The Happy Bottom Riding Club
The Happy Bottom Riding Club, more formally known as the Rancho Oro Verde Fly-Inn Dude Ranch, was a dude ranch restaurant and hotel operated by Pancho Barnes on the site of current-day Edwards Air Force Base in southern California's Antelope Valley, in the southwestern part of the United States.
"Oro Verde" is Spanish for "green gold".
Establishment of the Club
Barnes had purchased the land in 1935 to grow alfalfa, raise pigs, cattle and start a dairy. As the nearby U.S. Army Air Corps base at Muroc Army Air Base expanded in the post World War II period, the ranch's other business as a restaurant, bar, and hotel quickly outgrew its humble beginnings. The hospitality arm of the Ranch had an all-female staff, and it became known as the place of choice for test pilots to relax and party.
Amenities
The Rancho Oro Verde had a swimming pool, a rodeo stadium, and its own FAA-licensed airstrip, the first amenity Barnes created upon establishment of the Club in 1935 to stay in touch with her aviator friendly social circle from her old Southern California stomping grounds across the San Gabriel Mountains. Visiting civilians and military men alike flew into the strip to stay at the Rancho Oro Verde, and Pancho often held events to ensure that her guests were entertained, even including a treasure hunt for 200 silver dollars.
The pool was originally a rectangular one, and was one of the first swimming pools ever built in the Antelope Valley. It was much enjoyed by residents and guests alike before being destroyed by the July 21, 1952 Tehachapi earthquake. The replacement pool was a round circular affair which, legend has it, allowed Barnes to ride her horse into the pool while remaining on her saddle with no difficulty. This later pool was modeled after one Barnes had owned in her earlier society days while living in the Pasadena area. One account says this pool was lit at night - a known landmark for pilots navigating the darkness.
The rodeo stadium would present a three day weekend rodeo which was jointly sponsored with the local VFW post in Lancaster.
A tradition was also started when Pancho's close friend formed of Mexican hunting and fishing expeditions, Chuck Yeager, broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 - Pancho gave him a free steak dinner. From then on, any pilot was given a free steak dinner when they broke the barrier for their first time. After this achievement by Yeager, she sometimes would give this dinner to more than one pilot in a given week, reflecting how often the sound barrier was broken in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Run ins, personality clashes, lawsuits and the end
Despite a close friendship between Pancho and many powerful men in the military, relations grew sour after a 1952 change of command occurred - two years after Muroc Army Air Base was renamed Edwards Air Force Base. An often overlooked reason for friction between Barnes and the Base's commander is the increase in flights the base had concurrently with an increase in fly-in business and flights from the Club's landing strip. Gen. Albert Boyd, a warm admirer and friend of Pancho's, would upon assuming command of the Base nonetheless chew her out if her clientele came too close to his pilots and airspace. After Pancho refused to sell the ranch to the government to facilitate an expansion of the main runway, allegations surfaced that the Happy Bottom Riding Club operated as a brothel. Pancho's publicly-posted rules for hostesses were very strict and many discredited the allegations. The Air Force took them seriously, however, and military servicemen were prohibited from visiting the club. When the government added a suit to appropriate the ranch, Pancho counter-sued for slander, harassment, inappropriate taking of land, and conspiracy. Under highly suspicious circumstances, the ranch was destroyed in a fire on November 13, 1953, shortly before Pancho won every lawsuit. Disgusted with the entire affair, Pancho left nonetheless and resettled in nearby Cantil, Ca (map) (on Highway 14 between Red Rock Canyon and California City) and the land was appropriated by the Air Force. Interestingly, the proposed runway extension was never implemented.
Barnes intended to reestablish the Happy Bottom Riding Club on her and her husband's land in Cantil, but never did so.
Military servicemen stationed at Edwards still hold an annual barbecue on the site of the former Happy Bottom Riding Club (adjacent to the Edwards Rod and Gun Club (map)) in remembrance of Pancho and the ranch. Visitors may still see the remains of the pool, the restaurant's foundation (including chimney), the barn, and - if they are allowed to fly above the site - a dim outline of the rectangular airstrip.
In its heyday the Happy Bottom Riding Club had over 9,000 members worldwide.
The Happy Bottom Riding Club was immortalized in Tom Wolfe's book "The Right Stuff" and Lauren Kessler's biography of Pancho, "The Happy Bottom Riding Club." Pancho's life and her days at Muroc are now being chronicled in a documentary film for PBS. The club was also the namesake of the crew lounge and bar on the Enterprise-E in J.M. Dillard's "Star Trek" novel "Resistance".
| “ | The novel "Resistance" established that before he left the Enterprise for the Titan, Commander Riker christened this Enterprise's version of the crew lounge, or Ten Forward, as the "Happy Bottom Riding Club," a name Worf absolutely hated and refused to use under any circumstances. The name for the lounge was derived from a similar watering hole that old Earth astronauts used to frequent. | ” |
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root