230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd. ● P.O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA 93556 ● 760-375-8456 Vol. 35, No. 6 June 2020 To see our schedule of events, visit us at hsumd.org or on Facebook at HSUMD

One of our long-time HSUMD Directors and committee chairpersons– and dear friend – is leaving our Board of Directors at the end of June. That man is Matt Zubia. Matt has been a part of HSUMD’s leadership, a part of our heart and soul, for many years. He helped found and lead our signature event, Open Mic Night. He led our Events, Activities, and Fundraising Committee for years, all while working as a project leader at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division and leading a very active and accomplished family of extraordinary people at home. As a volunteer for HSUMD, as a volunteer for several other community organizations, as a good citizen, as a Navy technical leader protecting our nation, and as a dear friend to so many, Matt has made a marked difference to so many. His time with HSUMD will surely be missed. We wish Matt well in his future endeavors, and hope that he will stop by and say “Hey” when he gets a chance. If you run into Matt on the street, you should say “Hey” to him and thank him for all that he has done for us. (Matt will surely point out that my suggestion is “If you run into Matt on the street,” and not “If you run over Matt in the street.”) – Tex Hoppus

The New Normal Goods: Bads: (Most) People are actually washing their hands! Chapped hands from all the handwashing! Some people actually look better wearing a mask. Face masks are stuffy in the hot weather. No need to put on lipstick to go out. The mask muffles your voice. Learning new ways to shop online. Cleaning groceries before putting them away. Lots of time at home with the family. Lots of time at home with the family. Don’t have to drive the car much. Gas is cheap but we can’t go anywhere. Lots of TV time. Nothing really to watch on TV (except NASCAR!) Vol. 35, No. 6 June 2020 -

Here’s an update on the Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert, its volunteers, its various meetings and events, its Book Store, and its plans during this extraordinary time: First, please remember that we at HSUMD are all volunteers! We are a “family” of people who give our time and talent freely so that the Historical Society can achieve its goals as a historical center and so that we can offer you, our guests, a place to be served, entertained, educated, and honored. So far in this time of evolving pandemic, we are all safe and healthy and very much looking forward to the day when we can resume our fun at HSUMD. Like almost all small businesses during the last many weeks, HSUMD has not had any “normal” income. While many of its expenses have not been there either, there are still unavoidable expenses like utility bills, trash collection, and insurance bills that remain. We will be financially stable for a while, but obviously hope we can resume getting some income in the future. (Note: We have had three generous and thoughtful donations that have helped and are very much appreciated. “You know who you are!”) Being a good citizen, and deeply caring for our volunteers, our visitors, and our community, HSUMD will remain closed at least well through June, 2020. All of our own events and meetings are postponed until after that date, and we will not be renting our Historic USO Building to the public. And, of course, our HSUMD Book Store will remain closed during that period, too. Our decision to reopen will probably be somewhat iterative, with our Book Store possibly reopening first (while taking precautionary measures like distancing and using masks and cleaning spaces regularly) and various events in our Historic USO Building waiting until later in the year to resume. We will not have a June 2020 Annual Meeting and no such monthly meetings until at least September. With that, we will of course not have a “normal” election of roughly half of our Board of Director positions in June. Instead, in accordance with our By-Laws, the current Board of Directors will appoint the candidates to the Board for the next year, and in the spring of next year – 2021 – we will hold an election of some of the positions on our Board, as we normally would. (Congratulations to Chuck Cordell, Doug Lueck, Carol Porter, Andrew Sound, and Dr. Kitty Ferguson for well-fought campaigns for positions on our Board!) Normally our HSUMD Newsletter is “dark” during the summer months, and that will be true this year. We will resume a regular publication in September, but may also issue a “popup newsletter” this summer if events warrant our needing to publish a special communication to you. As always, we at HSUMD sincerely wish you all the best during this stressful time, and hope you and your loved ones and neighbors stay safe and healthy. - Tex Hoppus

