Page 151 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SPRING 2021 REDISCOVERING CALIFORNIA'S CENTRAL COAST

Ridgecrest is the entrance to China Lake Naval art exhibit featuring Ansel Adam’s photographs of
Air Weapons Station and its ancient petroglyphs. Manzanar, and the accompanying display of works
In front of the Maturango Museum (https://matu- by Japanese American artists.
rango.org) stands a metal My curiosity was com-
sculpture of an ancient giant pounded by Wendy Mayu-
Coso petroglyph. Access to the rama’s strikingly dramatic
base is limited, but the museum hanging “trees” made up of
offers tours by reservation 10,000 labels, each bearing
during Spring and Fall. the name of one internee. The
In Lone Pine, the Museum of sheer impact of the show gave
Western History (www.museu- me a reason to head north. I
mofwesternhistory.org) needed to find out more about
brought us to a halt. The mu- this ugly episode in American
seum bills itself as America’s history.
leading institution of Western “Manzanar” is Spanish for
film history. Inside, you can fol- apple orchard. In 1905,
low the movie careers of old George Chaffey, a Canadian-
timers such as Tom Mix, Gene born engineer turned agricul-
Autry, Roy Rogers, Humphrey tural developer, purchased
Bogart and more recently, John Shepherd's ranch in the
Kevin Bacon. Owens Valley and subdivided
Another experience in living it to found the town of Manza-
history awaited at Manzanar National Historic nar in 1910. Chaffey’s orchard was turned into an
Site (https://www.nps.gov/manz) seven miles up internment camp for Japanese-Americans in 1942.
the road. As a docent at the California Center for After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December
the Arts in Escondido, CA, I was fascinated by an 1941, the US government rounded up the Japa-

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