Living Our Dream

Tucson, AZ, Part III: Old Tucson Studios

Yet another attraction that was right up the road from the campground is Old Tucson Studios. Old Tucson Studios is a historic movie studio that is a combination of an active movie studio and amusement park with old-west-themed rides, games and shows. The studio has tours only (no rides or shows) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at a reduced price. Since we aren't into rides and since most of the rides are for kids anyway, we chose to go on a Tuesday just for the tour. The entrance to the studio is shown below.

The guided tour was excellent. The guide was well acquainted with Old Tucson Studios having first visited when he was only 10 years old. After retiring from military service, he returned as a special effects technician in explosives and has appeared as an extra in a couple of films. His knowledge about Arizona history and about the studio made the tour especially interesting.

The studio was built in 1939 by Columbia Pictures on land leased from Pima County. The original studio was a replica of the town of Tucson in the 1860s for the film Arizona starring William Holden. The studio lay dormant for several years after that first movie until it was revived 1n 1945 for the filming of The Bells of St. Mary's starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. It was also used for several additional movies after that. For a time, the county leased the studios to the Junior Chamber of Commerce for $1 a year. The Jaycees would open up the studios on weekends for picnics as a fundraiser.

In 1959, entrepreneur Robert Shelton worked out a deal with the county whereby he could lease the studios, revive the aging facility, and open it to the public as a theme park while maintaining it as an active film studio.

The studio has been used for over 300 movies including Rio Bravo, McClintock, El Dorado, Rio Lobo (all starring John Wayne), the 1986 filming of The Three Amigos, the 1993 filming of Geronimo.  About 150 TV programs including later episodes of Little House on the Prairie were also filmed there. The studio has also been used for many music videos, TV commercials and photo shoots for print advertisements.

Inside one building there were sets for a courtroom, a bank, and a general store. There was also a video documenting the 71 years of actors, actresses, and movies/TV shows that were filmed here that was a lot of fun to watch...especially those done in our lifetime.

Another building had photos, posters, memorabilia and costumes from various movies and TV shows. The outfit on the left in the composite photo below was worn by Loren Greene (Ben Cartwright) and the shirt and hat were worn by Dan Blocker (Hoss Cartwright) in Bonanza. Notice how big Hoss' shirt is. The dresses in the center are from Little House on the Prairie, and the dresses on the right were worn by Barbara Stanwix in Big Valley.

Unfortunately, a fire destroyed much of the north end of Old Tucson Studios in 1995. Buildings, costumes, memorabilia and about 25 buildings (including the multi-million dollar sound stage) were lost. The fire was made worse by high winds and lack of water. On top of that, rather than concentrate their efforts on saving buildings, firefighters had to protect propane and gunpowder that were stored near the fire area.

The next photo illustrates how hot the fire got. The squiggle on the wall is what is left of one of the lamp posts from the burned area. The fire was so hot it melted the aluminum.

Rather than recreate old sets after the fire, entirely new buildings were constructed in place of those that were damaged or destroyed. This was done to try to make the new buildings more useful for new movies and to also make the studio a better tourist attraction. Some buildings were not replaced at all. The photo below shows some of the new buildings. The streets in this area were widened to make more room for spectators and gunfight reenactments.

After our guided tour, we were invited to a presentation by a snake oil salesman. At the beginning, he asked for a volunteer. Paul tried to play with his camera and to not make eye contact, but it was no use. He was chosen to bang on the drum every time the salesman pointed to him.

Actually, Paul kind of had fun with it. As a reward, he was given a bottle of 'Miracle Elixir' which surprisingly tasted like root beer. Afterward, we went to the corner saloon to watch a documentary on John Wayne.

In the saloon, Paul used his root beer to try out the bar.

 

After the tour, the snake oil show and the documentary on John Wayne, we wandered around the set on our own to get a closer look at the things we saw on the tour. The next photo is a small railroad station that is portable. It has been moved to numerous locations, including off-site.

Then there was the old mission. While most of the buildings are three-dimensional and many have rooms inside that can be used for filming, the mission is a false front and is only about 10 feet deep. They had photos displayed from several movies showing how the mission has changed in appearance. The mission is used for a stunt show on full-schedule days, but it can easily be reverted back to a movie set. The mountain in the background is part of the Tucson Mountains and has appeared in many movies.

We stopped for a fun photo by the rest rooms. They are disguised as an old west bath house, and Margery is pretending to hang up her bloomers. A sign on the building says, "We use fresh creek water."

Speaking of fun photos, we found a place for another silly one.

There is an artificial river on the set. When making a movie, they used to let water out of a large reservoir only when they were filming a river scene. When the director yelled, "Cut", they would turn off the river and pump water back into the reservoir between takes. Now there is a high volume pump that circulates water continuously so the tourists can enjoy the river all the time. A blooming prickly cactus adds to the ambiance.

 

On our way out of the studio, we stopped at the larger, permanent railroad station. It was nicely framed by a couple of large saguaro cacti.

We really enjoyed visiting Old Tucson Studios. It has whetted our appetite to watch some old westerns that were filmed here. In fact, we just recorded Geronimo for future viewing.

We still have some more sightseeing here in Tucson, so stay tuned.