Another month without meeting with my great volunteer staff has gone by, but that doesn't mean we haven't been working on projects from home, or going in on our own to get this or that. Kitty is doing a detailed merge of our archived collections and incorporating the inventory Debbie put together from our showcase display. Doug has mentioned to me that there is a new drive in the Fire House for me load on our main computer and I have been digging through stacks of items put aside for me to make final decisions to keep or otherwise? Monica Ames, our Graduate student, has completed her project that we hope will culminate in a grant to enhance our storage of records and items in an environmentally safe and well-preserved manner. Our

2 Vol. 35, No. 6 June 2020 next step will be to seek a professional consultant to assess our facilities and make suggestions as well as advise on methods of storage and at times assist our decisions on what to keep. I will be working upstairs in the south east room trying to make sense of our exhibits and getting a better idea of storage before a professional comes in and faints from shock at the clutter. It is rather well protected, just too much of a jumble for anyone who doesn't know every piece of paper or box by its first name. Yes, I know they are not living things but I have handled them, looked at them and moved them around so much they seem to have taken on a life of their own. - Carol Porter

In our March 2020 HSUMD Newsletter, we included an article about a fixture in Ridgecrest – a café – that operated on Ridgecrest Boulevard from our community’s beginning to 1997. From that article: “On January 17, 1946, Rosemary Gatchell (now Galvin) and her little sister Janet came to Ridgecrest with their parents, Rita and Roy. They came by train from Ohio to Barstow and Uncle John “Sherm” Shoaff (Rita’s brother) picked them up in his car and drove them up to our little town. Sherm needed a good cook for his new restaurant, and his sister Rita was willing to help. Shoaff’s Café had been built a year or so earlier by Sherm himself, using bricks given to him by Ridgecrest pioneer Joe Fox. It was located across a dirt street from the new USO Club and its neighbor, the Victory Market. (The dirt street – Ridgecrest Boulevard – is now paved.)” Later, when Rosemary was a teenager in the early 1960s, Sherm got a license to sell beer and put in some tables in the back of the café for people to play draw poker, and changed the name of the café to the Drawing Room (get it?). But good food – prepared by Rosemary’s mom Rita – was always the real “draw” for people to come by.” Rosemary Galvin’s daughter, Jennifer Curtis, has shared two family photographs taken of the Ridgecrest touchstone, one taken of the building called Shoaff’s Café in 1952. And one taken of the same building – then called the Drawing Room – in 1988.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to remember going to the restaurant can still taste the phenomenal Pastrami sandwich and side of potato salad that were so well liked. (But Jennifer also remembers her grandmother’s Silver Dollar pancakes that were made especially for Jennifer, and – because Jennifer never wanted to wait for the butter to melt – Rita would pour a bit of melted butter over each of the little pancakes.) -Tex Hoppus Source: Interview of Rosemary (née Gatchell) Galvin, and Jennifer (née Galvin) Curtis, 2020

