Pioneertown
| Pioneertown, California | |
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| unincorporated community | |
Saloon, bank, bath house and livery stables on Mane Street, Pioneertown, CA
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 Pioneertown, California
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| Coordinates: 34°9′26″N 116°29′41″W / 34.15722°N 116.49472°WCoordinates: 34°9′26″N 116°29′41″W / 34.15722°N 116.49472°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | San Bernardino |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 350 |
| Time zone | Pacific (PST) (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
| ZIP codes | 92268 |
| Area codes | 442/760 |
| FIPS code | 06-57358 |
| GNIS feature ID | 247574 |
Pioneertown, California, is an unincorporated community in the Morongo Basin region of southern California's Inland Empire Metropolitan Area, on Pioneertown Road at Route 62 in the town of Yucca Valley. The winding, 4-mile (6.4 km) drive northwest to Pioneertown has been designated a California Scenic Drive.
The town started as a live-in Old West motion-picture set, built in the 1940s. The set was designed to provide a place for the actors to live while using their homes in the movie. A number of Westerns and early television shows were filmed in Pioneertown, 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 Arent 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 pinsetting equipment in the 1950s. According to the Morongo Basin Historical Society, the bowling alley is one of the oldest in continuous use in California.
As of 2006[update], Pioneertown had a population of 350.
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. Among the buildings saved was Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace, a longtime local club and landmark built within one of the original sets, which counts among its regular patrons notable musicians, including Eric Burdon and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame. On Oct. 13, 2016, Sir Paul McCartney made a unexpected appearance for a concert of 300 guests.
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