PanchoBarnesLD

The Saddle That Helped Name a Legendary Club

There is a particular kind of story that only the American West could produce, the kind where a Swedish immigrant’s saddle shop, a record-breaking aviatrix with a taste for ranching, and a war hero who just wanted a comfortable ride all converge in a single afternoon on the Mojave Desert and give birth to a name that would become part of aviation folklore. This is that story.

By the spring of 1946, after the close of World War II, Pancho Barnes had been building something remarkable on her 360 acres at the edge of Muroc Army Air Field. What had started as a working alfalfa operation and livestock ranch, the place she called Rancho Oro [Read More]

Pancho Barnes and Howard Hughes first crossed paths in the refined social circles of Pasadena in the early 1920s. Hughes’ parents spent their winters at the elegant Vista Del Arroyo Hotel, often seen at Sunday brunches at the Green Hotel, where Pasadena’s well-to-do families gathered. Among them were the Lowes….Pancho’s family….whose friendships and acquaintances overlapped naturally with the Hughes’s.

Famous film star Elizabeth Taylor’s first marriage was to Conrad ‘Nicky’ Hilton Jr., who was a businessman, socialite, and heir to the Hilton Hotel fortune. She was just 18 years old at the time of the marriage in October 1949, and he was 24 years old. Her husband liked to have fun and was known for his partying which included drinking and gambling. He had heard stories about the Happy Bottom Riding Club, and about its legendary proprietress Pancho Barnes, from several friends. He wanted to check it out for himself and wanted his new wife to have some fun.

In November 1949, Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Nicky ventured out to visit the famous Happy Bottom Riding Club. This iconic [Read More]