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As you may have noticed, we are facing a new, highly efforts to stay at home to ensure capacity and supplies in contagious, and deadly virus. In last month’s HSUMD case of a major surge.”) Newsletter, it was stated that “even with the ‘ordered IWV CERT (Community Emergency Response Team, isolation’ efforts that most of our nation has taken, we are headed by Brenda Dawson) has been coordinating with passing a half-million known infected people and 20,000 Ridgecrest Regional Hospital, Rural Health, Stephen deaths.” Now, in this newsletter that is being written in mid- Birdwell’s Ridgecrest Shoutouts! and Shoutouts Aid, May, the number of known cases of COVID-19 infection in Aladdin Obied’s Pita Fresh, Teresa Servais’ Almost Eden our country has surpassed 1.5 MILLION people and the Rescue, various corporations and private donors, and now number of deaths attributed to the virus has surpassed World Kitchen, to deliver between 100 to 130 meals every 90,000 – more in just a couple of months than the number night to help the citizens of Ridgecrest, Inyokern, and Trona of citizens killed in 15 years of the Vietnam Conflict! Our honor the “stay at home” order. Working together, these state is beginning to take (hopefully cautious) steps toward organizations have helped families, the elderly, and those resuming certain types of business operations, but those with medically compromised immune systems to stay at steps will still be accompanied with the need to take serious home while having someone go shopping for them and precautions that protect both the business and the customer bring them an evening meal – all the while staying at home components of that equation. safely. But even with the immensely dangerous and in many The Ridgecrest Police Department, the Ridgecrest cases deadly situation that surrounds us, we have so many stations of the Kern County Fire Department, and often cases of people revealing their compassionate and Liberty Ambulance Service – along with many other thoughtful souls by showing Acts of Kindness to others in citizens that vary depending on the recipient of the Act of our community. Let us share some of those acts here. Kindness – form a “Drive-By Birthday Wish Caravan” Though not nearly comprehensive, this outline of Acts of when they are able to leave their normal duties. Lights Kindness is indicative of what we in Ridgecrest – because flashing, sirens and horns sounding off, they have safely but of the types of citizens we have – are capable of doing. joyfully marked the celebration of birthdays for people Mandy Hunsaker, daughter of our own Board director ranging in age from toddlers to that of our community’s Chuck Cordell, and her mother Denise, have been making esteemed Frances Simpson, who is in her young 90s. At the masks since March 20. They have beginning of May, one of those caravans had about 60 made around 2,000 masks and are vehicles! Kim Parent and her parents Brenda and Phil, still making them. They have owners of the Roaming Dog Kitchen, have been parking donated hundreds to churches, their mobile kitchen on W. French Avenue just east of frontline healthcare workers, cancer Balsam Street, next to Steve and Marnie’s S&M Coins and patients, and essential workers. Collectibles. They have always put out a table or two and some chairs so that folks can order a delicious lunch and, if Our Ridgecrest Regional desired, sit and eat it under the shade of the nearby shop. Hospital opened a day care center (in conjunction with Recently there have been more tables and chairs – all safely Immanuel Christian School) for its employees when the separated – and those additional tables and chairs were local schools closed. RRH has not done any layoffs of staff provided, and in some cases built, by Steve and Marnie! or physicians during this time despite lower volume, but has Now guests of the Roaming Dog Kitchen can, if they been using the time for training and surge preparation. It has choose to do so, sit in safety and comfort while they dine. allowed employees to stay at home that felt they might be And it’s due to the Act of Kindness of community neighbors at risk to themselves or their family. It has arranged for helping each other. lodging for any frontline employee that did not want to return home to their family to avoid spreading the virus. There are countless times that community restaurants who are preparing take-out meals are given significant tips that (A note from Jim Suver, CEO/President of RRH: “I am are intended to help the cooks, servers, and owners during very proud of our staff for continuing to provide care in our these trying times. I am aware of tips of 100% or much more community despite the personal risk to them. RRH is being given. Because the customer wants to help his prepared to handle a surge but hopes that will not neighbors, and help keep them going, kindly but happen. We are all thankful for our community and their anonymously. -Tex Hoppus