 

Tucson, AZ, Part II: Arizona-Sonora Museum

Having been born and raised in the east, we are fascinated by the desert. Therefore, in addition to Saguaro National Park, we also visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The museum is also located in Tucson Mountain Park right down the road from the entrance to Saguaro National Park and very close to Desert Trails RV Park where we were staying. With displays of native flora and fauna, the Desert Museum is actually more of a nature park than a museum.

As we mentioned in our last post, the Sonoran Desert covers the southwestern corner of Arizona and the southeastern tip of California and extends down into Mexico and the Baja Peninsula. The Sonoran Desert has the most diverse populations of plants and wildlife of any of the North American deserts.

One of the first displays at the Desert Museum is the reptile house. We were surprised to learn 13 species of rattlesnakes call Arizona their home - more than any other state. There are at least six species around Tucson alone. The photo below shows a speckled rattlesnake, which is one of the 13 species native to Arizona.

The main walkway around the grounds is paved, and there are also a couple of desert trails like the one shown below.

There are docents at various locations around the walkways who give informal presentations on various topics relating to desert plants and animals. The fellow below was talking about the saguaro (pronounced sah-WAH-roh) cactus. His talk was very interesting.

The docent above is holding a "saguaro boot," which is a cavity in which a bird has nested. Birds, like the gila woodpecker, will peck through the hard ribs and skin of the cactus, then scoop a cavity out of the interior pulp of the plant. In an attempt to heal itself and stop the loss of moisture, the cactus will form a hard scab that creates a nice, protective cavity for the bird. The woodpeckers will only use the nest cavity for one year after which the cavity will provide a good home for another type of bird or animal. The hard "saguaro boots" can be found after the cactus has died and the softer tissues of the plant have begun to disintegrate.

Saguaro cacti can live to be over 150 years old, and the mature height is 30 to 50 feet. It can take up to 75 years for a saguaro to get arms, although not all plants get them. Botanists don't really know why some plants get arms and some don't.

With the exception of a tap root that may grow down about two feet, the rest of the roots only grow about four to six inches deep; however, the roots will extend out radially from the cactus as far as the plant is tall.

The saguaro has long been a symbol of the entire southwest, but it only grows naturally in the Sonoran Desert. The saguaro usually only grows on the south face of a slope because it needs the sun's heat to survive in winter. Cold air collects in the valleys, so the saguaro usually doesn't naturally grow there either. The next photo shows saguaro on a hillside.

Saguaros are usually 50 years old before they start to produce waxy-looking, white flowers that bloom starting in May. Not all flowers open at the same time, and each flower will only last about 24 hours.

The flowers are pollinated by bats at night and by white winged doves during the day. The fruit is very sweet and ripens in July. The fruit can be used to make wine, jam and syrup; and the seeds can be ground into meal and mixed with other grains to make an oatmeal-like gruel. The desert Tohono O'odham Indians of the area still collect and process the fruit of the saguaro the same way their ancestors did.

The Desert Museum also has a display of various minerals found in Arizona. This display is tied in with a very convincing, artificial underground cavern with various types of stalactite an stalagmite formations.

The last room of the artificial cavern has display cases of various types of minerals including azurite to the left in the next photo and hematite to the right.

Outside the cavern was an area called the "mine dump" where you can look for small pieces of minerals that have been scattered in the gravel on the ground. Paul is showing off the piece he found. He didn't know what it was, but is was pretty. Each person is permitted to keep one piece.

As we proceeded around the walkway, there were numerous animals native to Arizona in natural settings. The natural settings sometimes made it a little hard to see the animals, but it's more comfortable for them. The mountain lion right in the center of the next photo is lying behind a tree and under a ledge to keep cool in the 98 degree heat.

Likewise, the coyote was looking for shade.

There were also lizards, javelinas, bighorn sheep, wolves, deer and much more.

It seems like we humans were the only ones not smart enough to get out of the sun. But they insist it's dry heat.

Like the saguaro, the agave was an important plant to the Native Americans. Fibers from the leaves were used to make twine, and the tip of the leaf was used as a sewing needle. The flowers, leaves and sap are all edible (the sap is sweet), and the basal rosette can be roasted and eaten. Sap extracted from the rosette of certain strains of agave is used to make tequila. After the agave blooms, the original plant dies. However, suckers frequently form at the base and develop into new plants.

Another common desert plant is the ocotillo (pronounced oak-oh-TEA-oh). In fact, you can see several of them in the background of the above photo of the agave. Throughout much of the year, the ocotillo appears to be a bunch of dead, spiny sticks. However, after a rain, small, green leaves will appear along the stems. Although we saw some ocotillo in other areas with leaves, those in around the Desert Museum had none; but they were still blooming.

Groups of orange-red tubular flowers appear at the tips of the stems in spring and early summer.

The desert museum has two walk-in aviaries - one for hummingbirds and one for other birds. In the hummingbird aviary, the hummingbirds come right up and look you in the face, then flit off in another direction. They moved so fast it was hard to get any good photos. In the other aviary, some of the birds were easier to see like the brightly-colored western tanager in the photo below.

We hit the museum at just about the right time to catch many of the cacti in bloom.

We enjoyed the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, especially with all the desert plants in bloom. There is still a lot we want to do in the Tucson area, so look for our next post.