot mountainside in a hollowed-out log.

Old Town Temecula Museum, 28670 Front St., Temecula, (714) 676-0021. Open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free. An unusual example of a turn-of-the-century Western American town, Temecula was once the headquarters of a huge cattle ranch that covered almost 97,000 acres of rolling countryside. Because of its strategic location along the old Butterfield Overland stage route, many historic events occurred in and around Temecula. The Old Town Temecula Museum was created to preserve, protect and display treasures of Temecula and the surrounding valley. These include original documents and photographs, the old Vail Ranch bell and a diorama depicting Old Town as it once was.