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GUILTY MOVIE PLEASURES… FOR THE SOCIALLY DISTANCED FILM LOVER! O.K., good neighbors: So, we're pretty much stuck in a hard place for entertainment for the next...who-knows-how-long! Let's take the opportunity to catch up on some of those favorite flicks of ours! As host of the Historical Society of the Upper Mojave’s Classic Movie Nights at the Historic USO Building, I am well-versed in the classic films from the Golden Age of Hollywood. And, as much as I enjoy watching these great films over and over, I must say that I have some favorite movies that are guilty pleasures. One of these cinematic treats is, shall we say, on the “crummy” side, which is why it’s one of my guilty pleasures. Let’s see if any movies in your lists match mine… This movie has become a real "habit" for me. "The Nun’s Story", directed by the famed Fred Zinnemann, is an award- winning 1959 film adapted from a novel by Katherine Hulme that chronicles the journey of a young girl from Belgium who seeks to become a nun and to work in the Congo as a nurse. The film studios collectively passed on this widely-acclaimed novel, deeming it a hard sell to the public. Well, when Oscar® winning superstar Audrey Hepburn expressed interest, studio heads couldn’t change their minds fast enough. Warner Bros. won the rights to buy the property for Hepburn and the finished project was a smashing success, eventually garnering eight Academy Award® nominations. It is one of my favorite films that I binge watch because it is utterly fascinating to watch the main character go through the grueling steps to enter the postulate…right down to the cutting of her hair before her final vows. Her journey to and her work in the Congo is also compelling; as is her dealing with her stern doctor who questions her devotion to her order, and her contraction and subsequent healing from tuberculosis. An all-star international cast that includes Peter Finch, Dame Peggy Ashcroft. Dame Edith Evans, Mildred Dunnock, Beatrice Straight, and beautiful scenery, along with a fabulous music score by Franz Waxman, make this film a favorite in the classic genre and a personal favorite. Not thin on enjoyment. I love all six of the “Thin Man” series produced by MGM from 1934 to 1947. Based on a mystery, the title for the first film derived from the fact that the victim in the yarn was a tall, thin man who may or may not have killed his secretary and disappeared for several months, worrying his loving daughter and his parasitic family. Nick Charles, and his wife Nora are headed west for the holidays, when Nora coerces Nick to come out of retirement and solve the impending case. MGM had scant hopes for what they thought was a simple “B” picture, and didn’t do much in the way of promotion. But audiences absolutely loved the rapport between the leads, and . Marriage, on the big screen, had never before seemed like so much fun! Nominated for Best Picture for 1934, the little picture captivated the imagination of the Depression era audience and spawned five more editions, each with much larger production budgets than the first one. The studio used these programmers to introduce future stars that were under contract: Donna Reed, Gloria Graham, and even a very young (who co-starred in the second of these films. "After " in 1936, which we presented as part of our interrupted Jimmy Stewart film tribute earlier this year. All of the editions are very entertaining, and I find that I watch them over and over again, thoroughly enjoying the chemistry between Powell and Loy, who starred in a total of 18 films during their careers and friendship. The other installments in the legendary series include: “” (1939), “” (1941), “” (1945), and “Song of the

5 Vol. 35, No. 6 June 2020 Thin Man” (1947). A short-lived television series followed in the 1950’s featuring Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk as the husband and wife sleuths. Now to the “crummy” film that I love, nonetheless. 1955’s sand and sandal epic, “Land of the Pharaohs” was Warner Bros.' entry into the widescreen spectacle phase that Hollywood was experiencing in the attempt to pull audiences away from their television sets and come back to the movies. In this thoroughly campy classic, set in ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh Khufu (Jack Hawkins) is obsessed with acquiring gold and plans to take it all with him into the "second life". To this end, he enlists the aid of Vashtar (James Robertson Justice), an architect whose people are enslaved in Egypt. The deal: build a robbery-proof tomb and the enslaved people will be freed. During the years that the pyramid is being built, Cyprian Princess Nellifer (Dame Joan Collins) becomes the Pharaoh's second wife, and she plots to prevent Khufu from taking his treasure with him when he dies, as well as helping him make the journey early, She kills his first wife, assuring her of the inherited riches and plots with her lover, one of the Pharaoh’s very own soldiers, to kill the king and get rich quick. This film was a total flop with critics, and was not a big smash with the audiences. This humiliated its director, Howard Hawks, who left the movie business for three years until he helmed 1959’s brilliant “Rio Bravo.” I love this awful movie for its overripe performance from the overweight and overwrought Joan Collins, well before her “Dynasty” heyday. She practically snorts her lines in a a sort of high-pitched cockney voice that makes her performance one of the most unintentionally hilarious of the period. Add Dimitri Tiomkin's thundering musical score as the cherry on top of this big, sloppy treat. So... that was just a partial list of movie goodies that I love to binge on. I want to know yours! During this prolonged period of social isolation, let's indulge in some of our guilty pleasure movies. Please share your own favorites with me. Write up a short synopsis of your favorite binge movie and why you just love it, and send it into the HSUMD newsletter [email protected]. Let's have some fun here!

