Establishment of the Antelope Valley of the California High Desert Viticultural Area

“The Antelope Valley region is a wedge-shaped portion of the western Mojave Desert, according the petitioner. The north and west sides of the wedge border the Tehachapi Mountains; the south side of the wedge borders the San Gabriel Mountains, the Sierra Pelona Mountains, and Portal Ridge. The east side is an open continuation of the Mojave Desert.

The boundary line for the proposed Antelope Valley of the California High Desert viticultural area defines an area in the greater Antelope Valley region. The area within the proposed viticultural area boundary line has similar climate, geology, geography, and soils. These geographical features are distinct from the geographical features in the areas outside the boundary of the proposed viticultural area.
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Antelope Valley Model Railroad Club

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“The Club was founded in early 1983 as the Alta Vista Model Railroad Club to promote the hobby of model railroading in the Antelope Valley. This was to be accomplished through the construction of a premier HO scale display layout having prototypical train operations and scenic details familiar to California. The layout was to be many times larger than feasible for a “home” layout.

The founding members pooled their financial resources and secured a $4000 loan to purchase a surplus 1941 Pullman-Standard passenger car from the late Purdy Company of Mojave.

The car is 80′ long and was used on Southern Pacific’s Coast Daylight train (ex SP 2486). It was refurbished in 1962 at which time the smooth stainless-steel siding was applied. The car was sold to Amtrak in 1972 (ex Amtrak 7516), retired in 1980, and sold to the Club in mid 1983.
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Notable AV People

“This project is a compilation of the research recently done for the Antelope Valley, California, north of Los Angeles.

The Antelope Valley in California, United States, is located in northern Los Angeles County and the southeastern portion of Kern County, California and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi and the San Gabriel Mountains.

The valley was named for the graceful Pronghorn antelopes that are said to have roamed there until being eliminated by hunters and bad weather in the 1880s. The principal cities in the Antelope Valley are Palmdale and Lancaster. ( Wikipedia ).

Notable people

Some people of note have spent time in the valley, including:

Erik Audé, actor/stuntman turned professional poker player, went to Paraclete High School before transferring over to Bethel Christian.

Judy Garland, then known in the valley as Frances Gumm. As a girl, she would sing in public to her Lancaster neighbors.

John Wayne, then known as Marion Morrison, was briefly a Lancaster schoolboy who was known not to tie up his horse properly when he left it by the street, as was the old time custom.
Daniel Fry, a contactee, attended Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster during the 1920s.
The 90’s R&B group All-4-One was from the AV.

Aldous Huxley drew writing inspiration from the solitude found at his Llano home. A little known children’s book, The Crows of Pearblossom, is set in the valley and was the only children’s book he is known to have written.

Pancho Barnes the legendary aviatrix and friend to the U.S. Air Force’s test pilots of what is now called Edwards Air Force Base, established the celebrated Happy Bottom Riding Club near Rogers Dry Lake in 1935, later living in Cantil and Boron.

Chuck Yeager was an early USAF test pilot at then-Muroc Army Air Field, now known as Edwards Air Force Base, where he became the first to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947.
Frank Zappa attended Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, graduating in 1958. He met Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) there, a fellow student at the time.

Terence McKenna noted writer, public speaker, philosopher, psychonaut, and ethnobotanist graduated from Antelope Valley High School in 1965.

Jeff Dandurand, more frequently known as Jeff Duran, lives in Palmdale due to his daily radio show.

Tippi Hedren, who made her major motion picture debut in The Birds, is an Acton resident since at least 1981 (Acton not being in the valley proper, but nearby to the south).

Michael Deaver, former aide to Ronald Reagan, is a former Mojave resident.

Kathleen Soliah, who achieved notoriety as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s and then as a fugitive living a quiet, middle-class life in St. Paul, Minnesota, grew up in Desert View Highlands, graduating from Palmdale High School in 1965.

Burt Rutan and his brother Dick Rutan of Scaled Composites, the firm which produced SpaceShipOne and the Voyager aerospace vehicles, work out of Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave.

R. Lee Ermey of Full Metal Jacket and Mail Call fame is a current Palmdale resident.
Home to members of the punk bands Slick Shoes and Killradio.

Joseph Foreman, more frequently known as Afroman, lives in Palmdale.

Niecy Nash
See also Aerospace Walk of Honor – downtown Lancaster sidewalk tribute to the U. S. Air Force flight test community.

Vilma Drever, who started the non-profit animal rescue called Antelope Valley Dog and Cat Rescue where Vilma ventures out into the desert to find, rescue and rehabilitate abandoned pets”.
(via Geni Project)

Environmental Upgrades at the Antelope Valley Indian Museum

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“In 1928, artist and set designer Howard Arden Edwards claimed over 100 acres of high desert at Point Butte in the Antelope Valley near Lancaster, California, under the auspices of the U.S. Homestead Act of 1862. Edwards applied his creative talents to create a rambling, vernacular variant of an Arts and Crafts style home set directly on a rock outcropping of the Butte. Using the bare rock as floors, Joshua tree logs as posts, and decoratively painted set-board as cladding, Edwards created a fantasy setting in which to house and display Native American artifacts he had collected. In 1933, a portion of the home was opened to the public as the Antelope Valley Indian Museum.
In 1979, the State purchased the museum as a state park, and in 1987 the museum was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Given the high-desert locale, extreme temperature swings made it difficult and inefficient to properly condition the museum. When the State embarked on an ambitious environmental stabilization program to create a museum-quality environment, structural engineer WJE and architect Page & Turnbull’s Los Angeles offices oversaw insulation of the walls and roofs and heating and cooling of the building via geothermal heat sinks, ensuring these additions conformed to prevailing historical building codes and standards”. (via AIACC)

You are listening to Los Angeles

You are listening to Los Angeles

Ambient music and live LAPD police radio. What’s not to like?

Cadillac Kings Antelope Valley

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“The Cadillac Kings Car Club is an all Cadillac club. Accepting Cadillacs from the 1930’s through 1976, we are a group of people who have come together to share the common enthusiasm for these great automobiles. The Cadillac Kings have several chapters which include our main chapter, Los Angeles, as well as San Diego, Inland Empire, Clevland OH, San Jose, Orange County, Phoenix AZ and Albuquerque NM. Unlike several other clubs, we don’t have a long list of rules and monthly fees, but rather we pride ourselves in having a club that is for the members. A club where each member has a say in events, issues and meetings.” (via Cadillac Kings AV)

Antelope Valley Gem & Mineral Club

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“We have different presentations each month at our general meeting. Members and guests get together to socialize, help each other, and talk about their new ‘finds!’ There is usually a brief meeting to start the evening. Door prices are first up on the agenda, with all those present eligible to win. There is a brief catch-up on the business of the club, and then onto the program! Programs in the past have included talks, videos, and even some hands-on, for cutting and polishing rocks, the various aspects of creating beautiful jewelry, and presentations on areas for collecting, such as out at Trona where minerals can be collected once a year, and we recently had a great talk and slide show on the geology of the Devil’s Punch Bowl area! Whatever the program, it should be informative, helpful and fun!

Come join us. Guests always welcome”! (via Antelope Valley Gem & Minerals Club)