Friday we visited the Old Tucson Studio up in the mountains very near to the Desert Museum.
We arrived fairly early as there was not a cloud in the sky and it promised to be a hot day. The studio was built in 1939 for the film 'Arizona' and for various political and financial reasons was not removed, but other bits were added on. The studios became one of the larger cowboy film studios and even though a lot of it was lost in a fire in 1997 it still has an impressive number of recognizable film sets.
Following a brief orientation tour we set off to see the set of High Chapparal, which Sally remembers from her childhood, meanwhile just across from there is the adobe wall and ruin used to good effect in Rio Bravo.
We stopped in at the Crystal Saloon to see a music hall show, what appears to be a wooden saloon is in fact a steel constructed studio, with a saloon and stage inside it. We enjoyed the short show.
We now walked down Main Street, stopping at the Old Mission, which was used for a lot of films, notably the Three Amigos and Tombstone. While there we watched a demonstration of a restored 1830's gatling gun, very impressive as it fired its 40 rounds in about 5 seconds.
After going to the courthouse to see a short movie showing the many films made there we picnicked outside a saloon and then had a wander past the old mine and schoolhouse before deciding that we had seen enough.
An interesting place, though a little short on information.
Great journey from Tombstone, in AZ, to the Napa Valley, in CA...............................................Including Jim and Connie's Party!
What we did!
This is the blog of our 12th Trip to the U.S.A.
On this trip we arrived in March and spent a week with our friends Connie NA Jim at their Bluegrass Party, in Florida.
We then flew to Phoenix, where we collected our rig and then explored Southern Arizona, from the cowboy city of Tombstone in the East, to the desert City of Yuma in the West.
Travelling north along the course of the Colorado river we visited the London Bridge at Lake Havasu before exploring the Mojave Desert, including some more of Rout 66 and Calico Ghost Town.
Moving North West through California we shared in the CBA Bluegrass Campout in Turlock, before visiting Bodega Bay to follow The Birds. After sampling the delights of the Napa Valley we joined in The Fiddle Convention at Cloverdale before storing our rig and returning home after seeing some friends in San Leandro, near San Francisco.
This blog gives a day to day record of many of the things we did on this trip.
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