Sunday, December 11, 2011

Pancho Barnes

Congratulations to Brian and Amy, who once again correctly solved and identified this weekend's Person-of-Mystery as the flamboyant Pancho Barnes.


Now, I was about to write my own little blog post on Pancho, but my eldest son had a birthday over the weekend and things got pretty busy, so while I'm not going to do a writeup on her today, you should definitely read more.  I'd recommend this short article:

http://tinyurl.com/panchobarnes

or this one

http://tinyurl.com/panchobarnes2

The photo on this page comes from her pilot's license.  She was one of the Ninety-Nines and the owner of the famous Happy Bottom Riding Club on Rancho Oro Verde a fly-in vacation spot on what is now Edwards Air Force Base in the California desert, but these couple sentences can't do justice to the kind of character she was, so you absolutely must read more.


11 comments:

Judi said...

Happy Birthday, Eldest!
Nate:
Have you seen the new wyominghistory.blogspot.com site? Today's post states that in 1925 The first motel opened in San LO - your town- CA catering to motorists. Previously there were just hotels near RRs.

Nate Maas said...

Hey Judi, we've got three boys and Tim is now 16. Sheesh, makes me feel so old.

I did not see the Wyoming History blog today, but yes, they are correct, San Luis Obispo (or SLO – pronounced "slow") was the site of the first motel in the world. The lobby is still standing and is being repaired. I drive past it every day on the way to work. Maybe I'll post on it soon. Yeah, SLO Town likes to pride itself on a number of quirky things. Did you know the frisbee was invented here?

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a great story. I'm surprised she's not better known. Happy birthday Tim!

Brian and Amy said...

Pancho definitely lived an interesting and exciting life! Thanks for posting the links.

If anyone is interested, what remains of Pancho's Fly-Inn and the Happy Bottom Riding Club is visible here on Google Maps.

Happy Birthday to Tim!

DADD said...

Wait until your boy hits 45, then tell me about feeling old.

mary said...

The Public Television station here in Southern California has broadcast an hour long show about Barnes a couple of times now that is actually quite good. Perhaps its online somewhere. She was quite a personality.

Anonymous said...

The documentary about Pancho, which you can see on many PBS stations, is called "The Legend of Pancho Barnes." The website is www.legendofpanchobarnes.com

Nate Maas said...

Thanks, Anon!

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