Nature provided a grand bloom this spring. If you didn’t get to see the flowers locally, here are some pictures of the blooms this April and May. Along the Rademacher Hills trails were brown-eyed primrose, desert calicos, desert dandelion, cactus flowers, phacelias, asters, chicory, chia, indigo, larkspur, sun cups, coreopsis, goldfields, apricot mallows, desert trumpets, and even some desert candles. A great variety was also found along the BLM roads around Cinder Cone and Fossil Falls.

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Member Categories HSUMD has three membership categories- all very important to us. Our regular memberships are $35 per individual or family. Our business memberships are $45 each. We also have a special category: Life Member, which is an honor the HSUMD Board bestows only on members who have supported the HSUMD in sustained and special ways. Our Life Members’ names are shown on our website: hsumd.org!

Ale’s Steakhouse and Bar High Desert Genealogical Society L & N Properties Anna Marie Bergens, Realtor Phyllis M. Hix, Attorney Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce *Baxendale’s Inyokern Chamber of Commerce Ridgecrest Moving and Storage Best Western China Lake Inn IWV Premier Landscaping Ridgecrest Regional Hospital Bob & Ardyce’s Bicycle Shop *Dana Lyons, Best Realty *Ridge Writers *Cathy Kline’s Floral Accents Kern Antelope Historical Society *Ridgecrest Cinemas China Lake Photographic Society *Roaming Dog Kitchen *Center Pharmacy Pleistocene Foundation Rodeway Inn Clarion Inn *Maturango Museum *Romancing the West Comfort Inn MOAH *S&M Coins & Collectibles *Cordell Construction Co. Mohave Historical Society Searles Valley Historical Society *Cosner-Neipp Computing Mojave River Valley Museum Shoshone Museum Association Desert Empire Fair Motion Tire & Wheel Starbucks Diana Said, Vaughn Realty *Museum of Western Film History Gary P. Staab & Associates, Inc. Earth Landscaping Needles Regional Museum Tehachapi Historical League Eastern California Museum The News Review *Tender Cut Meats Econo-Lodge Rand Desert Museum Vaughn Realty The Flower Shoppe *Red Rock Books *Warren’s Automotive Brook H. Andreoli Allen County Public Library, *Kathy Walker’s Window Tinting Genealogy Department Community Light Opera & Theatre *Ridgecrest Area Convention & Wrightwood Historical Society Assoc. Visitors Bureau

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Tex Hoppus, President Newsletter Editor 760-382-1852, [email protected] [email protected] Doug Lueck, Vice-President Joe DePina, Book Store Manager 760-375-8202, [email protected] [email protected] Richard Hendricks, Secretary-Treasurer Marti Hoppus, Bookkeeper [email protected] 760-382-1852, [email protected] Andrew Sound, Programs Jim Kenney, Historian 760-608-7296, [email protected] 760-371-2458, [email protected] John Abbott, Building Mgr., Bldg. Rental Craig Porter, SEEP Coordinator 619-808-2223, [email protected] 760-446-3400, [email protected] Chuck Cordell, Building Alan Bailey, Field Trips Coordinator [email protected] 760-977-6806, [email protected] Carol Porter, Accessions and Exhibits 760-446-3400, [email protected] Nick Rogers, Publicity, Movie Night IMPORTANT REMINDERS 760-375-8456, [email protected] Annual Dues are $35 (family) and $45 (business). Dr, Kitty Ferguson @gmail.com Please remember HSUMD in your wills, trusts, and other gift giving. HSUMD is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.